Monthly Archives: September 2019

THE GOOD FIGHT

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The only fight the Believer is called to fight is the good fight of faith. This fight of faith is not just any faith but faith in Jesus Christ and HIS finished work on Calvary’s Cross.
 
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:11-12
 
It is there, at Calvary’s Cross, that every demon in hell was defeated and it is from there that the devil will try to move our faith because he knows if he can move it from the place of his (Satan’s) defeat and to a place of a seemingly ‘right’ object but nevertheless it is still another object, than he can gain a foothold in our lives.
 
Often time these objects of our faith are Scriptural but they were not given to overcome the devil. If our faith is in our prayer life, of which every born again Believer should have, then our faith is in another object for our victory. The fight of faith of which we have been commissioned to fight, we have lost. When we pray, and I’m just using prayer as an example, of course we believe and have faith that the Lord will answer our prayers but it is not what we did or do that defeated death, hell and the grave but what Jesus did. If the devil can get us in the least bit to start looking to that which we do to earn our blessings from God, then he has corrupted our belief in the Gospel and made the Cross of Christ of no effect (1 Cor. 1:17-18). Jesus Christ is the Source and His Cross the means by which we receive anything and everything from God.
 
“And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23
 
This fight of faith is not a one time even at Salvation but a fight we fight daily. No, we don’t wake up and get Saved every morning…that’s ridiculous. We do however, wake up and purposefully deny ourselves, our abilities, intellect, talents, etc. and choose to follow Jesus. If we don’t deny ourselves, who ‘we’ are and what ‘we’ do, we are unable to follow Jesus.
 
The Cross of Christ had/has a two-fold effect. 1) At Calvary’s Cross, Jesus Christ paid the penalty of sin for whosoever will believe. Everyone born again Believer knows and believes this, otherwise we would not be born again. 2) Jesus Christ also broke the power of sin in the lives of whosoever believes. Our sin nature no longer has dominion over us if we remain under the Government of Grace and not the Government of Law by daily denying ourselves and fighting the good fight of faith in the Cross of Christ.
 
It is this 2nd work that many Believers do not grasp. At times it is HARD to stand still against the wiles of the devil but if we will to stand; if we will purposefully choose to believe that the Cross of Christ is still sufficient for that which we have need of and refuse to engage our fleshly resources of manipulation, we WILL see the Hand of God move on our behalf. We WILL see souls set free from the bondage of religion. We WILL see a harvest of great magnitude sweep in to the Kingdom of God under the Power of God as the Cross of Christ Jesus is lifted up to the sinner AND the Saint.
 
“And I (JESUS), if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32
 
The Cross of Christ Jesus is not only for the lost but for Believer’s as well. The Holy Spirit will continue drawing those who believe to Holiness and Righteousness. This drawing of the Spirit draws the Believer to a decision to follow or not to follow and if we choose to follow, that which is evil or wicked in our hearts is expelled.  Choose to follow Jesus today. Deny yourself. Fight the good fight of faith in the Cross of Christ…be determined to know nothing else among you.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

NO OTHER FOUNDATION

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“You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
 
Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a Chief Corner Stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on Him shall not be confounded.” 1 Peter 2:6
 
The Government of God is built on the Foundation of the Cross of Christ Jesus. Any attempts to tamper with this Government by making rules, whether they be actual Scriptural ordinances or rules from the vanities of man’s mind being taught as Scriptural doctrine, will make the Cross of Christ of no effect.
 
Tampering with God’s Government is exactly what the modern church is doing as they go about in their prayer shawls and yamachas observing feasts, doing 40 days of purpose and 21 days of fasting in order to ‘honor God’.
 
“12 When ye come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to tread My Courts?
 
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.” Isaiah 1:12-13
 
The spiritual sacrifices of which we offer up are of praise unto Christ Jesus for Who He is and what He has done on Calvary’s Cross for whosoever will believe. The tampering of the Government of God by the modern church brings the Children of God out of the God’s Government of Grace and into the Government of Law. Under the Government of Law, the Cross of Christ is made of no effect.
 
