A Word from Bruce

Authority is the power to determine, command or control, also it is a power or right delegated or given.

Irrispective of how much authority any person on this earth have, there is always a higher authority. The highest authority in heaven, on earth or under the earth is God. In learning the value of resisting the devil, as shown by the experience of Jesus Christ who having just been to fill up with spiritual fuel (40 days and night fast) was taken and tempted by the devil, we must realize that the devil must have had some authority to do so. Just like with Job, when the Lord invited the devil (gave him the authority) to test Job.

In the animal kingdom, there is this constant show of authority both within and without the various species. There are usually clear lines of authority. Authority is exercised at every level of our human existence and sometimes it has very little to do with our abilities or training but more to do with our zeal to control others and to determine the outcome of things by virtue of our position. So in exercising our authority we can be autocratic or we can be democratic.

In the spiritual realm there is this ranking that takes place and with each rank comes greater or lesser authority. For instance God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels, the saints of God etc. or the devil, demons, evil spirits, devil worshippers etc. So a person at work would clearly be outranked by the top boss in the company but that same person could outrank the top boss in the spiritual realm because he is a saint of the Most High God. To put it another way, the authority that we have through Jesus Christ would be far superior to that which the top boss has in the company.

So how can this knowledge we have be used to have dominion over the pharaohs of this world or over principalities, powers, the rulers of darkness, demons and devils? We fast and pray, we intercede, we bind, we loose and we remember that the battle is the Lord’s. The battle is spiritual not physical.

Father, strip away the covering from the enemy, expose him, destroy his works completely, in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.

Have you ever noticed how some persons always seem to take wrong or bad advice easily? It would be easy for us to say that they are gullible but the problem runs much deeper. Some persons will stick to the source that gives them advice that they love to hear but which usually have little or no truth in it. Some persons will go to the extent of avoiding others who will only speak the truth, because it makes them feel uncomfortable or upset.

If the word of God is powerful and quick and sharper than a two edged sword, is it not suppose to make us feel guilty, agitated and uncomfortable when we are in the wrong with God? Is it not suppose to cut?

Years ago i tried to show a pastor his follies, to which he stated that ” he thought that i was his friend”. My response to him was ” i am the best friend you will ever have because i will tell you the truth”. It is sad that seven years after the incident that particular pastor is unrepentant as as stated by him, he was prophesied over that he should reconcile and or recover those persons who have left the church. He has been selective in his attempts to carry out this task and does still pass persons at close range who were once very close to him without saying hello.

There are persons who feel so strongly about being told the truth, that they will try to hurt you. Two similar cases in the bible are :-

1) King Asa and Hanani the prophet 2 Cronicles 16

2) King Jeroboam and the man of God 1 Kings 13

Even in aquiring things like land, house, car, appliances etc. we must seek out the best advice. There are persons around us all the time with the requisite skills, training and experience and who will give us their honest opinion.

Heavenly Father, I pray that we will all tap into the wisdom of persons you have provided and that we will not be confused by foolish persons whom we have given our attention. Lord Jesus please remember the miracles we are believing you for. Father we give you thanks in Jesus Christ’s name amen.

Retribution is punishment by God that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved. For some christians, retribution does not exist and for others it does but will only affect the individual after death. It is the prerogative of God alone to decide if,when,how or how quickly to bring retribution to a person(s) for angering Him. Persons have taken it unto themselves to exact punishment on others for crimes committed, but this is wrong. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord!!

In 2 Samuel 21:1, David enquired of God as to the reason for the famine and God told him that it was because Saul had killed the Gibeonites. In 1Chronicles 21:14, God was angered by David when he numbered Israel and Judah and although David accessed the better of the three options presented to him by God for the purposes of retribution, seventy thousand men died as a result. Seventy thousand died as a result of the sin by one man, David. God brought judgement to His people quickly!

