The Bible Basics

The Bible BasicsChapter 6Obedience to the Lord The absolute number 1 key in being able to find exactly what your truedivine destiny is going to be in the Lord is to be willing to come into a fulland complete surrender of your entire life with Him. Once you are willing to commit to making a full and complete surrenderof your body, your soul, your spirit and your entire life into the hands of Godthe Father, then God will take immediate control of your life and He willthen start to lead you and your life into the specific direction that He willwant it to go in. He will perfectly lead you into what your true calling is going to be inHim. He will lead you to the person that He will want you to marry if it isHis perfect will that you get married in this life. He will supernaturally openup doors for you so that you can advance from one level of service to thenext level of service. And not only will God be perfectly guiding you every step of the way asyou advance up your own personal ladder of success in Him, but He willalso be divinely protecting you along the way so that you can make it intoeach of these levels of service in one piece. And as long as you are willing tostay in this full surrender with Him, He will take you all the way to your ownpersonal finish line, which will be the end of your life, so that you can fullycomplete all of your divine assignments and missions for Him in this life. All of this is fully explained to you in our bible basic \"The FullSurrender\". In that bible basic, we give you all of the appropriate versesfrom Scripture that will show you that this is what God is really wantingfrom each one of us and exactly how to enter into this full surrender with theLord if you have never done this before. God will actually guide our steps in this life through the Holy Spirit. It isnow the job of each Christian to be fully led by the Holy Spirit in this life.We are no longer in control of our life. God will now be the Captain of ourship and the Commander in Chief in our lives. God will now be the One torun the entire show of our lives. 93

The Bible Basics We are no longer even our own, as Jesus Himself has now bought us backat the price of His death on the cross. We now belong to God and Jesus andno one else in this life, including ourselves. As perfect and rosy as this scenario appears to be, there is just one smalllittle problem with all of this. This one small little problem is our flesh andego. Our flesh will not want to take orders from anyone, including the LordHimself. Our flesh and ego will still want to try and run our own lives,decide what jobs and vocations we will strive after in this life, decide whowe will marry, and choose who our friends will be in this life. We want to be in total and complete control of our lives, and we want tosink or swim all on our own efforts so that we can have all of the glory andfame for ourselves if all of our efforts turn out to be successful. Though we know God is all powerful and all perfect and that He knowsmuch better than we do what we should really be doing with our lives, therestill seems to be something inside of most of us that still wants to try and doall of this on our own, operating out of our own strength, wisdom andintelligence. You will end up laboring in vain if you try and build the house of your lifeoperating all on your own efforts and wisdom. The Lord has to be the One tobuild the house of our lives. Anything that we build, earn, achieve oraccomplish operating out of our own flesh in this life will in no way be ashighly rewarded once we enter into heaven as the works that are doneoperating in God's perfect will and plan for our lives. Each and every Christian has to make one, big whopper personal decisionin this life, and that one decision is who is going to run your life from hereon in, you or God? This is an all or nothing decision. Either you are going to let God havefull, complete and total control of every aspect of your life or you are not.You cannot straddle the fence post with either yourself or the Lord on thisdecision. If you do, you will end up paralyzing yourself and you will neveraccomplish anything of any real worth in this lifetime. If you decide that you do want to make this full and complete surrenderwith the Lord and let Him guide your steps in this life into His perfect planand destiny for your life, you will now have to make one more big decision.You will now have to make sure that you will be willing to be perfectlyobedient to the Lord with whatever He will be asking you to do for Him inthis life. 94

The Bible Basics It is one thing to be able to start out making this full surrender with theLord, but it is going to be quite another thing to be able to stay in perfectobedience to the Lord as you proceed along in your life's journey with Him.There will come times when God will tell you to do one thing and you willwant to do another thing. At times, it may literally become a battle of wills,your will against God's will, over certain issues or certain situations that willoccur in your life. You will simply have to make an all or nothing decision that you will be perfectly obedient to the Lord to your last dying breath. Once you enter into this full surrendered power walk with the Lord, you will always have to agree to do things His way. It's either God's way or the highway. There are no middle grounds or neutral areas in this part of our walk with the Lord. Jesus is the Shepherd, we are the sheep. He leads, we follow. It is the job of the sheep to always follow and obey the Shepherd. Though God will sometimes be willing to consider your personalarguments and contentions over certain issues or matters in your life, whatyou will have to really ground on is that God will always be knowing what isgoing to be best for each situation that you will be personally encounteringin this life. You are going to have to be willing to accept whatever God'sfinal decisions are going to be on certain issues in your life. And this is where it can get really tough and trying. Though you knowGod will always know what is going to be best for each major decision thatyou will have to make in this life, your flesh will still try to act up and try toget its own way, especially if it is something that you are really wanting. We simply cannot stress enough the importance that you fully realize that your personal obedience to the Lord in this life will be the major deciding factor as to whether or not you fully accomplish all of your divine destiny for Him. You will never complete and fulfill your divine destiny, receive the blessings that God would have had in store for you in this life, find your true soul mate, and find what you were really created to be in this life unless you are willing to perfectly obey all of God's specific instructions and directions on how to actually get you there. If God is going to be willing to enter you into His perfect plan and destiny for your life, be willing to perfectly guide you every step of the way so that you can reach and fulfill that divine destiny, and be willing to anoint you with His power, grace and ability so that you 95

The Bible Basics can be very good and very successful at whatever He will be calling you to do for Him, but you are not going to be willing to obey all of His specific commands, directions and instructions on how to actually get there, then you will never make it out of the dugout, much less ever make it to the top of your own personal mountain in the Lord. You will spend your whole life in the dugout watching all of God's perfect plan and destiny for your life pass you by and once it passes you by, it will be gone for all of eternity. You will never get another chance to get it all back again. You will never be able to turn back the hands of time and try and start all over again once your divine destiny in the Lord has fully passed you by. You only have one shot, one window and one opportunity to fulfill your divine destiny in the Lord. And the only two things that will enable you to fulfill your true divine destiny in the Lord is you being willing to enter into this full surrender with Him, and then being willing to be perfectly obedient to the Lord with whatever instructions, commands or directions that He will be giving you along the way through His Holy Spirit. It really is that simple, but yet so many Christians completely miss out onwhat their true callings and divine destinies would have been in this life, allbecause they did not want to be perfectly obedient to the Lord with what Hewas calling and asking them to do for Him in this life. Two of the most glaring examples of this obedience factor coming intomajor play in the Bible has to be the story of Abraham and Moses. God first tested Abraham's obedience. He asked Abraham to sacrifice hisson Isaac on an altar. God obviously had no real intentions on havingAbraham literally kill his son. All God wanted to see was if Abraham wouldreally obey His specific command. And once Abraham showed God that hewould perfectly obey this order and would be willing to go all the waythrough with it, God commanded him to stop and then pronounced one of themost incredible blessings and rewards that would ever befall anyone in theOld Testament. He told Abraham that from his seed all the nations of the world would beblessed and that from his bloodline His Son Jesus would be born into thisworld. Abraham thus started the generational blood line that wouldeventually lead up to Jesus being born into this world through the virginMary. And all of this incredible domino action started as a result of Abraham 96

The Bible Basicsbeing perfectly obedient to the Lord on that one special order. Abraham wasthus highly rewarded because of his perfect obedience to God the Father. Moses managed to do just the opposite. Moses was not allowed to go intothe Promised Land because he directly disobeyed a specific command givento him by the Lord. What happened in this incident is that God told Moses tospeak out to a rock in the presence of the Israelites and that the rock wouldthen bring forth water for the people and their animals. For some strange reason, Moses strikes the rock twice with his rod insteadof just speaking out to the rock as God had specifically told him to do. Hewas thus in direct violation of a direct command by the Lord. The Biblereally doesn’t say why Moses did this. He obviously should have knownbetter. Though Moses ended up being one of the greatest men in all of the Biblewith everything that He had accomplished in the Lord, his story ends on arather sad and tragic note, all because he did not perfectly obey God theFather on this one specific command. These two men's dramatic stories in the Lord should be a major lesson toeach and everyone of us on the extreme importance that we get it throughour sometimes thick skulls that we have to walk this walk in perfectobedience to the Lord. If we don't, the results could end up being very sad, ifnot possibly tragic and fatal. The Scripture Verses Here are 9 powerful verses from the Bible all having the word \"obey\" orsome form of that word in each one of them. God is not mincing any words. You can tell by the tone and the straight forward language being used bythe Lord that He is letting all of us know, loud and clear, that He is the Onewho has to call all of the shots in our lives, and it is up to each and everyoneof us to perfectly obey Him every step of the way as we journey through thislife. 1. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said: \"We ought to obey God rather than men.\" (Acts 5:29) 2. \"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may OBEY HIS VOICE, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your 97

