Question of the Day

The theology of universalism, also referred to as the doctrine of “inclusion,” is the belief that all people will eventually find salvation and reconciliation with God and will eventually go to heaven sometime after death. Additionally, there are those who teach that even Satan and demons can be saved.

At salvation a very important ministry of the Holy Spirit took place in your life. But that ministry is different from the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.In the moment you made Jesus the Lord of your life, spiritual death was removed from your spirit, and there was born in you a new life, a new spirit. You were literally born of God. “Dear friends, we are already God’s children” (1 John 3:2). “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God” (1 John 5:1). Without encountering the Holy Spirit, man cannot be born again (Romans 8:9).

We are often asked if a Christian can seek a divorce and if a divorced Christian can remarry. The truth about these matters is that there are no generic answers to these questions. In other words, we cannot say it is always right or always wrong for a Christian to seek a divorce, or for a divorced Christian to remarry.

Yes, there is.Mark 4:22 tells us “For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.” The primary purpose of this verse is to encourage believers to release their faith and believe God to reveal His Word, the truth in circumstances in their lives and to expose the tactics and schemes of Satan.

There is definitely power in words. Either cursing or blessing can be put into effect through the spoken word.We find this in Proverbs 18:21, “The tongue can bring death or life....” And again in James 3:6, “And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.” Clearly when words are spoken which contradict God’s Word or God’s will, they can open the door to Satan’s operations.

Unforgiveness is not an insignificant issue. It causes many believers to stumble and miss out on the blessings God has for them. But while unforgiveness can be a major issue, it cannot cause you to lose your salvation. Always remember this very important fact—Jesus’ blood paid the price for all of man’s sin, including the sin of unforgiveness. When someone accepts the gift of salvation through Jesus, all of their past, present and future sins (including sins of unforgiveness) are washed away and they can be assured of spending eternity with God!

We need to be continually charged on the inside by the Holy Spirit in order to accomplish God’s will in the earth. Experiencing victory in the Christian life belongs to those who discover the infilling of the Holy Spirit is not just a one-time event, but a constant necessity.

When it comes to offering your tithe to Jesus, your mouth is just as important as your hand. Under the old covenant, the people were to take their tithe—the first fruits of their increase—to the priest declaring, “Go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, ‘With this gift I acknowledge to the Lord your God that I have entered the land he swore to our ancestors he would give us’” (Deuteronomy 26:3). Then the priest would place the tithe in a basket and present it on the altar before God as the people declared aloud their redemption before the Lord (verses 5-10, 13-15).

Often people wonder if painful or disruptive events are permitted by God to correct or discipline us.But how does God discipline His children?

To understand the full intent and extent of THE BLESSING, you have to return to where it was first expressed—in the creation of man. In the Garden of Eden, God’s intent was for man to have dominion over the whole earth.

The exciting thing about the promise of hundredfold return is that anything that can be produced by the Word of God has the potential for a hundredfold return. You will find all the way through the Old Testament that people’s crops were multiplied a hundredfold (see Genesis 26:12). This is God’s principle of return on the covenant.When you plant, there will be a hundredfold return coming in response: whether it be words, faith, money, etc. The whole kingdom of God operates according to this principle: seed planting and harvest!

The message of biblical prosperity is powerful, and as believers we all want to jump right into the river of blessings and receive God’s best. But it is important that we not attempt to develop in this one area faster than we are developing in our overall relationship with God. Everything we do as Christians must be based on our relationship with God and His Word.

Controlling your thought life is not only possible—it’s promised. But to do so, you have to advance to the front lines of spiritual conflict. Your mind is the main battlefield in the struggle to live a victorious, godly life.Proverbs 23:7 teaches us that what a man thinks about or meditates on, is what he becomes. So your thought life is very important. There is no need for you to be harassed or tormented in your thoughts by the devil, because God has made provision for you to be successful in this area.

Music can definitely influence a person’s life for good or evil. Because of this, it’s important for Christians to evaluate the music they regularly allow themselves to listen to.

Agriculture is the first thing we think about when we hear the phrase “seedtime and harvest.” It’s what comes to mind when we first read about it in Genesis 8:22, where we are promised that while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.But you don’t have to look very long to see that the principle of seedtime and harvest, or “sowing and reaping,” applies to every area of our lives. The law of sowing and reaping is a God-instituted process that will exist as long as we are on this earth.

The difference is that faith is now; hope is always in the future. And there’s a reason for that.Romans 8:24-25 states, “We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”Hope is that expectancy that keeps our faith alive until what we’re believing for comes.

You are not alone in that battle. As children of God, none of us want to be guilty of fulfilling what Scripture calls “the lust of the flesh.” In our society, lust is most often thought of in connection with sexual immorality. But lust means “strong desire.” The lust of the flesh is simply the strong desire to follow after the ways of the world rather than God, in any area of our lives.

The true Church cannot be found by comparing one denomination, church group or ministry to another. The simple answer is the Body of Christ is the true Church (Ephesians 1:22-23). When a person makes Jesus Christ his Lord, he becomes a part of the Body of Christ (Romans 10:9-10).

The answer to this question is simple, and it is found in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” All aspects of God’s nature begin with that single characteristic—God is a God of love and compassion, and His intentions for mankind have always been for good (Genesis 1-2).Why then, does the world continue to have death, wars and heartache? Because of mankind’s choice to reject God’s good plan (Genesis 3). Death and destruction are not God’s plan. They are simply the result of men and women using their God-given right of choice to choose death instead of life.

The Old Testament writers had a word for the way God loves us—hesed. It is translated as “ever lovingkindness; tenderness; mercy.” Hesed is the force that rises inside someone, causing them to stand up for the benefit of another. Another way of saying it is that it’s the picture of having a Blood Brother. From God’s perspective, it might best be described using John 3:16: “For God so ‘hesed’ the world, that he gave his only Son....”