These rituals and ceremonies are not presented as laws. If such were so, most would not be deceived. They are presented as ordinances we can do ‘for’ the Lord to honor Him. No. No. We honor Him with the praise on our lips and HIS Glory is magnified as daily we deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow HIM and we see HIM move on our behalf. Old things pass away and all things become new as His Righteousness reveals and expels the wickedness in our own hearts. We are a peculiar people to the world because of Whom we serve…Whom we follow, not because of our religious ordinances laid down by man’s traditions.
 
“For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death.” Romans 8:2
 
The Spirit of Life (the Holy Spirit) does not work outside of the parameters of the Cross of Christ Jesus. He is not commissioned to work on our behalf when we tamper with God’s Prescribed Order of Victory for His Children. There is no other foundation than that which is already laid. From Salvation, through Sanctification and on unto Glorification; God’s Government is based upon the Foundation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified…be determined to know nothing else among you.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

GOD’S ARMOR AND GOD’S HEDGE

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“10 Finally, my Brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His Might.

11 Put on the Whole Armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:11-12

As a Believer living in this fallen world which is ruled by the prince of darkness, we are given God’s Armor. The Lord puts up a hedge of protection around those who have believed upon Him and within those boundaries we are guaranteed victory as long as we properly follow the Lord.

“And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23

Sadly, many Believer’s do not know how to properly follow Jesus. They do not understand that we must deny ourselves (our abilities, intellect, talents, etc.) in order to pick up our cross (the blessings which the Cross of Christ afforded whosoever will believe) and that it is only then that we are able to properly follow Jesus.

Picking up our cross is not the denial of self. Self denial is just that; denying our self will to manipulate a situation in order to achieve our will. While picking up our cross is not self abasement but picking up that which we cannot do in our own might…receive the promises of God. Unredeemed man is unable to receive the promises God has given to His Children. Furthermore, God’s Children operating in their flesh, attempting to manipulate situations within their own might, will also fall short of God’s Promises.

The Armor of God is HIS Armor. It is not something that we get up every morning, stand in front of the mirror and ‘put on’. No, not at all. The Armor of God is put on upon belief in the Cross of Christ Jesus…it is God’s hedge of protection around His Children.

“6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Where have you been? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews (hates) evil?” Job 1:6-8

There will be times in our lives, times of great trials and tribulations, as the Lord may lower HIS hedge of protection and allow Satan certain access. We have done all that we know to do; we have denied ourselves and properly followed Him and He offers us to Satan to test us. You see, Satan is nothing but an instrument in the Lord’s Hands to strengthen our faith. It is during these most unpleasant of circumstances that we go deeper with the Lord. It is during these times that our spiritual testimony before the spirit world should be “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him:”. It is then, in those times of despair that we choose to praise the Lord for our redemption draws near. It is then that we know, that we know, that we know in Whom we have believed and we know that He is able to keep that which we have committed unto Him.

There is a boundary, a hedge of protection, around the Child of God when we are properly following the Lord. As we look unto Jesus Christ, Who HE is and what HE has done to afford us the Promises of God; we will find the Cross of Christ was, is and will forever be sufficient to withstand the wiles of the devil as he rules the fallen world of which we are passing through.

“1 I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence comes my help.

2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made Heaven and Earth.

3 He will not suffer your foot to be moved: He Who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He Who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper: the Lord is your shade upon your right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil: He shall preserve your soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” Psalms 121-1-9

Jesus Christ and Him crucified – be determined to know nothing else among you. Stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord. Stand still and see the angels of the Lord encompassed round about you. Stand still and see the signs and wonders which follow those who believe.

-Donna Clark Warren

IMPORTUNITY

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“5 And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
 
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
 
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
 
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
 
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
 
10 For every one who asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
 
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
 
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
 
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Luke 11:5-13
 
Importunity – persistence, especially to the point of annoyance.
 
The ‘friend’ did not rise to give the man knocking that which he needed because he was his friend. No, not at all. He gave him all that he needed because of his persistence in asking.
 
