Last week we talked about Circumstantial Repentance. Today we want to talk about genuine repentance.

Our scripture verses will be 1 Cor. 13: 8-13

Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

For we know in part and prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.

All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim. 3:16,17

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:13

Jesus said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. John 17: 17-26

The Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For whom among people knows the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the person that is in him? So also, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.

We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

These are all gifts Jesus gave to men to function here on earth until the complete word was complete. Think about it, these gifts will not be needed in heaven nor the new heaven or new earth the outcome God seeks.

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, and reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known.

But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13: 8-13

These are the gifts that are essential to living a self-controlled life by the power of the Holy Spirit characterized by righteous and abundant living. This is the evidence of being a successful believer.

Genuine repentance has Direct evidence and has proof of repentance, such as testimony by a witness about what that witness personally saw or heard or did. Genuine repentance has direct evidence.

Virtuous Living

Therefore, genuine repentance is characterized by behavior showing high moral standards. Your moral standards are your beliefs concerning right and wrong based on the virtues of God in your pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

Basing your moral standards on the virtues of God is essential because God expects you to imitate Him, living a life of love just as His son Jesus did sacrificing His life for you. God says, be holy, for he is holy! Eph. 5:1,2

God tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, this is our reasonable service of worship. Rom. 12:1,2

This is possible because His divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust.

This is the grace of God, the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life.

And now, these three remain faith, hope, and love; the greatest is love.1 Cor. 13:1-13

1. Love: God’s commandment to His people is to love Him with all your heart, mind, body, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. This is agape love, the highest form of love for God and humanity.

Agape love requires no change; it inspires change, covering a multitude of sins.

Love empowers you to overcome the spirit of fear, no longer fearful of loving all humanity as God does.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear involves punishment. Your love cannot be made perfect in fear, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 2 Tim. 1:17

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:16,17

God did not give us a spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. Fear shows a lack of faith and trust in God’s way of life.

This is crucial to understand because fear is to the kingdom of Satan, as faith is to the kingdom of God. Fear is Satan’s number one tool in accomplishing his objective in humanity’s lives.

Remember, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Job said, “For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, and my cries pour out like water. “For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread encounters me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”

You see, his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send word and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send word to them and consecrate them, getting up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.

Job was praying to God out of fear of what his sons may have been doing. What are you praying for? Fear is not of God; it is of the devil. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 2 Tim. 1:7

We love because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister. 1 John 4:18-21

Don’t just pretend to love others. Love others genuinely. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.

Never be lazy but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.

Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecuted you. Don’t curse those who persecute you; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people.

And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.

Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads. Don’t let evil conquer you but conquer evil by doing good. Rom.

12:9-21″

It is in these situations that you get to experience God’s love, and God gets to experience your love for Him. Your love is complete when you trust God and His word without doubting.

2. Hope A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God, and in fact, we are. For this reason, the world does not know us: because it did not know Him.

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3: 1-3

Building your new life in Christ must be built on your hope of becoming like Jesus. For those

whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; Rom. 8:29

Therefore, you must forget what lies behind you and reach forward to what lies ahead. You must press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:13,14

Your hope to be like Jesus will inspire you to get up each day with enthusiastic excitement to put to death the deeds of the flesh and implement the new principles and truths of the word of God in your life through the power of the Holy Spirit. Rom. 8: 12-14

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.

Christ living in us is the hope of glory. Col. 1: 24-29, 2 Cor. 5: 14,15

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Rom. 5: 3-5

Now hope requires patience. Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and the list goes on.

3. Faith: Total assurance, confidence of what you are hoping for. Faith is so powerful; you can do what is naturally impossible in it. In it, you can speak the promises of God into your circumstances, overriding facts and natural reality.

Faith is the currency of the kingdom. Currency is a medium of exchange for goods and services.

God issues each believer a level at which they are to operate as the method of payment. God says the just shall live by faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. However, God is the source of all things seen and unseen.

Faith is evidence that you trust God. It is the application of what you believe. Without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Therefore, the object of our faith must be God. My soul, wait in silence for God alone, For my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My refuge; I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my glory rest on God; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

Trust in Him always, you people; Pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah Psalm 62:5-8

This is the confidence that we have before Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5: 14,15

Protecting Your Pride with circumstantial repentance.                                                                  

As I reflect over the past forty years of my walk with God, it has been revealed to me by the Holy Spirit a common trend of religious people.  Religious people are continuously having what we call a falling out with members of the body from the leadership down. 

The term means to argue with someone and stop being friends with them. They move into a mode of putting up with or just getting along to keep the peace but all from a distance.

These arguments usually stem from peoples’ belief that you are supposed to treat people a certain way and do things a certain way. Usually according to how they have come to believe things are to be done to be done right.  

When you dig into the root of this belief it is really based on protecting peoples’ pride and faith in what they believe, not according to the word of God.  