As Pastors, as leaders we need to be extremely careful not to anger God as this could impact others as well. The God that we serve is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow as well. Father, i pray that none of us will be destroyed for a lack of knowledge, in Jesus Christ name amen.

Every day we must give thanks for being alive, alive to do more work for God, to help somebody, to touch someone’s mind and heart, to pull someone back on the right path, to repair the breach.

We must try to use every spare time to think, to think about God and who He is and what our purposes are for Him. We must think about our own lives to see where we are going wrong and what it is that we need to do to make corrections.

For we are all at different levels in God, because of when we might have started our walk with Him, some of us would have been more obedient than others, some of us would have taken greater care in staying clear of pollutants or in remembering the words we would have spoken to God…… our covenants with Him.

For we are His, the sheep of His pasture and we can neither run or hide from Him. So let us pray that when He would have tested our works with fire, it will stand like gold. Father there is no other God but You and we say thanks again in Jesus Christ name, our risen Lord, amen.

We are losing our young people at an alarming rate. Many have committed suicide, many have gone missing, many have been murdered, many have been mashed up mentally, many have been taken over by demons and seductive spirits.

The devil is not waiting on young persons to become young adults before he seeks to affect or infect them. It is therefore very important to start praying over pregnant mothers, asking the Lord to protect and bring forth a righteous seed. In other words we must be ahead of the devil.

Sex can be very addictive and does affect persons in varying degrees. The will which God has left in all of us can be used for both good and evil but importantly it can be used to deny the flesh of the sins it desires.

For young persons, relationships usually start with an attraction, a getting to know you, physical contact, a generation of heat and then ignition. The final two stages remind me of spontaneous combusion where things ignite and burn due to pressure and or heat applied.

The sad thing for me is that in a bid to recover the current adult population, we have allowed explicit sexual material to be plastered everywhere. Our two year olds are learning to “pinch leave an inch and roll”. There are advertisements where persons are enquiring if ” the condom did burst”? and there are images across our television screens of a woman rolling on a condom on a man made penis. The end is now justifying the means and because of expediency morality has taken a back seat.

I wonder if persons who occupy the positions of authority in this country and who have changed our education system in order to cram knowledge into every available space of our children’s brains, causing unbearable stress and have so robbed them of their youth, if they themselves were also robbed of their senses?

We have allowed a few persons to take away our God given right to dicipline our children

(bending the tree while it is young) and we are now told to spare the rod and spoil the child!

Mi wooda like fi si di one weh can stop God from chastising fi him oona pickney dem, yes di same ones weh Him love!!! (Translation: “I would like to see the person that can stop God from chitising his own children, the same ones that He loves”)

We as parents must realize that we have to gradually loosen our grips on our children as they enter adulthood and to finally let go but we owe it to our children to provide the finest examples for them to follow. Remember that both blessings and cursings will go down to the third and forth generations. Which do we prefer?

Father we bind every sexual demon affecting our children across Jamaica, every spirit of deception and we cast them back to the dry and desolate places, in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.

Our Father we pray again for a righteous leader to lead Jamaica. One whose heart is set after you, who will love you as the only God, who is repentant and obedient. Father, when we see colour and is affected by it, You see the heart.

Father, we pray that You will take away the yoke from off Jamaica and it’s people and that You will destroy every work of the enemy in this land. Almighty God we pray that You will expose and put to open shame those amonst us who have been warned, who have heard Your word but have hardened their hearts and have continued to worship the works of their own hands, who have put their trust in witchcraft. Heal our land Lord in Jesus’ name, amen.

Please read Psalm 30, aloud.

Rev.2 and 3.

It is easy for us all to accept praises from persons around us or from God (through a prophetic word), for the things we have done that is good, or well, or right, but it is hard for us to admit when we are wrong and to take corrective measures.

All of us have faults (this includes the church) and it is the word of God which will expose and highlight these faults in us. The question is will we admit to these failings or sins, repent and then make amends?