If the sufficiency of this need being met by an unwilling source because of persistence, how much more shall the Lord, He Who came to die on Calvary’s Cross that we may have life and life more abundantly; He Who has promised to meet our every need according to His riches in Glory…how much more shall He give the Holy Spirit to them who ask of Him?
 
ASK and it shall be given. SEEK and you shall find. KNOCK and the door shall be open unto you.
 
So many of us believe the Lord ‘can’ do that which He has promised but we have a hard time believing He WILL do that which He has promised.
 
The unbelief which causes us to think ‘that’ will never happen to us, whatever ‘that’ may be, is the same unbelief which causes us to think that our Heavenly Father will not supply all of our needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.
 
We watch the news and see warnings of things that may happen if we use such and such product but we quickly dismiss the warning as if won’t happen to us. We believe those things happen but we don’t believe they will happen to us. This is the same unbelief we exhibit toward the promises of God.
 
Each and every promise of God is conditional though. They are conditional on our faith being placed in Jesus Christ as the Source and His Cross the means by which we receive from God. It is not our good works, our intellect, talent or abilities which earn us these promises but our faith and our faith alone in the Cross of Christ Jesus.
 
As Jesus was teaching His Disciples how to pray in Luke 11:1-4, He continued His teaching with this parable of the persistence of the man seeking bread
 
“1 And it came to pass, that, as He (Jesus) was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His Disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
 
2 And He said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name.Your Kingdom come. Your Will be done, as in Heaven, so in Earth.
 
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
 
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” Luke 11:1-4
 
As Believers, we must seek God’s Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven and we must believe that He will do that which He has promised as long as our faith is in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
 
Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, He Who is sitting down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God…He Who searches the earth constantly looking to and fro for those whose hearts are perfect toward Him to show His strength in their weakness…He Who IS and WAS and IS TO COME; King of King and Lord of Lords – HE is Whom we have chosen to believe and HE IS able to keep that which we have committed unto Him against the day. HE is Jesus Christ and Him crucified…be determined to know NOTHING else among you.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

GOD’S SACRIFICE

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“You shall not offer the blood of MY SACRIFICE with leavened bread;…” Exodus 23:18
 
The Sacrifices offered in the Old Testament were God’s Sacrifices. These sacrifices did not remove sin from man’s account but they restored fellowship between God and fallen man. There remained a veil of which sinful man could not cross. These sacrifices were GOD’S sacrifices…not man’s and they were not to be offered with any leaven.
 
I remember in church one Sunday morning if February, 2015 realizing that we were offering up to God Cain’s offering and not His. What we were partaking in was not God’s Prescribed Order for victory, Jesus Christ and Him cruficied, but our churches man made doctrine which was being taught as Biblical doctrine.
 
We must understand, Jesus Christ, is GOD’S Sacrifice. Not only did Jesus Christ die to pay sin’s penalty (death) for the believing sinner, taking it away from our account and nailing it to His Cross but He also broke the power of sin for Believer. When WE add our leaven, whatever that leaven may be to GOD’s Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, for our Salvation OR our Sanctification, we are offering up to God Cain’s sacrifice. Whatever we add to and take from the Cross of Christ, whether it be a religious ordinance or a vain oblation, for that which the Cross of Christ afforded us, we make the Cross of Christ of no effect.
 
The Cross of Christ Jesus is sufficient. God’s Sacrifice is the only Way, only Truth and only Life given that we may live unto God.
 
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, GOD’S Sacrifice for fallen man, GOD’s Prescribed order for victory over the world, the flesh and the devil…be determined to know nothing else among you.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

O’ WRETCHED MAN

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“22 For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans 7:22-24

As the Apostle Paul delighted in the Law of God after the inward man, the law in his members warred against the law in his mind. He wanted to be obedient to the Lord in his inward man but found himself in bondage…captive by the Law of Sin.

After his Salvation but before the understanding of the Cross of Christ for daily living, the Apostle Paul himself struggled with living under the Government of Law.

