Tag: Holy Spirit

Do You Know What ‘The Secret of the Lord’ Is?

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It’s an awesome secret, and the Lord is willing to share it with those who earnestly want to know it.

The secret of the Lord is often revealed to a person when he is in bed.
 

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.  Ps 25:14

It’s a secret, and a secret is a confidential matter, it’s not public knowledge.  Only selected people will know it, those in whom the secret-revealer confides.

The Lord confides in those who fear him  Ps 25:14 NIV

Though we are not told what this secret is, we know it has to do with his covenant.

And He will let them know His covenant and reveal to them [through His word] its [deep, inner] meaning.  Ps 25:14 AMP

The secret of the Lord has to do with the revelation of the deep meaning of the Lord’s covenant with his people. Anybody can know what the covenant is in the literal sense. Here it is,

This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.   Jer 31:33-34

The secret of the Lord, then, is to know this covenant in the spiritual sense. Nobody, not even the greatest theologian or Bible scholar, can know what this covenant means in the spiritual sense unless it is given to that person as a secret gift from the Lord. And who is the person the Lord will favor with the sharing of his secret?

These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.  Is 66:2  NIV

But to this one I will look [graciously], to him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who [reverently] trembles at My word and honors My commands. AMP

The man or the woman who desires with all es heart, soul, and strength an intimate relationship with God, and who studies his Word with an intense desire to do all that God commands em in it, enters a new dimension of understanding and living. As e continues in es fervent study of God’s Word, with a ‘trembling’ attitude – that is, with awe and humility – he or she begins to see new, previously hidden, meanings to the Scriptures that e reads. Gradually e begins to see the awesome purpose of es life, and this revelation of es purpose for being born becomes literally the most thrilling aspect of es daily living. While ordinary Christians seem content with going to heaven and thereafter living forever, not sure what exactly they would be doing throughout eternity, the man or woman who is humble and contrite and who trembles at God’s Word grows in excitement at the specifics of es living in the Kingdom of God. E knows exactly what happens when e dies and is resurrected – it is certainly not what most Christians believe will happen after they live again.

This, for me, is the greatest aspect of the secret of the Lord – knowing exactly what will happen to me after death, and, specifically, what I will be doing throughout eternity. You ask ten church-going Christians what their ultimate destiny is, and you will get the immediate answer, ‘living in heaven’. If you press them beyond this answer, and ask what specifically they plan to do forever and ever, their answers are vague. But to the one whom the secret of the Lord is revealed, the specificity of their destiny is their greatest thrill in living, so much so they prefer to die early than live longer on earth, as was Paul’s desire.

I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.  Phil 1:23 NLT Emphasis mine

As he or she studies God’s Word, the prophecies in the Bible become alive, and e begins to see with amazement the true interpretation of the prophecies, and how they are going to be fulfilled in the coming years. And e realizes that most of the interpretations e heard from preachers and pastors of mainstream Christianity are not exactly what the Lord tells his ‘little flock’ Lk 12:32 in secret.

The next most exciting aspect of the secret of the Lord is intimacy with the Holy Spirit. As you continue to follow God with all your heart and strength, seeking to please him to the utmost that you can, you correspondingly begin to sense a new presence close to you constantly. Born-again Christians talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit, and some even talk about speaking in tongues. Maybe it’s their secret of the Lord. But I am referring to something altogether of another dimension of experience. I am sitting at the dinner table, and I sense Christ’s presence in an almost palpable manner I never did in my entire Christian life before I was given the secret of the Lord. I walk into a shop, and there is a guiding presence who leads me to the right products. And the funny things, most, if not many, people, can sense something different about my presence amidst them. Actually it is not my presence that is affecting them, but the presence that is always where I am present.

The Lord often wakes his confidant in the pre-dawn hours and shows him new truths in the Scriptures

This intimacy with the Holy Spirit I am talking about…there is a time when he actually comes so close to me I could almost feel his breath over me. This happens to me always in the pre-dawn hours of the day, from around 1:30 to 3:30 in the morning. During this time the Holy Spirit literally whispers certain truths to me, as well as the answers to certain spiritual questions that had been bothering me.

I have mentioned the three most important aspects of the secret of the Lord. First, the Scriptures becoming alive to the confidant of the Lord in a manner he or she had never imagined, and in a depth no Bible scholar can reach. Second, the indescribable joy of understanding the specifics of the life after the person’s earthly sojourn. Third, a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit that takes the confidant’s breath away. But there are literally hundreds of other experiences that the person with the secret of Lord enjoys both regularly and uniquely.

Apart from the three core experiences I mentioned earlier, the secrets the Lord gives me may not be what he shares with another of his confidants. Both confidants may share many secrets in common, but I think far more are the private revelations that are exclusive to each of us. The secret my Eternal companion has told me about a particular food or drink may not be what he has told my fellow confidant about what he eats and drinks. What the Lord has shown him about a certain area of his work may not be what he has revealed to me about a particular aspect of my work. The secrets are literally amazing, astonishing, thrilling, and mindblowing! 

The Lord is no respecter of person when it comes to his sharing of secrets with anyone. A believer who is ready to love and follow Christ with all es heart, soul and strength, can go down on es knees and ask God to begin to show him or her what the secret of the Lord is. If you are a hundred percent sincere in wanting to know his secret, and you ask him for it fervently and regularly, the person begins to hear the Lord’s voice. It’s almost imperceptible at first. Be still and listen, and keep asking, and keep looking for ways to love the Lord and your neighbor more (remember what Jesus said: you cannot love God without first loving your neighbor). The voice grows clearer and soon it becomes a daily, an hourly, a moment by moment, feature of your life. The voice is heard not necessarily in audible words, but in convictions, in sensations, in new understandings, in fresh perspectives, in transformed attitudes, in assurances poured out to your heart. Oh, how awesome indeed is the secret of the Lord! How blessed is he or she who is privy to it!