The Bible Basics days\" (Deuteronomy 30:19) 3. \"If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.\" (Job 36:11) 4. \"And the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.\" (Acts 6:7) 5. \"You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?\" (Galatians 5:7) 6. \"and having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him\" (Acts 5:9) 7. \"But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.\" (Romans 6:17) 8. \"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart\" (1 Peter 1:22) 9. \"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.\" Then Saul said to Samuel, \"I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.\" (1 Samuel 15:22-24) The first verse has a major key phrase that should be memorized by allChristians. Peter says that we should \"obey God rather than men.\" This powerful command really has major relevance in this day and age,especially with our young children who are constantly having to battle thetemptation to follow after other people who are not living their life the wayGod would like them to live it. Every minute of every day someone is getting burned, hurt or possiblykilled as a result of following after the wrong people or the wrong crowd.What they are doing is \"obeying\" and \"following\" after other people in thislife rather than obeying and following directly after the Lord God has the big picture all set up. Either we choose to fully \"obey\" God'svoice and follow directly after Him and all of His ways for our life and 98

The Bible Basicsreceive His \"life\" and \"blessings\" for our life, or we can choose to followother people or the ways of this corrupt world and then end up bringingdown \"death\" and \"cursing\" upon us and our families. There are no middle grounds or neutral areas with the way this verse isbeing specifically worded. In addition to obeying the Lord direct, that we have to obey His \"truth\"and His \"doctrine\", which means that we have to obey all of the directwords and truth of the Bible, since all of the Bible comes to us direct fromGod the Father through the Holy Spirit and is thus perfectly inspired,infallible and inerrant. The last verse is talking about King Saul and how he got into majortrouble with the Lord because he was not being obedient to the Lord withsome of the decisions he made in his life. Saul actually tells Samuel that hedirectly transgressed and sinned against the Lord as result of obeying thepeople's voice instead of directly obeying God's voice. He apparently obeyedthe people rather than God because he \"feared the people.\" How many Christians are following after the wrong people or the wrong crowd in this life because they are fearing what other people may think about them if they do not do what everyone else is doing? The fear of man seduces and entraps many people, including many Christians, and many lives are totally ruined if not cut completely short with an early death as a result of the consequences of following after the wrong people in this life. Christians as well as unbelievers are sheep being led right into some of these slaughterhouses because they are following after the wrong shepherds in this life. The Lord is our Shepherd and we as His sheep are to follow directly after Him in this life, not the world or any of the other people in this world. The last verse really sums up the extreme importance of being perfectlyobedient to the Lord to the best of our abilities when God is telling us that\"rebellion\" is as the sin of \"witchcraft\" and \"stubbornness\" is the samething as \"iniquity\" and \"idolatry.\" Every time you directly disobey the Lord, you are committing a direct sinagainst Him, you are committing idolatry before Him since you are placingyour wants and your desires over Him and what He wants to do with yourlife, and you are no better off than a witch or a warlock if you seek to followafter your own way or the ways of this world rather than the Lord Himself 99

The Bible Basicsand His ways for your life. These extremely harsh and strong words being spoken by the Lordthrough the prophet Samuel to King Saul really apply to each and everyoneof us if we try and buck the Lord and directly disobey Him like Saulmanaged to do so many times. There can only be one true captain of your ship, one true commander inchief and one true shepherd in your life. You can either choose to makeyourself the captain of your ship, some of the other people in your life, orGod Almighty Himself. All of the above verses are as clear as day as to who should be the Captainof your ship and the Shepherd of your soul, and that one Person is our Lordand Savior Jesus Christ and His heavenly Father, who will then lead us inthis life through His Holy Spirit. Specific Areas of Obedience With the Lord Even though this appears at first glance to be a very easy principle toabide by with the Lord, there are times that it will really be tough to do,especially with our flesh and spirits constantly warring against one another. Here are several specific areas that you could find yourself engaging in amajor tug of war on with the Lord.1. Your Divine Call in the Lord Either one of two things will happen in this first area. Either you will be infull and complete agreement with the Lord with what He will be calling youto do for Him in this life, or you will have initial problems with the call, andyou will then start to try and wrestle with the Lord over the specific call. You will be rewarded up in heaven for the works that you will do directly for God operating under His perfect will for your life, not for the works that you will choose to do for yourself operating out of your own will for your life. God may call some to become doctors, attorneys, missionaries,evangelists, policeman, or business executives. But they may want to besomething else entirely different. They may want to become musicians,politicians or high school or college teachers. God has a specific plan for your life and a specific direction that He will 100

The Bible Basicswant to take your life in. Once you find out exactly what God wants to dowith your life and the direction that He will want to take it in, you can eitherchoose to come into full agreement with His perfect plan for your life or youcan choose to walk out on Him and make your own decisions as to what jobsand vocations you will be seeking after in this life. We have to obey God in this life rather than ourselves or the other peoplein our lives. And the very first order of business with the Lord is that weperfectly obey the call and the direction that He will want to take our livesin. If we do, then we will be led on the path of our true divine destiny in Himand will thus be highly rewarded once we enter into heaven after we havecompleted and fulfilled that divine destiny for Him.2. Who You Will Marry in This Life The next major order of business after making sure that you will perfectlyobey the call that God will want to place on your life, is to make sure thatyou let God choose who you will be marrying in this life if it is in Hisperfect will that you get married in this life. We literally cannot even begin to count the number of Christian men andwomen we have met in our life who have never asked God who they shouldbe marrying in this life. Many of them have either gone through multipledivorces or they are now living in lifeless, dead and miserable marriages. Many people, when they are still dating at a young age, may fall madly inlove with their current steady boyfriend or girlfriend. They think this personhas to be their true soul mate. Then when they go to God to ask His opinionas to whether or not they should be marrying this person, and then Godcomes back and tells them that they have the wrong person, they end up inmajor wrestling matches with the Lord because they do not want to wait anylonger and they are so sure that they have found the right person. Not fully realizing that God can perfectly see into their futures and that Hecan see who is going to change for the better and who is going to change forthe worse over time, they decide to make their own decision and completelyignore what God is trying to tell them to do. They then end up marrying that wrong person and further on down theroad they end up going through very painful, messy and traumatic divorces,not to mention the possibility of becoming the victims of verbal, physical orsexual abuse from someone who may have become completely psychoticover the years. 101

The Bible Basics Only God knows who would be best suited for you. Only God knows whowill change for the better or who will change for the worse over the years ofyour marriage. Only God knows who will stay true, loyal and faithful to you.And only God knows where this person is located and exactly how to leadyou to meet this person. And the only way to be able to get God to matchyou up with the man or woman of your dreams is to perfectly obey Himevery step of the way as He leads you on your journey to eventually meetthis person at the prescribed time that He has it set up to occur and manifestin your life. But if you disobey God and marry someone that He doesn't want you tomarry, then you will never meet the true soul mate of His choice for your lifeand you will either end up living in a second or third best marriage if eventhat, or you will end up going through multiple partners trying to find thatright person for you. Obey God every step of the way in your personal walk with Him, and Hewill then eventually lead you to the mate of His choice for your life if it is inHis perfect will that you get married in this life. If God tells you to stay away from a certain person or to sever the datingrelationship that you may already have with someone, then you have to doexactly what He is telling you to do, no matter how good looking or howpretty that person may appear to you, and no matter how much you are inlove with that person.3. Choosing Who Your Friends Will Be in This Life Another major area where you can really get into some major wrestlingmatches with the Lord is in the area of choosing who your personal friendsare going to be in this life. This is one major area that you really have to beled by the Lord on as you could get yourself into serious trouble if youchoose to hang out and associate with the wrong type of people or the wrongcrowd. We have to choose our friends very carefully in this life and that if wedon't, bad and negative type friends can corrupt us and completely sever ourpersonal walk and divine destiny that we will have with the Lord. Many Christians never enter on the road of their divine destiny in the Lordbecause they could never give up some of their negative friends. Theirnegative friends keep them bound up in their lower way of living in this lifeand they never break free from the chains of their dysfunctional destructive 102

The Bible Basicsinfluences. If God is telling you that He wants some of your negative friends prunedout of your life, then you will have to go with His orders or you couldpossibly end up keeping yourself in the dugout for the rest of your earthlylife, never accomplishing God's perfect will and plan for your life. Due to the very important influences that friends will have in our lives, wehave to let God run this part of our life and let Him make the calls and thedecisions as to who will become our good personal friends in this life. Godknows much better than we do who we should be hooking up with in this lifeand who we should be staying away from since His knowledge and wisdomon all matters is absolutely perfect and ours is not.4. Giving Up Different Vices and Addictions Once you enter into a true full surrender with the Lord where He is nowgoing to fully guide you into your divine destiny for Him, one of the firstthings He is going to do is to make an attempt to clean up any bad vices andaddictions you may have in your life. We all have certain weaknesses and character flaws in our personalitiesdue to the sin nature that we have all been born into this world with, butthere are certain things that there will be no slack on with the Lord. Twospecific things that He will definitely come after are the abuse of alcohol andany type of drug use, including pot! Once you step out into God's perfect plan and destiny for your life, youcannot give demons any kind of legal right to be able to start coming afteryou. And two of the biggest legal rights you can give demons is the abuse ofalcohol and doing any type of drugs. Drugs especially are major dooropeners to the dark side since they directly affect your mind and mentalabilities. The mind is the battlefield between God and the devil, and anything thatyou do to your mind to weaken its ability to properly function will causedemons to come after you. We have met numerous Christians who tried tomake a full surrender with the Lord, but they were not willing to give uptheir pot smoking. In each one of these cases God came after them with avery heavy hand and He made it known very quickly and in no uncertainterms that they would not even get out of the dugout unless they were willingto totally and completely give up their pot smoking. Some people think that since pot is the lesser evil of all of the bad drugs 103