Many wrongly believe that because we are under the Dispensation of Grace that we, as Believers I might add, are living under the Government of Grace but that is simply not true. Regrettably, soon after Salvation, the devil comes to corrupt the Truth the believing sinner has been given and he offers up his polluted pottage full of good works and commandments of men being taught as ‘Biblical doctrine’. Being young in the Lord, they are too often quickly deceived and take a bite of death’s fruit.

As for the Apostle Paul, he was living under the Law, the Mosaic Law, while trying to live for God. The Mosaic Law was not given to bring life to the people but was given to show their (our) utter depravity; their need for a Saviour. The Mosaic Law could not Save anyone but served to restore fellowship with God upon the required sacrifices.

Any law that man may devise to fellowship with God outside the Cross of Christ, the Sacrificial Lamb of God; He Who IS the Way, the Truth and the Life, will find themselves living under the Government of Law with sin’s dominion taking hold as their members war against the Law of God in the inward man. We find ourselves wanting to do that which is right but unable to gain that victory…we find ourselves crying out “O wretched man that I am!”.

” 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death.” Romans 8:1-2

Being buried with Christ at Salvation, baptized into His Death, we are now dead to the Law of Sin and Death…as long as we remain IN Christ. Submitted unto Jesus Christ, Who HE is and what HE did at Calvary’s Cross to break the power of sin in the Believer’s life, we, through our faith in the Cross of Christ, give the Holy Spirit latitude to do that which He is commissioned to do…FREE us from the Law of Sin and Death.

It is here, in this place of submission unto God by Grace through Faith in the Cross of Christ, that our members are able to yield unto God’s Will. Denying ourselves; our abilities, intellect, talent, etc., we are able to pick up all the Christ Jesus has afforded whosoever will believe and FOLLOW Him.

This Gospel of which we preach, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, is not a ‘new’ Gospel. No, not at all. It is the same revelation that was given to the Apostle Paul and has today been given to the church through the ministry of Jimmy Swaggart. This light which has been shed abroad through SonLife Broadcasting Network by the Lord will set people free from the sin which so easily besets them. This Light which IS the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, will set at liberty those who are bruised.

Sadly, many have and will reject the preaching of the Cross. To them it is rudimentary and they have grown past this ‘doctrine’ and on to other Biblical ‘truths’. My friend, if that Biblical ‘truth’ isn’t pointing to Jesus as the Source and the Cross as the means, it is not truth but a lie.

If the Cross of Christ Jesus has become foolishness to you, please consider how you are receiving such preaching for you are in fact perishing.

“17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

18 For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are Saved it is the Power of God.” 1 Cor. 1:17-18

Jesus Christ and Him crucified…be determined to know NOTHING else among you.

-Donna Clark Warren

POSSESSING FAITH

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Professing to have faith in the Cross of Christ does not cover one’s sin. Possessing faith in the Cross of Christ Jesus, Who He is and what He has do for whosoever will believe, does break the power of sin. There is a great difference in professing and possessing and you will know them by their fruit.

For those who possess the faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we may still stumble at times…no one is perfect this side of Glory. However, when we do stumble, our possession of faith in the Cross of Christ allows the Holy Spirit to do that which He is commissioned to do in our hearts, the work of God that continues drawing us to holiness and righteousness, and we repent. Just as the Holy Spirit drew us when the Cross of Christ was lifted up at our Salvation, He will also continue drawing us to Sanctification.

“8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8-10

Recognize the difference in professing and possessing. Professing our faith does not excuse our sin. The Cross of Christ broke the power of sin in the Believer’s life. We are no longer under the Government of Law but under the Government of Grace when we choose to place our faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus and the Grace of God utterly expels the wickedness in our own hearts…precept upon precept and line upon line, old things pass away and all thing become new.

Fighting the good fight of faith, purposefully placing our faith in Who Jesus is and what He did; denying our own abilities, talents and intellect, picking up all the Jesus afforded us and following Him is a daily fight…not a one time fight at Salvation. It is the devil’s purpose to move that faith to a mere profession.

Jesus Christ and Him crucified…be determined to know nothing else among you.

-Donna Clark Warren