Knowing Our Limits

"He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty." Proverbs 28:19

Webster's defines entrepreneur: "one who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk in a business venture." [Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Ed. (Springfield, Massachusetts, 1993), "entrepreneur."]

Entrepreneurs can smell an opportunity a mile away. However, what is often their greatest asset can become their greatest downfall. The road is littered with entrepreneurs who have been successful in one venture only to fail in countless others. Is this the natural way for an entrepreneur, or is there a better way?

King David was an entrepreneur. He grew up as a shepherd boy and later became Israel's greatest warrior. He responded to opportunities, like the time when no one would fight Goliath. He saw this as an opportunity. He ultimately became king of Israel and faced many opportunities placed before him.

David learned an important lesson somewhere along the way that each of us as workplace believers should learn. As an entrepreneur, the greatest danger is engaging ourselves in activities in which God never intended us to be involved. This is poor stewardship of what God has entrusted to us. When the Philistines attacked David, he always inquired of God as to if and when he was to counterattack. When he was attacked a second time on one occasion, David inquired of God as to whether he was to attack yet. This time God said yes, but with a condition, "Wait until you hear the sound of marching in the balsam trees" (see 2 Sam. 5:24).

This story tells us that David had learned an important lesson about staying vertical in his relationship with God at all times. David had learned the important principle of staying focused on what God wanted for him, not what seemed logical. He was an opportunist, but only through the filter of the Holy Spirit in his life.

How do you approach opportunities? Do you consider the merits of the opportunity only? Or do you inquire of God as to whether He desires you to pursue? It may be a wonderful opportunity, but it may not be God's will for you to be involved. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you as you seek to use the skills He has given you.

-Os Hillman

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Faith is spelled R.I.S.K.

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" (Matt 14:29-30).

Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat. There is always a risk when we attempt something never done before. Naysayers seem to come out of the wood work. Why? Because it's not their vision, it's yours. Sometimes we fail the first time out. It's a fact that most entrepreneurs fail before they are really successful.

"Success," said Winston Churchill, "is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Everybody fails. It's part of the process that leads us to maturity and success. Most successful entrepreneurs don't think of their failures as defeats. They think of them as lessons.

If you hope to succeed, learn everything you can from your failures. In The Three Success Secrets of Shamgar, Orlando Magic executive Pat Williams observed, "Our experiences may not all be triumphs and successes, but so what? Failure is usually a far better teacher than success - if we are willing to learn the lessons. As Houston Astros pitcher Larry Dierker observed, 'Experience is the best teacher, but a hard grader. She gives the test first, the lesson later.'"*

God never gets mired in our past failures. He is constantly viewing our lives with future success in mind. "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland" (Isa. 43:19). Someone once said, "When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave." God wants to give us new dreams that are bigger than anything that has ever happened to us in the past.

Don't let past failures keep you from future successes. 

Os Hillman

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JESUS IS COMING VERY SOON!

 

John G Lake – Woman's Tumor Disappeared

Excerpt from:
John G Lake, The Complete Collection Of His Life Teachings
Spoken November 26, 1916
Pg 324 – 325

It is almost a sadness to my soul that men should be astonished and surprised at an ordinary tangible evidence of the power of God. A woman came into the healing rooms on Thursday afternoon with a tumor larger than a full-grown, unborn child, and her physicians and nurse had been fooled, believing it to be such, until nature’s period had passed. Then they decided it must be something else.

She came to the healing rooms and I interviewed her. She said, “Mr. Lake, I have the opinion of several physicians. They are all different, but each have said, ‘It is possible it may be a child,’ but now the time has passed, and they do not know what to say.”

I put my hand upon her for a moment, and I said, “Madam, it is not a child, it is a tumor.” She sat down and wept. Her nurse was with her. Her soul was troubled and she did not receive healing.

She came back on Thursday afternoon for prayer and went away like the rest. But she returned on Friday with her corsets on. She said, “I came to show you that I am perfectly normal. When I retired last night at ten o’clock there was no evidence that anything had taken place. Beyond that I felt comfortable and the choking was gone. But when I awoke this morning I was my normal size.”

I said, “Did it disappear in the form of a fluid?”

She said, “There was not an outward sign of any character.”

Beloved, what happened to it? It dematerialized, did it not? There was nothing else. The tumor dissolved. It was evaporated, taken out of the system, and was gone in a single night.

I called a friend on the telephone to tell him about it. Another friend was present in the room and while he still held the receiver in his hand he turned to his friend and told him about it, and the friend said, “My good God, man, that would be a miracle!”

What is a miracle? It is the tangible evidence of the supreme control of the Spirit of God over every character and form of materiality. The tumor disappeared. It was gone. Why? Because the living Spirit of God entered it and by the power and working of God the woman returned to her normal condition. Blessed be His name….

…I talked with the husband of the lady, one of the most profane men I have most ever known until Friday morning. He said to me, “Mr. Lake, when I got up on Friday morning and saw my wife I said, ‘I will never again take that name upon my lips in vain.'” And he has walked softly, and a new light is shining in his soul and a new presence has made itself evident to that man.