The Bible Basicsthat are out there, that maybe God will cut them some slack on it. But we cantell you from first hand experience as a result of working with newborns thatthere is no slack with the Lord on this issue and if you continue to try andbuck Him on this issue, then sooner or later He will come after you with avery heavy hand. He will only give you a certain amount of time to see theerrors of your way on this issue, and if you are not willing to give it up, thenyou will be benched in His dugout, or should we say the doghouse! The same thing goes for the abuse of alcohol. There is some slack withthose who can drink in proper moderation and do not abuse alcohol, but onceyou step past that slack line and start to abuse it, you will enter into majortwo by four territory with the Lord. If you can't control your use of alcohol, then sooner or later the alcoholwill start to control you and when it does, you will not be able to properlyfunction in your call with the Lord. That is why God will try and nip thisabuse very early on in your walk with Him once you enter into this fullsurrender with Him. You will have to make a decision on the areas that God will want to getproperly cleaned up. You can either choose to obey the Lord and work withthe power of the Holy Spirit to break these bad vices and addictions off ofyou, or you can choose to directly disobey the Lord and keep doing thingsyour way. If you choose to keep disobeying the Lord on these kinds of issues, thenyou will get benched and your divine walk with Him will get completelyshut down until you can agree to see and do things God's way. There will beno negotiating or trying to compromise your way out of some of theseheavier sin areas with the Lord. Many Christians never enter into their true divine destines with the Lord,much less ever fully fulfill them, because they would not be obedient to theLord with some of the areas that He was wanting to get cleaned up. If you are really serious about entering into a true full surrender with theLord so that He can guide you into His perfect plan and destiny for your life,be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit with anything that He will want to bringup that will need to be taken out of your life. Obey the Lord in this area of your sanctification with Him, and He willthen cut you free to fly into His perfect plan for your life. Choose to disobeyand ignore God's orders, and you will stay stuck and grounded right whereyou are at until you can agree to do things His way. 104

The Bible Basics5. Being Willing to Forgive Others Who Have Wronged You Another area in your sanctification with the Lord that He will make a verystrong attempt to get cleaned up to some type of reasonable degree is in thearea of being willing to fully forgive all of the people in your past who havehurt or trespassed against you in some way. With all of the dysfunctional abuse that has gone on and keeps going on inmany marriages and families throughout the world, many people have beenseriously hurt and wounded, and in many cases, quite severely. Physical andsexual abuse is rampant across this world and the victims are left with tryingto get their lives back in order once they have broken free from their abusers,if they ever do. Once God has broken you free from any abusive situation you may havebeen caught in, one of the first things He is going to ask you to do is to tryand fully forgive the people who have abused you, no matter how bad orhow severe that abuse may have been. God will ask you, sooner or later, to make an attempt to forgive all ofthose who have hurt and trespassed against you. The reason for this is contained in the following verse: \"AND WHENEVER YOU STAND PRAYING, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that you Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.\" (Mark 11:25) God will not forgive you of your sins unless you are first willing toforgive all of those who have trespassed against you. Second, God may noteven be willing to hear any of your prayers until you are willing to do sosince this verse is specifically starting out with the words \"And wheneveryou stand praying.\" If you can't get any of your personal sins properly forgiven with the Lordor get any of your personal prayers answered with Him, then you will nevermake it out the dugout since your prayer life is the lifeblood of your enginewith the Lord. This is why the Lord will make a very strong attempt to haveyou fully forgive all of the people who have ever wronged you in this life. Obey the Lord on this issue, and through the power of the Holy Spiritoperating on the inside of you, He will give you the supernatural power andability to be able to forgive all of these people, no matter how bad or howsevere they may have hurt or wronged you, whether it be from verbal, 105

The Bible Basicsphysical or any type of sexual abuse.6. Waiting For God's Timing Another major area where you can really get yourself into trouble with theLord is in the area of properly waiting on God's timing to bring somethingyour way. One of the first rules of a true surrendered walk with the Lord is that notonly will God be guiding your steps in this life, but He will also be guidingthem according to the timetable that He has set up to make these chessmoves in your life. For instance, if God has it set up that He will want you to marry in thislife, then not only will God lead you to the person that He will want you tomarry, but He will lead you to this person at the exact prescribed time thatHe has it set up to occur on His timetable, not your personal timetable! Andnot only does God have the exact date and time set up for you to meet thisperson, but He also has the rest of your earthly divine destiny set up on thissame timetable. Everything that will be occurring and manifesting in your walk and life with the Lord will be manifesting at the exact time that God has it set up to manifest, not one minute sooner and not one minute later! You are going to have to be willing to obey the Lord on these timingissues and not try to buck Him or get ahead of the game and try to forcethings to happen before they are ready to happen on His set timetable. If youever get out of and off of God's timetable to any serious degree, you couldseriously jeopardize the rest of your divine destiny with Him. Marrying the wrong person because you got impatient and could not waitfor God's timing to bring you His choice for your life could cause you to losevaluable years on the mountain you are attempting to climb for Him as aresult of having to deal with either living in a bad marriage or having to dealwith a messy, painful and expensive divorce. Taking the next new wrong job because you could not wait for God topromote you into the next new job that He has set up for you to take couldcause you to get completely knocked off the course that He has set up foryou to follow. In the very fast paced world in which we now live in, your flesh will reallytry to act up and try to force things to happen before they are ready to happenwith the Lord. This is where you are going to have to really exert self control 106

The Bible Basicsand override any frustrations or impatience you may be experiencing. What we have found from personal experience with the Lord is that He has a much slower time frame to work things out than we do. And unless you learn how to adjust to the slower way that God has in working things out and making things happen in your life, you could easily get yourself knocked right out of your call in Him if you try to do something before it has been set up to properly occur in your life. Some of the chess moves God will be making in your life will be comingthrough on very short windows of opportunity. You have to wait for thatwindow to open up before you attempt to go through it, but once it does, youalso have to make sure that you barrel through that window when it doesopen, as it will not stay open forever. Your life is thus like a chessboard to the Lord. This is why you have to beguided by the Holy Spirit as to not only what moves to make on thatchessboard, but exactly when to make those chess moves. Since only God's knowledge is absolutely perfect on all matters, then onlyGod Himself will know exactly what chess moves you will have to make andexactly when those chess moves will have to be made. Try to make any of these chess moves yourself without consulting Godfirst, especially on the bigger actions and decisions, and you could either endup having valuable years lost in building the house of your life in the Lord orthe house you are attempting to build could come completely crashing downon you, all as a result of not being willing to be guided by the Holy Spirit asto exactly what chess moves to make and exactly when to make those chessmoves. Life is a battlefield, and God as your Commander in Chief is the only One who can safely guide you through all of the land mines that are out there and safely guide you to the finish line of your life with all of your divine assignments and tasks fully completed for Him.7. Obeying All of God's Ways and Commandments In the Bible are all the ways and commandments of our Lord. God lays outexactly what we can and cannot do in this life. It is then up to each andeveryone of us as to whether or not we will choose to obey all of God's waysand commandments for our lives. When God says we are to obey all 10 of His commandments, that we are 107

The Bible Basicsnot to engage with anything having to do with the occult or homosexuality,and that we are not to take vengeance on our enemies, then it is up to us toobey all of these specific commands and not tempt our hand or fate with theLord with what He is wanting to do with our lives. How many anointedvessels have lost their calls, their anointings, and possibly their lives as aresult of directly disobeying the Lord in some of these forbidden areas?These ways and commandments of our Lord are all for our own good and forour own protection. But yet so many of His own have completely lost all oftheir calls in Him and have failed to fulfill all of their divine destiniesbecause they had treaded into some of these dangerous and forbidden areas. This is why it is so vital and so important that each Christian spend asmuch time as they can in studying and reading from the Word so that weknow exactly where our boundary lines are set at with the Lord and exactlywhat we can and cannot do in this life. The Bible tells us that God's peoplewill perish for having lack of knowledge and that knowledge can only bereceived by reading directly from the Bible. There is no other book that willgive us this direct knowledge. The wages of sin will always be some kind of death, and unless you arewilling to obey the Lord by staying out of and away from some of theseforbidden areas, you could have your walk or possibly your life cutcompletely short as a result of the consequences that could occur fromentering into some of these different sin areas. God expects all of us to obeyand keep all of His commandments as best we can. And when we do findourselves falling short, we have the power of the Holy Spirit Himselfliterally residing on the inside of us to help us to combat and overcome anytemptation to fall into some of these sin areas or to help us pull out of any ofthese sin areas if we have already fallen into it. 108