Before I close, l want to tell you a bit more of the secret of the Lord that I am privileged to know. I mentioned that the greatest and the most joyful aspect of the secret of the Lord relates to knowing our destiny in a specific way that only those whom the Lord has revealed this secret can know. Now, within this greatest secret about our destiny, there lies the most thrilling, explosively joyful sub-secret. I want you to discover it for yourself, if you are truly keen on growing your relationship with your Lord until he is ready to share his secrets with you. But I will give a hint of what it is. This secret within the greatest secret relates to the ‘great mystery’ that Paul refers to in Ephesians 5:32: 

This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.  NLT

May the Lord show you his secret which he is showing thousands of other earnest followers of Christ around the world. The Lord has been showing me his secret for the past twenty years, from the year I gave my life to him unconditionally. May you too enter this secret life with him soon!

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  Ps 91:1

I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the Lord, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.  Is 45:3

He reveals deep and secret things  Dan 2:22

Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.  Am 3:7

Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.   Jer 33:3

 

Pappa Joseph

How Should Christians Respond to the Prophets Whose Prophecies Failed?

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This message was written soon after the American 2020 elections. Though this message is based on the prophecies about Trump, Bible believers can use the counsels given here to respond in the right way to any prophet at any time:

The past few months have been extremely significant for earnest Christians who had been praying for Trump’s reelection. Then came the shocker. Trump was not reelected on November 3 as we had believed, a belief that was reinforced by the daily prophetic pronouncements of many preachers, both wellknown and little known.

Then we presumed that God would reelect Trump through the intervention of the Supreme Court and the Electoral college. When that too didn’t happen and Biden became president on January 20, many, perhaps most praying Christians, including me, became utterly disappointed with the prophets whose predictions failed.

Some of the preachers started apologizing for their failed prophecies, including the famous Sid Roth of It’s Supernatural program. Most others continue prophesying, with new dates for the fulfillment of their prophecies,

It’s now about ten days since a president, who supported the killing of infants in the womb, came to the presidency. Over these past 10 days, as I groaned in agony over God’s refusal to intervene and save the babies, and save America from descending back to its old ways, God began to open my eyes, and I began to see why everything happened as they happened.

Here are the two understandings God gave me:

The first understanding.

The prophets who prophesied wrongly are not wrong about their prophecies, but only about the timing of their prophecies.

Many prophets I  listened to did not mention definitely that Trump would become  President on such and such a date.

But several famous prophets I listened to did mention specific dates such as Trump becoming president before Christmas, or within a certain number of days from November 3.

Most of the other prophets who had just said that Trump would become president, without specifying a date, now encourage us to believe that Trump will become president sooner or later. Many of them, including the prophetess of God with pink hair, Kat Kerr, tell us with absolute conviction that Trump will be president in or before 2022. Kat Kerr even encouraged her listeners to celebrate Trump’s presidency in advance by eating a piece of cake, which she did in front of the camera. So I too, despite my high diabetes, bought a  juicy cake and ate it in pre-celebration of God’s intervention to reinstate the legitimate president. We have about two years to wait until we know if Trump will be president by 2022 as prophesied by Kat Kerr and others.

So the first understanding I received is: The prophets who prophesied wrongly are not necessarily wrong about their prophecies, but only about the timing of their prophecies.

The second understanding I received since the January 20 presidential inauguration is this:

God does not want our relationship with him to be based even an iota on the prophecies of human prophets and preachers.

The prophets and preachers who had so ardently predicted Trump’s victory may be great servants of God, but they are human, and as humans they can make sincere mistakes. Mistakes such as confusing their dreams and imaginations as direct messages from God.

You know how it is, a dream or a strong thought comes to a preacher’s mind, and he or she presumes it has prophetic significance and they go around announcing it to the whole world.

Sometimes what they predict happens, but usually it doesn’t, and the prophet gives some explanation for why it did not happen, and goes on with new prophecies.

Sometimes a prophet’s prediction may happen three times in a row, and then fail miserably the fourth time, and the people who put their trust in the prophet’s words become disappointed with both the prophet and God.

Sometimes the disappointment is so great that the Christian ends, or diminishes, his relationship with God. Because God failed him.

The truth is, God did not tell him anything, it was the prophets who did, and he is angry with God because the prophets were wrong.

So the second understanding I received is: God does not want  your relationship to him to be based on anything that a preacher, a prophet, a pastor, a priest, a church, or your parents, tell you.

He wants your relationship with him to be based solely on what he teaches you directly from his Word through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is your only true teacher.

Preachers and pastors are like assistant teachers, they can encourage you to go to God’s Word and know about God from his Word directly. But they should never become your main teachers. If you do that, sooner or later, you are going to be bitterly disappointed not only with your spiritual teachers, but with God himself.

God wants your relationship with him to be based solely on what he teaches you directly from his Word through the Holy Spirit.

So, listen to this brother in Christ. I am no preacher, prophet, pastor, or  priest. I am just an assistant Bible teacher, encouraging you to go to God’s Word directly and get your teaching directly from the only spiritual Teacher, the Holy Spirit.

Continue to listen to the preachers you still trust are true prophets of God.

But do not set your heart, that is, put your confidence, on what they say, but keep in your heart what they say. Then, when the time of the prediction comes to pass, judge for yourselves if their prophecies were true or false.

I am keeping in my heart what Kat Kerr and some other prophets are prophesying now. I still do not regret eating that cake. I will either regret or be glad I ate it by the end of 2022. I am still praying earnestly for Trump to be back and save the babies and save America.

God bless Trump, God bless America, and  God bless and your family with greater blessings than ever before!

 

Pappa Joseph