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THE WAY OUT IS UP!

Here is the divine way out of trouble. Just now you may be in the midst of it. Everything is going against you, and you cannot see any way out. But listen to what the psalmist says: The way out is up—to God. “Sacrifice thank offering.” That sounds senseless, but try it anyway! In the midst of all your problems, stop worrying and start thanking God. Lift your voice to God—not complaining, but in praise. Offer Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

   A sacrifice always costs you something. To start thanking God in such a situation goes against the grain. But it is a sacrifice that pleases God. In return God promises: “When you offer Me your sacrifice of thankfulness in the midst of all the trouble, then I will intervene on your behalf. I will deliver you and you will honor Me.”

““Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
    fulfill your vows to the Most High,
 and call on me in the day of trouble;
    I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”  - Psalm 50:14-15


Excerp from "Chords from the Harp of David"
 by Derek Prince p. 98

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THE WAY OUT IS UP

Here is the divine way out of trouble. Just now you may be in the midst of it. Everything is going against you, and you cannot see any way out. But listen to what the psalmist says: The way out is up—to God. “Sacrifice thank offering.” The sounds senseless, but try it anyway! In the midst of all your problems, stop worrying and start thanking God. Lift your voice to God—not complaining, but in praise. Offer Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

   A sacrifice always costs you something. To start thanking God in such a situation goes against the grain. But it is a sacrifice that pleases God. In return God promises: “When you offer Me your sacrifice of thankfulness in the midst of all the trouble, then I will intervene on your behalf. I will deliver you land you will honor Me.”

““Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
    fulfill your vows to the Most High,
 and call on me in the day of trouble;
    I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”  - Psalm 50:14-15

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The Lord is My Shepherd

As God's sheep, have we spent enough time with him to recognize his voice?

Shepherds in Israel are quite young. Boys and girls as young as twelve can have charge of an entire flock. Grown men rarely travel with the flocks.  Instead the men watch their undershepherds from a distace while they care for matters in the camp.

Over time, the shepherd's voice becomes familiar to her sheep. When several flocks stay together for a night, the sheep always recognize their shepherd's voice in the morning. They will not follow any other voice.

Describing God as a shepherd in Psalm 23, David created a beautiful picture for the Israelites, and for us. As we undershepherd the "flocks" God has put in our care—whether they be friends, children, students, or coworkers—God is watching over us.

But the comparison also brings a challenge. As God's sheep, have we spent enough time with him to recognize his voice? If we are truly his sheep, then we will follow him alone, ignoring other voices that may tempt us.

A friend of mine told me a story about an experience he had in Israel that demonstrates how sheep know their shepherd's voice. He and his wife were visiting some of the famous biblical sites when they saw a group of shepherds and their flocks. 
They watched as three different shepherds put their sheep in the same pen for the night, and they wondered how in the world the shepherds would separate their sheep the next day, since none of them had any identifying marks on them.
My friend got up early the next morning to watch the shepherds gather their sheep. The first shepherd went over to the pen and called out to his sheep. One by one, his sheep (and only his sheep) filed out to follow him. The same thing happened with the other two shepherds. My friend said it was amazing to watch how only the shepherd's sheep followed him while the others remained in the pen--and all because they recognized his voice. 
What a picture of Jesus' words spoken centuries earlier. "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. . . . My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:14,27).

Ask God to help you hear the voice of God--even on the job.

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How to Keep and Protect Your Spiritual Territory

 Luke 10:19 says;

  “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

The word power in this scripture denotes authority. This authority is to take dominion from the enemy of our souls, the Devil. You, yes you, have been given a position in God’s Army, and thus you have certain spiritual territory that you must maintain and keep. Each Christian has been given a post in God’s Army. Some are faithfully on duty, while others do not take seriously a post that cannot be seen.
    In the Book of Revelation (The Revelation Of Jesus Christ) we see in chapters 2-3 an address to the Angels of each of these Churches. Who are these Angels? They are not literally Angels as we suppose, but rather Pastor’s, Christian Leaders and Christian Territorial Watchmen, who have been given territorial responsibility. You too, have been given territorial responsibilities which might include, your family, community, church, place of employment, friends, etc.. Some of us have been given great responsibilities and jurisdictions, that we have been given spiritual authority over. Such as; authority over a Church, local community, state, region, nation, denomination, or people group. This authority may not be openly known to others in the natural, but the spiritual realm sees and honors that authority. Callings such as intercessors, prayer warriors, as well as other positions, often have unseen authority.
    You must realize that you have individual, as well as collective territorial responsibilities. Individually this would include your home, and collectively this would include your Church and community.
    It is imperative that you understand that your spiritual territory also includes the call on your life. If you are in disobedience to God, then you are in the Devil’s territory. This makes you vulnerable. This is why so many ministers of the Gospel are having difficult times. A lot of people place ecclesiastical titles on themselves, and in doing so they step out of their spiritual territory, and are now vulnerable to the Devil’s attacks. If you are a Pastor, and you without the direction of God begin to call yourself Bishop, or Apostle, and then try to do the work of these callings, you will find it most difficult to fulfill this work, because you are out of your spiritual territory. God has not given you the spiritual accoutrements to walk in that calling. So many ministries fail because people are operating in the wrong spiritual offices, and so they don’t have the spiritual authority to fulfill that call.
    Abraham was given certain territory to inherit. Although it was for Abraham, he still did not get it all at once. Neither can you take a spiritual territory all at once, but little by little (Deuteronomy 7:22-26). This method will give you the ability to handle and secure each area God has given you authority over.