If that pride is not protected, they eventually leave the church or become disengaged. These people are not seeking how to live for God, but being treated like they believe people ought to be treated and being allowed to do what they believe God has called them to do, with no regard, to the vision of the ministry.

Even if they are receiving the truth, they will hang around but never be totally committed. They are suspicious of how things are done, always watching from a distance.  

These are the people who, when they are talking to you and it seems that you are not receiving them as they want you to, are quick to put you on track before you speak or right after you speak. They are committed to protecting their pride in how they believe things ought to be.

Religion is about doing, not becoming. People who practice religion get their self-worth and value from the things they do. Their self-esteem stems from the praise and honor they get from one another.

Therefore, you are required to talk to people a certain way, treat them a certain way and be conscious of their special needs and nurture them etc

At best religion serves as a substitute for the kingdom, that’s what makes it dangerous. A substitute is dangerous because it could be mistaken for the real thing. You can become so accustomed to the substitute that when the real thing shows up you can think it’s the enemy.

 If your worship and service of God are expressed through set rituals, customs, and rites producing a distinction, favoritism, and respect of the person you are in a religion.

That’s why man likes religion it makes you feel different from other people and in most cases better. It has its own sectarian spirit.

That’s why there’s so much quarreling, division, distinction, favoritism, respect for the person, and killing in religion. Because you are different, I don’t believe it should be done that way.  That’s what religion creates.  It results in sub-cultures in the church. 

Religion breeds competition, its spiteful, its demonic and those who profess their religion are the leaders in this spirit of distinction, this destructive spirit.

That is why in religion, you must never start anything unless you acknowledge all who have done anything they consider worthwhile. You must protect their pride at all costs!

God says, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished. Prov. 16:5,7

“Look at everyone who is arrogant, and humble him, and trample down the wicked where they stand. “Hide them together in the dust; Imprison them in the hidden place. Job. 40:12,13

For the LORD of armies will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is arrogant and haughty, and against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be brought low. Isaiah 2:12

Today we want to talk about “Circumstantial Repentance”.

Our scripture text will be Acts 8: 1-24

Observation 1: Phillip was proclaiming the Christ in Samaria and many people were paying attention with one mind to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs that he was performing.

Many who had unclean spirits, were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed or limped on crutches were healed. So, there was much rejoicing in that city.

Observation 2: A man named Simon had previously been practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; all the people, from small to great, were paying attention to him, saying, “This man is the Power of God that is called Great.” And they were paying attention to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic arts.

The word of God says, “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.

“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

“For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.

“You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. “For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so. Deut. 18:9-14

Observation 3: But when they believed Philip as he was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

Now even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was repeatedly amazed.

Believe: To have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e., credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ)

Believes: To have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e., credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ)

At this point Simon’s belief is only circumstantial. Circumstantial evidence does not directly prove that his profession of belief is genuine.

That’s why scripture makes the case that, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? James 2:18-20

God says, Ye shall know them by their fruits. Their appearance and their claims are no proof of their true character. Matt. 7:15-23

Observation 4: Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit. (For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

Observation 5: Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

Simon’s belief was that you paid for what you wanted. He believed that money was the substance of the things you hoped for. In Simon’s world, this is how you got things done.

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so, then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Matt. 6: 22-24

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could acquire the gift of God with money!

You have no part or share in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of unrighteousness.” But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” Acts 8:14-24

Interpretation:

God never calls anyone into ministry! God calls people to be a part of His family, to move into His kingdom to represent His character to a lost and dying world.  

God does not call you to do, God calls you to become. Simon like most wanted to do, they do not want to change how they believe things should be done. Rom. 12: 1,2

Simon liked being the center of attention, being highly thought of and valued by others.

Scripture says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Matt. 6: 1

Application: Genuine repentance comes from the heart, the soul, the seat of your emotions not the mind or the senses. Simon had an intellectual agreement with what the servants of God were doing. But there was no true conviction upon his heart by the Holy Spirit concerning his sin.

Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  Rom. 10:9,10

I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Cor. 7: 9,10

Genuine repentance leads to a change of heart, changing the way you think, believe, do, and become.

Introduction                                                                                      June 18, 2023

We’ve been talking about Preparing for your New life In Christ. We learned that there were Three keys to empowering your life: 

1. Programming your mind in what you believe. 2 Cor. 10:5 

2. Establishing your heart in what you believe. Luke 6:45 and

3. Develop your speech in what you believe. James 3:2 

Applying these 3 keys allows “You, a spirit being with a body and soul (trinity), to be unified as one. This unified state is critical for your empowerment since the scriptures teach that a house divided against itself cannot stand. You are the house of God, a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. 1 Cor. 3:16.