The Bible BasicsChapter 7The Fear of the Lord If there is one special revelation that we have received from the Lord thatcan help keep us out of major trouble with Him, it has to be the revelation ofbeing able to develop a good and healthy fear of Him and all of His ways. Having the right kind of a fear in the Lord have scared some Christiansalmost half to death. As a result of not learning how to develop the right kindof healthy fear in the Lord, they have become neurotic and paranoid in theirown personal relationship with Him. As a result of this abnormal type of fear and paranoia, they no longer havethe courage to draw close to the Lord in their own personal relationship withHim. They have become too afraid to draw close to Him, or to try andestablish any type of intimate communication with Him. Then you have other Christians who are operating at the other extremeend of this revelation. They no longer have any fear of the Lord and thejudgment they will face at the end of their lives, and they are thus out doinganything and everything they want, not caring who they hurt, wound, or runover in the process. Many churches do not like to teach and preach about this revelation thatwe are receiving from the Lord. Try preaching this revelation at one of yourSunday services and watch how many people will start to squirm andgrimace right there in their seats. As a result of the discomfort that this kindof revelation will bring to many in the flock, many pastors and churcheshave decided not to talk or preach about it, and many in their flocks havebecome complacent and lukewarm in their own personal relationship withthe Lord and how they live their lives once they are outside the four walls ofthe church. God the Father is giving us this major revelation for our own good and forour own protection. For some Christians, the only thing that will keep themfrom crossing over into some of these heavier sin areas is to have a good,healthy fear of the Lord and all of His ways. Having a proper fear of theLord will help one to depart from evil. 109

The Bible Basics From time to time, the flock needs to hear a good fire and brimstone type message. The hammer needs to come down every so often to remind people that God the Father has two sides to His personality. To preach and teach only on the one side of God the Father’s personality is doing a great disservice to the flock. They need to hear the full scope and the full message of the gospel, not just watered down portions of it just so you can make everyone feel good and comfortable in their seats. Many Christians have had their lives totally ruined and destroyed as a result of not having a healthy sense of a fear of the Lord properly instilled and ingrained in their mindsets during their earlier growing years in the Church. As a result of leaving out this very important revelation from their lives, a very weak spiritual foundation ends up getting laid, and many of these Christians end up being easily led right off the end of some very serious cliffs as a result of not having enough of a fear in the Lord properly instilled in them in that they should not be attempting to cross over into some of these forbidden areas to begin with. For many in the flock, this one major revelation alone will mean thedifference as to how long they will end up living on this earth, and whetheror not they will end up accomplishing everything that God would have hadin store for them in this life. The wages of sin will be death, and for some, itwill mean an early departure from this life as a result of crossing over intosome of these heavier sin areas. How many Christians have departed from this life before their time wasreally up in the Lord as a result of getting addicted to alcohol or to some ofthe heavier drugs? How many Christians have been killed or murdered as aresult of choosing to hang out with the wrong type of people as we see in alot of the gang activity that is still prevalent in many of our major citiestoday? How many Christians have completely lost their good marriages as aresult of not being able to stay true, loyal, and faithful to their spouses? Howmany children have had to suffer the extreme pain of a painful, messy, andbloody divorce, all because one of their parents could not stay loyal andfaithful to the other? We could go on and on with all of the “death” that has occurred to some Christians as a result of crossing over into some of these heavier sin areas. And in many of these cases, one of the main 110

The Bible Basics reasons that some of these Christians were willing to cross over into some of these heavier sin areas to begin with was due to having little or no fear of the Lord. Many people only live this life for what they can get out of it right now.They want immediate gratification of their impulses and desires, and theywill usually stop at nothing to try and satisfy those desires. They do not stopto think of the consequences of their actions. They do not stop to think whatwill happen if they get caught and how many other people they will end uphurting and wounding. They do not stop to think what God Himself may bethinking about their actions and behaviors. God the Father has drawn a major battle line in the sand for each andeveryone of us. God is asking each and everyone of us to stay on our side ofthe fence in our walk with Him. He is letting all of us know, loud and clear, what we can and cannot do inthis life. He is letting all of us know what areas we can walk into, and whatareas we are to avoid like the plague. In most of these sinful and forbiddenareas, it does not take a rocket scientist to know that these areas are wrongand sinful in the eyes of God to begin with. We all know basic right fromwrong. But yet, we still have so many people in this life, including someChristians, who will still tempt their fate and their hand with the Lordanyway and still cross over into some of these forbidden areas. This is why this particular revelation is so important and so needed in every Christian household. We have all been born into this world with a fallen and sinful nature. Every single one of us still has to battle this sin nature and make sure that we do not give into the desires of it. We have a flesh side to our personalities and that we have to do everything we can not to fulfill the desires of that flesh. And one of the ways that you can battle the desires of your flesh is to have a full understanding and a full appreciation of this revelation of being able to have an appropriate kind of fear of the Lord. Once you have a full understanding and realization of what this kind of healthy fear is really all about, this will go a long way in being able to help you stay on the righteous side of the fence in your walk with the Lord. This revelation from the Lord has two sides to it. It is like looking at a twosided coin. This two sided coin are the two sides to the personality of Godthe Father. On the one side of the coin is the loving, merciful, gracious, andtender side to God’s personality. On the other side of the coin is the 111

The Bible Basicsrighteous judgment, wrath, and anger side of the Lord. Many Churches are afraid to preach and teach about the judgment andwrath side of God the Father’s personality. We have heard some of them saythat you will catch many more people with honey and sugar than you willwith fire and brimstone. This saying may be true for some, but for someothers, this will not work. Some people need to have a healthy fear of theLord properly instilled in them, as this may be the only thing that will helpkeep them from crossing over into some of these forbidden areas to beginwith. If we spare the rod, we may end up spoiling the child. The rod representsthe judgment, discipline, and chastening of the Lord. Some of God’s peoplenever really spiritually grow up and mature in their walks with Him. Theyend up becoming very carnal Christians whose only desire is to live this lifefor all of the carnal and fleshly pleasures they can get out of it while theystill can. For the other Christians who have developed and matured in their walkwith the Lord, they have to watch themselves so that they do not go to theother extreme end of this revelation. On the one end of the extreme, youhave Christians who have little or no fear of the Lord, and they are outbreaking any law and any commandment they see fit so they can satisfy theirlustful desires. This other extreme end is where some Christians get so scared and soparanoid that they are not walking just right with the Lord, that they start toget too scared of God, and they then start to pull away from Him in their ownpersonal relationship with Him. They are so scared and so afraid that theyare not doing everything just right in the Lord, they no longer think He findsthem pleasing in His sight. The only way to properly look at this revelation is to realize that we are dealing with a two sided coin. God the Father has two different sides to His personality. On the one side is that loving, caring, nurturing, merciful, tender and gentle side. On the other side is the righteous judgment, wrath and anger side that can and will manifest if we try and push the envelope too far with Him. This is no different than what we would see in a normal and healthy typeof family and household. Children need to know that their parents will drawmajor battle lines in the sand as to what they can and cannot do, and thatthey will then get called out on it if they try to break any of those rules andregulations that their parents have set up for them. Many children have been 112

The Bible Basicsprevented from falling into drugs, premarital sex, and gang and criminalactivity as a result of the enforcement of these good rules and regulations bytheir good parents. It’s the exact same way with God the Father. God is our Father, and assuch, He is laying down all of the rules and regulations that we are to abideby in this life, with all of it being for our own good and protection. So when you look at God the Father, make sure that you see both sides of His personality. If you are walking right with the Lord, expect Him to deal with you in a very loving, caring, and nurturing manner. But if you decide to push the envelope with Him and cross over into some of these heavier sin areas, do not expect Him to turn a blind eye and not make some kind of attempt to convict you and call you out on the transgression. God will only give you a certain amount of time and a certain amount of rope to run with before He will make an attempt to pull you back in. If you are not willing to see the errors of your ways and thinking, then sooner or later God will come after you. And for some, this will mean that some type of judgment will be rendered against them. Sin has consequences, not only with the other people in your life, but also with God Almighty Himself. Every single one of us will have to face a personal judgment with the Lordwhen we die and cross over. The Christian will face a personal judgment foreverything they have ever said or done in this life at the Judgment Seat ofChrist. The unsaved will face their personal judgment at the end of themillennium in what is called the Great White Throne Judgment. Many of the churches are not talking about these judgments and theimportance that each and every Christian develop a good and healthy type offear of the Lord in this lifetime. We have heard many people say they do not want to always be hearingjudgment and fire and brimstone type messages. This is obviously notsomething that you want to talk about and harp on at every single service.But from time to time, these kinds of messages must be delivered to theflock so that they never, ever, forget what kind of God we are dealing withand that there will always be consequences to our actions, especially thekinds of actions that will lead us into crossing over into some of theseheavier sin areas. If more pastors, teachers, and churches would include these kinds of messages in their sermons from time to time. Many more Christians 113