How do you protect and keep your spiritual territory?

1. The first thing you need to do is find out, or establish what spiritual territory you have been given by God, and what the bounds or boundaries are of that territory.
2. It is important here that you put on your belt of truth and examine your life, to see if it is in line with God’s Word. You should not try and take spiritual territory if you are living a carnal Christian life, or living in open sin. Christians who live carnally by watching things on television, like programs that use the Lord’s name in vain (most Christians are so desensitized toward this that they don’t even realize when this happens), say light curse words, have murder and killing, or show or imply sexual things like fornication or adultery, don’t often realize that they have diminished, if not totally lost the power necessary to enforce their spiritual territory. The Seven Brothers of Sceva tried to step into spiritual territory that they were not qualified to operate in, and they were over taken by the enemy (Acts 19:13-16).
3. You must learn that you cannot physically maintain your spiritual territory. You need the Power of The Holy Spirit. You have no power against the enemy on your own. The weapons of your warfare are not carnal (Read II Corinthians 10:3-4).
4. Next, we should learn to take up our spiritual authority daily, and enforce the Kingdom of God. You do this by praying, fasting, reading your Word (Bible), confessing the Word of God about who you are in Christ (your words hold power, especially when your words are what God says about you), speaking the Word of God against the Devil (Matthew 4:1-11), binding and loosing (Matthew 16:19), Casting out devils (Mark 16:17-18). 

     God wants us to be in a spiritual position to keep and protect the spiritual territory that He has given us. When a territory is not kept, maintained or protected by Christians you can see the demonic destruction and devastation that often occurs. In certain cities, cultures, and countries it is more evident than others. This is especially evident in countries that serve false gods or use voodoo and the various forms of witchcraft (including white and black magic).

    So many people want God to use them in a greater capacity and for greater things, but if they are not keeping the territory that they presently have jurisdiction over, how can they possibly maintain more? Only through faithfulness can you qualify for greater spiritual territory. If you don’t pray and fast now for what you have jurisdiction over, then you will not increase your praying when you have more spiritual responsibility.

    You need to realize that the Devil and his demonic army are trying to claim everything that they can as their spiritual territory. If there is no resistance from you, he will soon take your, family, community, town, city, state or nation. He (the Devil) assigns different demons to produce strongholds of specific sins in certain geographical areas. This is why some areas are dominated by certain sins. In San Francisco perverseness, like homosexuality is prominent. In New Orleans revelry or partying is dominate. In New York mammon and greed are the strongmen. In different areas demonic entities of various kinds try to gain control of those territories. In the Book Of Daniel we see that there are princes or principalities over certain nations (Daniel 10:12-13). Daniel’s spiritual territory could have been that of a Prince, who when he began to pray and fast, broke through the spiritual resistance from a demonic prince.

    It is important that you remember that God never gives you anything that He does not give you the tools to keep. So if your Church is not going the way that you know that it should be going, then you need to make sure that you have spiritual authority to operate in whatever position you have there. If you determine that God has placed you there, then pick up your weapons and remove the enemy. You have been given a charge to protect, develop, increase, deliver and bring salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ to all who are under your spiritual authority, or who are in your God ordained spiritual territory.
    Some of us are too passive as Christians, and we expect the Devil to just sooner or later stop beating us up. The Devil won’t move from his position in your family, home, job, church, or community by you just knowing the Word of God, but rather by you aiming the Word of God at him. He is not afraid of your gun that is sitting by your side, it is when you point it at him and fire, that he gets to running. This gets him fleeing out of your spiritual territory.
    It’s one thing to know you have authority and power, but it is another thing to be able to enforce and release that authority and power. Always remember this, “you have authority, but faith releases the power.” Not just a head faith, but faith in action. To release your faith it usually requires an act. This is to say that when you do something toward what you are believing that God gave you, then it releases your faith. Begin to act by speaking the Word of God at the enemy by faith and take back your territory.
    If every Christian, and Christian leader would get into their proper positions and take the territory that God has given them, then we would have a net of dominion in Christ, over and around a community, city, state, region, nation and ultimately a world. This would push the enemy completely back.
    God has given you a specific post to work in, in His Army. Are you guarding your territory, or has the Devil stole what and who you were responsible to keep and protect. You must get dedicated and be continuous in your warfare and prayer to see this thing through. Stand On Your Post Soldier Of God!

By the Holy Spirit through Bishop Tony Owens                            www.riversofrevival.com

House Of David Ministries Inc, and Tony Owens Ministries Inc.,              1(407) 930-6621

Post by True Riches Club.