 In addition, Jesus’ prayer before leaving was, “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20 

So, as you, spirit being, are unified and intertwined with God, God molds you more into your created state, which is in His image and likeness. 

For God created you with the unique ability to represent His character through your lifestyle and to think like Him in your decision-making and through your reasoning, intellect, will and emotion. (1 Corinthians 11:7; Eph. 5:1-20; Phil. 4:13; Gal. 5: 16-18; 2 Cor. 5:21 Mark 11:20-25. Phil. 2: 12,13)

You can discern all things because you have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor. 2:6-16) 

Therefore when “You, a spirit being,” have your body and soul in line with you as one, “YOU” are able to operate at your full potential, as you are walking in the wisdom of God with kingdom power and authority.  

This gives your words power and authority in the spiritual realm over principalities in the heavenly realm.   For the kingdom of God is not in words but in power. 1 Cor. 4:20 

You must hold fast to that truth because scripture says . . .  in the last days, difficult times will come. People will be lovers of self, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.  

Among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim. 4: 1-7 

So, today we want to talk about the “Purpose of Empowerment.” 

Let’s begin by answering the question, what is empowerment? From a biblical perspective, empowerment is the ability to execute God’s will for your life and creation.  

Our scripture text will be coming from 1 Cor. 2:2-5. And when I came to you, brothers, and sisters, I did not come as someone superior in speaking ability or wisdom, as I proclaimed God’s testimony to you.  

I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I also was with you in weakness and fear and in great trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of mankind, but on the power of God.  

This concept of the demonstration of the Spirit and of power is revealed in Zech. 4: 6,7 “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of armies.  

What are you, you great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you will become a plain; he will bring out the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” Zech. 4: 6,7

Jesus told His disciples, “ Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matt. 17:20

This same principle can be observed in action later in Luke 5: 17-25. In verse 17, we are told that as Jesus is teaching, the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. Luke 5:17, then in verse 24, we see him simply tell the paralyzed man to get up, take his mat and go home, and immediately the man does.

This is a biblical concept discussed with Jesus by the centurion in Matt. 8:5-15

And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, begging Him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.”

Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. Matt. 8:5-15

Jesus also said Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will also do; and greater works than these he will do, because I am going to the Father.  

And whatever you ask in My name, I will do this so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14 

That’s right.  By empowering your life, you can execute God’s will in creation by your words just like Jesus did, establishing kingdom rule here on earth as we await Jesus’s return through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

As God’s official representatives here on earth, we are officially recognized by Satan, the ruler of this world, as God’s resident representatives over creation with authority to establish kingdom rule and set those free from Satan’s rule and authority who choose to come out of their own free will. (2 Cor. 5: 20) 

Satan and his demons are bound by our authority and must submit to it. Yet, as God’s representatives, we are not subject to Satan’s authority.  Furthermore, God prevents him from harming or touching us. (Matt. 3:27; 1 John 5:18-21) 

However, to be effective in service to God, you must become a symbol of power and authority; Only then will you be able to keep the saints by the power of God’s word, as God says in Hebrews 1:2, 3

His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

Therefore, you must have an authoritative message along with the demonstration of God’s power.  The experience must be empowerment, deliverance from the things that bind, guidance, comfort, healing, and transformation. 

Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Matt. 16:19

Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and heal every disease and every sickness.

And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Matt. 10:1-8

The eagerly waiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Rom. 8:19-21 

Therefore, as a born-again believer, you must take ownership because everything belongs to you now. That includes life, death, things present, and things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 

You are authorized with power and authority to offer humanity an opportunity to be enlightened, experience the good things of heaven, share in the Holy Spirit, taste the goodness of the word of God, and experience the power of the age to come. 

As a family of born-again believers, we must empower a generation of believers while developing a new era of Church leadership. Spiritual empowerment and authority will position the church to drive out Satan’s influence upon the world while establishing the kingdom of God here on earth as we await Jesus’ return. 

So then, the purpose of empowerment is for you to execute God’s will in creation, fulfilling God’s idea of creating you;  In which He revealed when He said

 “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the livestock and all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” in Gen. 1: 26 and also

when He stated, “Whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” Matt. 20:26.

If you haven’t already noticed, the reality is, operating in spiritual power and authority to execute God’s will in the creation and your life requires a complete mind shift.   You must seek spiritual solutions for peace, justice, and righteousness whenever unrest, injustice, and unrighteousness are revealed. 

This requires you to become a person of substance who believes in bringing value to the world, a person who likes creating things, whether it is a material item, a thought, or an emotion.  

You must also become a kingdom thinker and a doer, craving to be around people of God’s original ideas and who are solution driven.  You must work diligently at accomplishing God’s will.

In all of this, we can be encouraged because this is the confidence that we have before Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5: 14,15 

This is why we are told to pray, “Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread.

‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’

For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses.

Are you executing God’s will in your life and the world? If yes, how? If not, why not?