The Bible Basics could be kept from crossing over into some of these heavier sin areas. The fear of the Lord should be a major, basic, fundamental revelation that should be taught to every single Christian as they are growing in the Lord. Many Christians have become too lax and lukewarm in their own personalrelationships with the Lord, and they are thinking that He will either notreally care, or that He will turn a blind eye if they decide they want to try andcross over into some of these heavier sin areas. Now here are some very good verses on the importance that each andeveryone of us learn how to develop a good, healthy type of fear of the Lord. The Scripture Verses We first want to give you some good, basic definitions of what the fear ofthe Lord is really all about. Some of the different Bible Dictionaries describethe fear of the Lord as follows: Reverential awe An awe inspiring reverence Personal awareness of the awesome and majestic sovereignty of God True reverence for God Reverential fear Holy fear Feeling of reverence, awe and respect toward the Almighty Here are the 20 verses: 1. “And by fear of the Lord one departs from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6) 2. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13) 3. “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.” (Proverbs 15:16) 4. “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil.” (Proverbs 19:23) 114

The Bible Basics5. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” (Psalm 2:11)6. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” (Hebrews 12:28)7. “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but in the fear of the Lord continue all day long; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off.” (Proverbs 23:17)8. “Says the Lord, “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2)9. “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him” (Psalm 147:11)10. Then Peter opened is mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:34)11. “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to avoid the snares of death.” (Proverbs 14:26)12. “The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened.” (Proverbs 10:27)13. “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.” (Proverbs 22:4)14. “Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him” (Psalm 25:12)15. “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness” (Psalm 112:1) 115

The Bible Basics 16. “Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall be the man blessed who fears the Lord.” (Psalm 128:1) 17. “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” (Acts 9:31) 18. “Then they will call on Me, but I will not answer; they will seek Me diligently, but they will not find Me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of My counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to Me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.” (Proverbs 1:28) 19. “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4) 20. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) It is by the fear of the Lord that we will be able to depart from evil. ManyChristians are falling into some of the heavier sin areas as a result of nothaving enough of a fear of the Lord properly instilled in them. The fear ofthe Lord is to hate evil. Notice some of the incredible blessings a believer can receive from theLord if they can learn how to have a reverent and godly fear of Him and allof His ways. A proper fear of the Lord can lead to the following blessings: 116

The Bible Basics Life Happiness Satisfaction Strong confidence Prolong your days on this earth Your children will have a place of refuge Wealth, riches, honor and prosperity Dwell in safety Will not be visited with evil Will be able to avoid the snares of death The last verse is coming from King Solomon. God gave this man one ofthe most incredible gifts that anyone can be given in this life, and that giftwas to have the knowledge of God flowing through him in such a way thatno man would ever be his equal in this gift. So when this man makes a statement starting out with the words “Let ushear the conclusion of the whole matter,” and then goes on to state thatthe two most important things are that we learn how to fear God and keepHis commandments, you know we are talking about a major, profoundrevelation from the Lord! Not only can you feel the power on this revelation, but you can also seehow vital and important it is that this revelation get burned into everybeliever’s mindset and way of thinking in this life. For many, it will be amatter of their own life and death if they are ever tempted to cross over intoforbidden territory. 117

The Bible BasicsChapter 8Trusting in the Lord In a world where most of us get beat up to one degree or another, manypeople come out of these beatings with a problem in not being able to trustanyone else, ever again! All you have to do is watch the daily news and it isone tragic story after another. Our neighborhoods are no longer as safe as they used to be. Bizarre,random, and senseless type crimes seem to be on the increase with all of theshootings that have occurred at our high schools, and now in our churchesand in the courthouses themselves with the latest round of senselesstragedies that have just occurred. All of us, to one degree or another, have been wronged in some waythroughout the course of our lives. And for some, these wrongs have beenvicious, nasty, and sometimes extremely traumatic, especially those whohave been victims of crimes such as rapes, assaults, robberies, and actualmurders of close friends or family. The Bible has already predicted that the love of many will grow cold aswe enter into end times. The Bible says that many will become lovers ofself, unholy, proud, unloving, without self control, brutal and lovers ofpleasure rather than lovers of God and His ways. Paul talks about these traitsin 2 Timothy 3:1, and says that all of this will occur in the last days. Being brutal and without self control may help explain some of the reallybizarre crimes that we are starting to see more of with the random typeshootings that are occurring in our schools and other public places. Even ourown government has to keep reminding us of the dangers of possible furtherterrorist activity anywhere and at anytime, and that we have to keep a sharplookout just within our own natural surroundings as you never know whenthe next land mine may go off. All of this kind of heightened activity canreally start to erode a person’s ability to be able to trust anyone. For many others, they have a hard time in being able to trust anyone as aresult of some degree of physical and/or verbal abuse they have sufferedfrom either their parents or their spouses. Spousal abuse in this country isstill out of control with the number of women who are being severely beaten 118

The Bible Basicsby either their husbands or boyfriends. Many people have been so badly beaten and abused during the course oftheir lives, that they no longer have any ability to trust anyone, includingGod Himself! A dog can only take so much of a beating. After a certainamount of time, the dog will no longer trust anyone, including his ownmaster. As a result of the curse of Adam and Eve that is still in full operation onthis earth, there is always going to be a certain amount of wrongs that wewill all have to put up with, no exceptions! Nobody comes out of this lifeunscathed with all the people who have chosen with their own free wills tolive this life on the dark side. However, for Christians, no matter how badly you have been beaten up inyour past, the one thing that you cannot have affected is your ability to trustin your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our heavenly Father. As a result ofthe beatings that some of God’s people have taken over the years, some ofthese people have literally lost their ability to even trust in God Himself. It is one thing to have faith in God, to know that God exists, and that He isall powerful and that there is nothing that He cannot do or accomplish, but itis quite another thing to be able to fully trust God with your life, and to fullytrust Him to properly handle it for you, especially if everyone in your pasthas let you down in one way or another. For those of you who are have having problems in being able to fully trustthe Lord with your entire life, we will give you 15 very powerful andprofound verses from the Bible showing you that not only does God wantyou to fully trust Him with your life, but that it is a vital necessity that youlearn how to do so. Faith and trust go hand in hand. They are like a one two punch. First youmust have faith that God exists, that He is who the Bible says He is, and thatyou are truly saved under the shed Blood of His Son Jesus Christ. However,there is now one more big step you must take after you have this kind offaith in God. Once you are saved, then you must be willing to fully surrender yourentire life over to God the Father so that He can then enter you into Hisperfect plan and destiny for your life. You must become both saved andsurrendered, not just saved. God has a specific purpose and plan for each person’s life. Your life is nolonger your own. You have been bought at a price and God now wants to do 119

The Bible Basicssomething very specific with your life. Many Christians already know this, but they are still having a very hardtime in actually trusting God to handle their lives for them. Even though theyknow God is totally perfect and that He can perfectly handle and direct theirlives much better than they can do, they are still having a hard time inmaking that leap, in clearing that final hurdle to completely turn the reigns oftheir entire life over to God the Father for Him to fully handle. To any Christian who is having a hard time in clearing this final hurdle with God, you must make a final decision sooner or later as to who is going to run your life, you or God. And the longer you wait, and the longer you keep from making this final decision, the more years you are going to lose in this life in being able to produce any real lasting fruit in the Lord. For those of you whose final hurdle is this trust factor, you simply have to do what Peter did when he stepped out of the boat to start walking on water. You must take a big leap of faith and dive off that cliff, and decide that you will now fully trust in God and that you will now follow His Holy Spirit in the direction that He will want to take your life in. No matter how bad you have been hurt in your past, and no matter howmany people have hurt you in your past, you must now learn to fully trustGod with both yourself and with your entire life. Not only can you not trust anyone else with your life, but you can’t eventrust yourself with your life because of your own imperfections and characterflaws. Only God is “perfect,” and thus only God can “perfectly handle”your entire life for you. You have to completely “let go and let God” if you want any peace,happiness, joy, and fulfillment in this life. To really be able to enter into thisfull surrender with the Lord will require you to be able to completely trustthe Lord with both yourself and your entire life. If you do not learn how to fully trust the Lord with your entire life, thenwhat you will find start to happen is that you will start to hold and pull backon certain areas of your life with Him. And once you start to hold or pullback in these certain areas of your life, you will then handcuff God in beingable to work any further in those specific areas of your life. This is why youhave to be willing to completely trust the Lord with every single area of yourlife with no exceptions! 120