Rev.2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left they first love.

(5) Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works.(seek ye first the kingdom of God…..)

(14) But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to comit fornication.

(20) Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth hereself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Rev.3:2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. (15) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because thou art luke warm, and neither cold or hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.

For God is no respector of persons, and so He will remove men and women of God or even the whole church if we refuse to repent and do the right things. Rev.2:5

We have learnt to use the word of God to threaten persons into silence and thereby maintaining the status quo. Christians who get into quarrels are sometimes heard using the blood of Jesus as a weapon against each other!

Father, it is very sad that the pulpit has become a place not unlike our Jamaican parliment, a place where cursing of persons take place, a place where persons feel imune to chastisment, a place where persons think that they are beyond reproach, simply because they are men and women of God.

For many will hear in that hour :- depart from Me I know you not! There is still time to repent, so we pray that the hearts of stone will become hearts of flesh in Jesus’ name, amen.

In Rev. 1, 2 and 3, the seven stars are the angels(the seven spirits of God), of the seven churches of whom Jesus spoke. The seven golden candle stick, are the seven churches.

Rev.2:2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.

(3) And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My names sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. (6) But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

(9) I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of satan.

(13) I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where satan dwellest.

(19) I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

Rev.3:3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and holdfast, and repent.

(8) I Know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door , and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied my name.

(19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Instead of getting angry and blaming others and blaming the devil, we really should spend more of our time repenting. We should be subdued before God. Bless you all.

It is interesting how Jesus spoke to the churches in Rev. 2 and 3. He first spoke to the things they were doing right and then to the things they were doing wrong. Jesus then ask the churches to repent and showed them His promises for them if they overcame!!

So the Spirit of God is saying unto the churches/His people; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of paradise of God; he shall not be hurt in the second death; he shall be given to eat of the hidden manna and will be given a white stone and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it; to him will I give power over the nations; the same shall be clothed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels; him will I make a pillar in the temple of My God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of My God  and the name of the city of My God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from My God and I will write upon him My new name; him will I grant to sit with me in My throne even as I ALSO OVERCAME and am set down with My Father in his throne.

So if we overcome and endure to the end, then we will become joint heirs with Jesus Christ! That is the ultimate promise. Father, help us to stop complaining so much and that we will focus more on overcoming in Jesus’ name, amen.

Everthing in the bible is true, but not everthing in the bible is true for every person. If we are not willing to suffer with Christ, walk obediently to Him, look after the destitute, love Him as God alone, keep His temple undefiled, etc. then we will not be able to access a lot of the good things in His word.

In the kingdom of God, we all start from the same point where we are broken before God, asking His forgiveness for our sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. This is probably except we had given our lives to Him while being still a young child, unsinful and unblemished or if we believe that God exists, have professed Him all our life but have never given our hearts to Him.

So we would start at 1Peter2:2 and graduate to Hebrews 5:12-14. If we feed a baby milk from a bottle all it’s life, then food for it would always be a bottle of milk. Christians therefore who have not been given any hard food or strong meat (in the word) all their lives will remain as babes.

If we really love God we will at least make an attempt to do whatever He has asked us to do, no matter how inadequate, uncomfortable or ashamed we might feel. At some point it might be a worthwhile test of persons in leadership of churches, if they are asked to do things that they would not normally want to do, like cleaning the church (including the toilets). This would give us an idea of how much they love God or if they are saved.

In St.John 14 Jesus promised that whatever works He did on earth, we could do likewise and even greater works. Any person can speak the word of God, but nothing will happen unless we truly believe or unless the gifts are given by God and we operate with his authority.

So everyone quotes Isaiah 54:17, no weapons that is formed against thee…., but do we qualify? God was/is speaking to a favoured woman, His people, the church. God shows us one of the ways to qualify with the Isaiah 58 fast, when in verse 9 He says that having done His will, when we call unto Him, He will say here I am.