The Bible Basics Learning to really trust God in the way that He wants you to fully trust Him is an all or nothing principle. You are either going to fully trust Him with every area of your life or you are not. The minute you start waffling and trying to straddle the fence post with Him on this issue, you will then become what the Bible says is a wavering and double minded man who will become unstable in all of his ways. All men and women have sinned and have fallen way short of the glory ofGod. All men and women are thus flawed and imperfect to one degree oranother. You are always going to be running into people who will hurt youand who will continue to hurt you in this life. There is simply no gettingaway from this cold hard fact in this life. But just because imperfect peoplehave hurt you and will continue to hurt you in this life does not mean thatyou have to hold this against God Himself. God the Father and Jesus Christ are totally perfect in Their actual naturesand personalities. There is no darkness in Their personalities. This meansthey have no evil in Them like all humans have. They are thus incapable ofhurting you in any way, shape, or form. This means that you can completelytrust the both of Them to perfectly handle you and everything else in yourlife. They are both totally perfectly dependable because They are both totallyperfect in Their actual personalities. This is why Jesus says that He has to be the Rock that you are to buildyour life on. If you try and build your life on what you want or what youthink other people want from you, you will be building nothing butsandcastles that will perish the minute any serious storm clouds come againstit. Now here are some very profound and powerful verses from the Bibleshowing us the extreme importance that each and everyone of us learn howto fully trust the Lord with every single area of our life. We simply cannotstress enough the importance and the power that is on these specific verses.These are all major foundational verses that your walk with the Lord has tobe grounded on. The Scripture Verses Notice some of the incredible blessings and promises God is making toyou if you can get to the point of being able to fully trust Him with your life. We will summarize these key words for you, at the end of these 15 versesso you can see the incredible benefits and blessings you can have if you are 121

The Bible Basicswilling to fully trust this awesome God of ours. 1. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5) 2. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass, Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:4-7) 3. “Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon His God.” (Isaiah 50:10) 4. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.” (Psalm 125:1) 5. “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went.” (2 Kings 18:5-7) 6. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” (Isaiah 26:3) 7. “A good man, will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies.” (Psalm 112:5-8) 8. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him, But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” (Psalm 34:8-10) 9. “He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.” (Proverbs 16:20) 10. “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.” (Proverbs 29:25) 11. “But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.” (Isaiah 57:13) 122

The Bible Basics 12. Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but her leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5) 13. “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help, Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, Who keeps truth forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.” (Psalm 146:3-7) 14. “He who trusts in his riches will fall” (Proverbs 11:28) 15. “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19) If you really chew and meditate on all of the above verses, you will reallybe able to feel the power on the revelation that God is trying to impart to youon the importance of completely trusting Him with every area of your life. Notice some of the incredible blessings that are attached to being able tofully trust in God: You will be happy You will not walk in darkness, but in the light of God God will direct your paths in the life You will be like Mount Zion, you will not be able to moved You will prosper wherever you go 123

The Bible Basics You will always be yielding fruit for the Lord Your mind will be at perfect peace, you will not be afraid of evil tidings Your heart will remain steadfast in the Lord You will have no want, you shall not lack any good thing You shall be safe in your surroundings You shall possess the land and inherit the holy mountain of God Put all of these blessings together one right after the other, and you canthen start to grasp how powerful of a thing it really is to learn how to fullytrust in the Lord with all of your heart and with all of your mind in this life. In this crazy day and age, more and more people are finding out thatmaterial wealth and riches are not buying them true happiness. What they arereally looking for are some of the above blessings. But these types ofblessings can only be found by true, born again believers who are operatingin a full surrender with the Lord where they are fully trusting Him to handleboth themselves and their entire lives. Notice the very intense language God is using in the last three verses. Heis telling us that we are not to put our trust in: Princes In man in general In our own natural strength In uncertain riches and wealth God is calling riches “uncertain.” All the material wealth and riches ofthis world are all uncertain because they are all perishable items and none ofit will be going with you when you die and cross over. God says we shouldbe concentrating more on being rich in good works, and that good works aresomething that is actually stored up for us in the next life to come, whichwill be heaven! We will thus be rewarded in heaven for the good works that we do for theLord down here, not for the amount of money that we can make. Workscannot get us saved as the Bible tells us that we can only be saved by gracethrough our faith in Jesus Christ. However, doing good works for the Lord 124

The Bible Basicswill get you the bigger and better rewards once you enter into heaven. God specifically says that those who trust in men or in the riches of thisworld will have no help when they are going to need it in a real time oftrouble. Only God is our real help in this life. He says that our faith and hopeshould be in Him, not in the wealth and riches of this world! God literally says that “cursed” is the man who trusts in other men, or inhimself and his own natural strength! He says this kind of man will be like a“shrub in the desert” where there is no real life. Many rich people havewhat many consider to be the “all” of this life, yet they are just like shrubs inthe desert since they have no real life, joy, and happiness operating in theirlives. 125

The Bible BasicsChapter 9Holding Fast to the Lord Once you have entered into a true, full surrender with the Lord where Hewill now be the One to guide you into His perfect plan for your life, you cannever, ever turn back, bail out, quit, or throw in the towel on Him. Wrestlewith God all you want, throw as many temper tantrums as you want, but donot ever get to the point with God where you are going to tell Him that youare going to bail out on Him and walk off His playing field. All of the major power verses we will list in this bible basic are telling usto do the following with the Lord: 1. Hold fast to the Lord 2. Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering 3. Hold fast our confidence in the Lord 4. Hold fast to the Word of Life 5. Do not cast away your confidence in the Lord 6. Do not depart from following Him 7. Keep your heart steadfast 8. Be faithful until death 9. Stand fast in the faith 10. Continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast 11. Fight the good fight of faith 12. Run the race with endurance 13. Do not become sluggish 14. Be an overcomer 15. Finish the race Once we have entered into a true, full surrender with the Lord where Hewill now be the One to guide and direct our lives in the direction that He willwant it to go in, we can never, ever change course or bail out on Him. 126

The Bible Basics God is now the Captain of our ship. God is now the Shepherd of our souls. God will now be leading us every step of the way in our new walk and journey with Him. We now belong to God, work for God, and live for God, literally to the day we die and depart from this life. As we all know, this life can really be rough at times, and no one gets byin this life without having to face a certain amount of trouble, adversity, andconflict. We all have to go through various types of storm clouds from timeto time, no exceptions! It’s very easy to have high levels of faith in God when everything is goinggood and great and you do not have a care or trouble in the world. But letthat first heavy storm cloud come knocking on your door, and manyChristians will start to get weak at the knees, start to panic, and then start toquestion God and His wisdom. All of a sudden their high levels of faith inthe Lord start to waver and they start doubting that God can handle theadversity that has now just struck them. As Christians, we have to realize that there is always going to be a certainamount of trouble, tribulation, and persecution in this world, and this type oftrouble will be hitting believers as well as nonbelievers. No one gets out ofthis life without having to face a certain amount of trouble and adversity, andfor some, this adversity will end up being extreme and traumatic. Our localdaily news shows us everyday what some people are being forced to take andendure. As a result of the fallen and cursed world we have all been born into as aresult of what happened in the story of Adam and Eve, not only are we allstuck with having to do battle with demonic spirits and bad and evil peoplefrom time to time, but we are also stuck with having to face all of thedifferent types of natural accidents and catastrophes that can occur at amoment’s notice. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, auto accidents, naturalmishaps and accidents around the home and workplace, and different typesof illnesses and diseases can all hit anyone of us at anytime. All of thesedifferent types of natural accidents, disasters, and illnesses are the byproductof this fallen and cursed world. This now leaves all Christians with one of two choices when theypersonally get hit by one of these types of storm clouds. You can either getmad at God, lose your faith in Him and how He is handling your life, andthen throw in the towel and quit on Him, or you can hold your ground andtell God that you are not going to bail out on Him no matter what life, hell, 127

The Bible Basicsor the devil tries to throw your way. When you read the verses we will list below, especially some of the key phrases in these verses as we have highlighted in the above bullet points, there is no question what God the Father is wanting all of us to do. He is wanting all of us to stay true, loyal, and faithful to Him to our last dying breath. He is wanting all of us to hold fast to Him without doubting and wavering. This life is going to be rough at times. We have to run the race that God has now set out before us with the intentions on trying to win it and trying to finish it. We have to run this race with endurance, certainty, and purpose. We have to run this race to do the best and be the best we can be at whatever God will be calling us to do for Him in this life. When we get knocked to the ground with any type of vicious torpedo shot, we have to pick ourselves back up, wipe off the dust and blood on our pants, tell God that we are not going to bail out on Him, that we will stay the course with Him, and then get back into the game of life and keep on the path that God has set up for us to follow in Him. God has already told us in His Word that if we faint in the day of any typeof adversity, that our strength will be considered to be small in His eyes.God is wanting all of us to learn how to become good soldiers of JesusChrist, to learn how to become true victors and overcomers in this life, andthe only way that you can learn how to become a true victor and a trueovercomer in this life is by being willing to take on any type of storm cloudthat may come your way. You cannot become an overcomer and a victor in this life unless you have already overcome some type of trial and tribulation. Some of the trials and tribulations that may come your way in this life are actually being allowed by the Lord to come your way for your own benefit, training, and sanctification. As part of your sanctification process in the Lord, this revelation onlearning how to hold fast to the Lord should be at the top of your list. This isone, major, fundamental principle that you will want to get worked,ingrained, and instilled into your mindset with how you look and think aboutthings in this life. Get it settled once and for all in your mind and your heart that you will stay fully committed to the Lord for the rest of your earthly life, and that you will never, ever bail out on Him. 128

The Bible Basics Get it settled once and for all that you will stay the course with the Lord no matter what life, hell, or the devil tries to throw your way, and that you will have full faith, belief, and trust in God to help get you through any type of storm cloud that may come your way, no matter how dark and vicious that storm cloud may look to you in the natural. You must set your face like flint, draw out your battle sword, which is the Word of God, and take your storm cloud head on operating under God’s anointing, power, and direction. God’s power, knowledge, and wisdom is all there for you to help you handle any type of storm cloud that may come your way as long as you are willing to hold fast to Him, and then be willing to be guided by the Holy Spirit on exactly how to handle it.1. Holding Fast to the Lord These first 7 verses will all be using the specific words of holding fast tothe Lord, holding fast to our initial confession to Him, holding fast to ourconfidence in Him, and holding fast to His Word of life. Hold fast to the Lord, and never, ever let Him go, no matter how badthings may get from time to time, and no matter how severe the storm cloudmay be that is attempting to come against you. 1. “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, The Lord was with Him; he prospered wherever he went.” (2 Kings 18:5-7) 2. “A good man will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies.” (Psalm 112:5-8) 3. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23) 4. “but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope to the end.” (Hebrews 3:6) 5. “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be 129

The Bible Basics hardened through deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” (Hebrews 3:12-14) 6. “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:35-36) 7. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His own good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.” (Philippians 2:12-16) The first verse is talking about King Hezekiah. It says that he held fast tothe Lord and that he did not depart from following Him. This verse then goeson to tell us that “the Lord was with him” and that “he prosperedwherever he went.” The sixth verse from Hebrews 10:35 tells us that if we do not cast ourconfidence away from the Lord and hold out to the end with endurance indoing God’s will for our lives, that we will “receive the promise.” Also note in the fifth verse from Hebrews 3:12, that it says that it is an evilthing to have any kind of a heart of unbelief in the Lord. Any kind ofunbelief in the Lord and wanting to depart from Him is considered to be anevil type of heart by the Lord. These are very strong words being given to us by our Lord. God has made all of us for Himself and He will not be denied. This revelation being given to us by the Lord is showing all of us that we have to learn how to fully trust Him, fully follow Him, and be willing to hold fast to Him without any type of wavering or doubting on our end.2. Be Faithful Until Death Not only are we to hold fast to the Lord, but we are to hold fast to Himuntil the day we literally die. The first verse we will list below states that weare to “be faithful until death.” 130

The Bible Basics We are to “stand fast in the faith,” that we are to “continue in the faith,grounded and steadfast,” and that we are to “fight the good fight offaith.” God does not want anyone of us, for whatever reason, to ever considerdeparting or bailing out from Him in this life. We are to stay true, loyal, andfaithful to Him to our last dying breath. 1. “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer, Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10) 2. “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13) 3. “if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Colossians 1:23) 4. “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12) 5. “For the Lord preserves the faithful” (Psalm 31:23) The Lord will be preserving those who will remain faithful to Him in thislife. Not only will God obviously be preserving you for the next life to come,which will be heaven, but He will also help keep you properly preserved inthis life with all of the different types of adversities that could possibly comeyour way. God can help keep you physically, mentally, and spiritually in onepiece as you journey through this earthly life.3. Be An Overcomer in the Lord We have to learn how to be an overcomer in this life, and that if we do,then some incredible rewards will be given to us once we enter into heaven. Not only must we become a good overcomer in this life, but we must alsokeep God’s works until the very end. We have to complete whatever worksGod is calling us to do for Him in this life. And if we do, then Jesus will begiving us some type of power over the nations in the coming MillenniumKingdom and then eventually in the New Heaven and New Earth. If we learn how to become a good overcomer in this life, that our nameswill not be blotted out from His Book of Life, and that He will confess our 131

The Bible Basicsnames before His Father and His angels in heaven. 1. “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.” (Revelation 2:26) 2. “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:21) 3. “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelation 3:5) 4. “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12) 5. “I have fought the good fight of faith, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7) 6. “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:10-12) Not only must we fight the good fight of faith, but we must also continueto press on so that we can finish the race that God has set out before us. Notonly must we hold fast to the Lord, but we must also hold fast to the Lordwith the intention on wanting to completely fulfill the works that He iscalling us to do for Him in this life. God Himself will not be forgetting whatever works we are willing to dofor Him in this life. He tells us that if we are willing hold fast to Him to thevery end, and do not become sluggish in the works that we will do for Him,that we will be receiving some very special rewards once we enter intoheaven. 132

The Bible Basics4. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of Our Faith This life can be a real roller coaster ride at times. You will have good daysand you will have bad days. You will have seasons that will be good andfruitful, and you will have seasons that will be dry and lean. When you enterinto seasons that will get a bit dry and lean, do not get discouraged ordisappointed. As long as you know you are in God’s perfect will for yourlife, nothing else will matter. Jesus is the “author and finisher of our faith.” When Jesus has begunthis good work in us, that He will make sure that it gets properly“completed,” and that He will also make sure to properly keep it until theend. So not only do we get Jesus letting us know exactly what it is we shouldbe doing for Him in this life, but He will also be making sure that we fullyaccomplish and complete everything that He is calling us to do for Him inthis life. Since Jesus will now be the One to lead us into His Father’s perfect planfor our lives, this now makes Jesus the official author of our faith. Jesus willnow be the One to to write the story and script of our life. This right does notbelong to us or to anyone else in our life. For those of you who may be frustrated and disappointed with how yourlife in the Lord has been going at this time, really chew on the revelation thatis in these last three verses. No matter where you are at right now in your walk with the Lord, realize that God will fully complete everything that He has in store for you in this life. God, as the author and finisher of your faith, has started the story of your life, and He will make sure that He gets everything properly completed with you before it is your time to depart from this life. Not only will God personally keep you and the works that you will do forHim in this life, but He will also make sure that you get everything done thatneeds to get done before your day in the sun is finally over. Since God isperfect, this means He will perfectly start and perfectly finish the story ofyour life in Him down here on this earth. 1. “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand 133

The Bible Basics of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” (Hebrews 12:1) 2. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) 3. “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” (2 Timothy 1:12) God is laying out a “race” before us. This race is our call in Him. Thisrace is the path, the road, and the direction that we will be taking in Himonce we fully surrender our lives over to Him for His direction and handling. Once you enter into this full surrender with the Lord, Jesus will nowbecome the author and finisher of your faith and of your own personal storyin God. As the author and finisher of your faith, God knows exactly whereHe wants to take you to and exactly how to get you there. All you have to bewilling to do is follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, andGod will then personally make sure that you fully accomplish everything thatHe would like for you to get done for Him in this life. 134

The Bible BasicsChapter 10The Importance of Waiting on God’s Timing Without question, one of the hardest things for many Christians to do withthe Lord is to wait on His timing to make certain things happen in their lives. In the very fast paced world in which we all now live in, things are set upfor maximum speed and efficiency. Fast food restaurants are a favorite formany people because they like to be able to go through a fast drive thru andreceive their order in just a matter of minutes. Computers are now movingfaster than ever before and they are allowing news events to hit the screenjust right after the news event has actually occurred. We are so used to everything moving at break neck speed, that we thenhave a very hard time in adjusting to the slower ways that God will workthings out in our life. One of the things we have found out in our ownpersonal walk with the Lord is that many of the times, He will have a muchslower way of working things than we ever thought He would. It is very nice that we can have fast food restaurants, computers, and therest of the technological inventions that we now have in place so we canmake our lives that much better and that much easier to navigate through.We can now get much more done in a day’s time than we ever could in thepast due to all of the new technological gadgets and devices we now have atour disposal. But where you can get into major trouble with the Lord in your own personal walk with Him is to take all of that break neck speed in being able to get things done and accomplished, and then try to throw that in the middle of our walk with the Lord with how He will want to work things out in our lives. God usually has a much slower time frame and a much slower way of working things out in our life than we do. And if we do not learn how to adjust to His slower time frame and the slower way He likes to work things out in our life, we could easily get ourselves knocked right out of our calls and our divine destinies that He has set up for each one of our lives. 135

The Bible Basics We have personally found in both our walk and those who we share our walk with, that timing is an absolute crucial factor with the Lord. Try to move ahead of God’s timing with what He wants to do in a particular area of your life, and you will find very quickly that everything will fall apart and completely unravel. Timing is absolutely everything with the Lord. Move ahead and out ofGod’s timing and you will throw a big, fat monkey wrench in the middle ofwhat God is trying to do with your life. We like to use the chess board analogy with how God will run our lives,except the chess board of our life belongs to the Lord, not to us. This meansthat not only will God be the One who will make all of these big chessmoves in our life, but He will also make those chess moves at the prescribedtimes that He has all of them set up to occur in our lives. If it is in God’s perfect will that you get married in this life, then not onlywill He bring you the person He has picked out for you to marry in this life,but there will also be a timing element with it, which means He will bringthis person to you at the exact time that He has it set up to occur in your life. If God is calling you to be a pastor of a church, then He has the exact timeset up as to when that will actually occur. And if you try to make it happenbefore God is ready, then you will cause major delays and disruptions tooccur, along with possibly adding extra time as to when it will occur sinceyou will now have messed with God’s timing with how He was wanting towork out this call in your life. When God gives you what your divine call is going to be in Him, He willexpect you to properly obey Him all the way up the ladder as you areprogressing towards that call. This means you will take the different jobs Hewill want you to take, along with staying with His perfect timing as to whenyou are to move into each one of these new different jobs. If you stay with God’s leadings on which new jobs to take and when tomove into those next new jobs, then the time will come where you will thenbe promoted into the true, divine destiny that God has set up for your life.But disobey God anywhere along the line with the steps He will be askingyou to take for Him, and you could either cause a major delay to occur as towhen you will be reaching that call, or you could literally lose the entire callall together if the consequences end up being too severe with what you havedisobeyed the Lord with. God will not have His authority and His ways tampered with by what wethink is right for us. Since God is perfect and we are not, we always have to 136

The Bible Basicsrealize that God will always know best as to what specific chess moves thatwill need to be made in our lives, along with when those chess moves willneed to be made. This is one area that we cannot try and do things our way.If we do, it could cause God to pull back on us and from there, we could findeverything starting to fall apart because God is no longer in control of ourlife. The Scripture Verses So you can see how important the timing factor is with the Lord. Here are 25 very good verses from the Bible all emphasizing waiting onGod’s timing as to when He will want to make something specific happen. 1. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9) 2. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5: 6-7) 3. “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:25-26) 4. “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning” (Psalm 130:5-6) 5. “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season.” (Psalm 145:15) 6. “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14) 7. “My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.” (Psalm 31:15) 8. “Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved, My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.” (Psalm 62:1-2, 5-6) 137

The Bible Basics9. “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions” (Psalm 39:7-8)10. “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.” (Psalm 40:1-2)11. “Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land” (Psalm 37:34)12. “For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more” (Psalm 37:7)13. “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” (Psalm 25:5)14. “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.” (Psalm 25:21)15. Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” ( Habakkuk 2:2-3)16. “He has made everything beautiful in its time, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there shall be a time there for every purpose and for every work.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11,17)17. “And I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope in Him.” (Isaiah 8:17)18. “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40: 31)19. “Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit; so he who waits on his master will be honored.” (Proverbs 27:18)20. ”In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching” (Titus 1: 2-3)21. Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your 138

The Bible Basics time is always ready.” (John 7: 6) 22. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1: 14-15) 23. And He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” (Acts 1:7) 24. ”That you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:14-15) 25. “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed” (2 Thessalonians 2: 6-8) God does like to work on a specific set timetable, and even Jesus Himselfhad to wait for God’s timing on some of the things He ended up doing. Andnot only did Jesus, the apostles, and many in the Old Testament have toabide by God’s specific timing on when He wanted them to do something,but there are verses showing that God will still continue to run thingsaccording to His own set timetable in the years ahead, including how He willwork your life and when He will want to make certain things happen in yourlife. So the sooner you can understand this is one of God’s ways, the easier itwill become for you to adjust to His set timetable as to when He will makethings happen in your life. Here are some specific examples from the Bible showing you how Godmade many of them wait for what He was wanting to do in their lives: 1. Jesus Himself had to wait until He was 30 years old before God baptized Him with the Holy Spirit and anointed Him with His power to go on His three and half year miracle ministry before He went to the cross to get all of us saved 2. Jesus had to wait again for 40 days before He ascended to the Father after His resurrection from the grave 139

The Bible Basics 3. Moses was in the backside of a desert for 40 years before he was sent in by God to rescue the children of Israel from the Egyptians 4. The Israelites had to wait for 430 years before God delivered them from the Egyptians 5. David had to wait for 13 years before he became king of Israel 6. Abraham had to wait 25 years for the birth of his son Isaac 7. Noah had to wait for 120 years from the time God told him to build the ark until the time of the flood actually occurring 8. The apostles had to wait 10 days after Jesus had ascended before they had received the Holy Spirit in the upper room God likes to make us wait for some of the major chess moves He will bemaking in our lives. The reason God likes to make us wait from time to time is to not only testour faith in Him and to properly prepare us for what He is making us waitfor, but to also develop the fruit of patience and determination in us. Thefruit of patience is one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit, and it is one fruitthat He loves to try and develop in all of us, especially in the fast pacedworld in which we all now live in. Since the fast pace of our world is probably reducing a lot of our ownnatural patience, God will try and work this quality back into ourpersonalities so we do not lose this very valuable quality in our personalities,especially since it lines up with God’s own character and how He likes towork things out. Specific Areas Where You Will Have to Wait on the Lord For those of you who are newborns in the Lord and at a fairly young age,expect God over the course of your life to try and work the quality ofpatience into your personality by making you wait for certain things tohappen in your life. God will sooner or later make a move to work patience into yourpersonality, and one of the ways He will do it is by making you literally waitfor Him to make something happen in your life. There will be times that youwill feel your patience and faith in Him get literally stretched to a pointwhere you feel you can no longer hold on, and then He will come in with the 140

The Bible Basicsbig breakthrough you have been waiting for. Just realize that God’s time frame is much different than our time frame,and your patience will sometimes be tested, especially if you have beenspoiled by the fast pace in which things now get done in our world today. Tothose of you who have been walking with the Lord for years, we are sure youknow exactly what we are talking about, as we have yet to meet a mature andseasoned Christian who has not had their patience tested sometime in theirwalk with the Lord. Here are a few good examples in your life where God could ask you towait on Him so He can work the quality of patience into your personality.1. Waiting For Your Soulmate If it is in God’s perfect will that you get married in this life, then you willhave to wait for His timing as to when He will want to bring this person intoyour life. Do not try and rush this. God knows best as to who you should bemarrying in this life, and He also knows best as to when this person shouldbe brought into your life. You and this other person may need some preparation for marriage beforeGod will want the marriage to occur, so you have to let God do what Hewants with each one of you in the time frame that He wants to work all ofthis out. Not waiting for God’s perfect timing to bring this person in your life couldcause you to marry the wrong person you may be dating, all because you didnot have the patience to wait for the person God has in mind for you. Wehave seen this happen to several people in the past, and they were divorcedwithin a year after marrying the wrong person. And this was all due to thefact that they got too impatient while waiting for God to bring them the rightperson He had in mind for them.2. Waiting for God to Release You Into Your True Calling If God is telling you exactly what your call is going to be in your lifebefore you actually reach that call, then you will have to wait for God’stiming as to when that call will be brought into your life. Many of these calls will take a certain amount of time before they areactually released into your life. The reason being is that God has to properlyprepare you for the call He will have on your life, and that preparation 141

The Bible Basicsusually takes years, not months. So be patient while God slowly and methodically raises you up in thecalling that He has set up for your life. If you do, then you will be fully readyto move into that call once the door opens up for you.3. Waiting for God to Promote You Into Your Next New Job As you are waiting for that big call to come into your life, God will haveyou take different jobs along the way before you actually reach that call.Once you step into those different jobs, you will have to wait for God’stiming as to when you will move into the next new job. And not only will God guide you as to what different jobs He will wantyou to take, but He will also be guiding you as to when to take those specificnew jobs. These different jobs will be very important for your growth inHim, as they will all be used by God to train you and build you up into whatyour true calling is going to be in Him down the road. This is why you have to make sure that you stay in each job long enoughso God can work into you what He wants too, as each one of these differentjobs will be actual stepping stones and building blocks that will help leadyou into your true calling with Him. God knows exactly how long you will have to stay in each job so He canwork into you what He needs to. If you stay in each one of these jobs longenough so God can properly complete your preparation, then you will befully ready to go when your true calling is given to you by the Lord.4. In the Area of Spiritual Warfare If God wants to raise you up in the area of spiritual warfare, you willneed to choose your battles very wisely and very carefully, and be guided byGod as to which deliverance cases to take on and exactly when to move intocombat to deliver someone from demons. God is our Commander in Chiefand we now have to follow His orders and directions as to how to handleeach one of these types of cases, along with staying with His perfect timingon when to move into action. Not waiting for God’s perfect timing could get you into serious troublewith Him. God may want you to wait for a certain period of time beforesending you in to deliver someone from demons. There may be somethingHe will have to prepare the person for before He is ready to deliver them. If 142