PREPARE FOR PERSECUTION

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
(2 Timothy 3:12)

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Did you catch that? He said all who live godly lives are going to suffer persecution. Not just the super-saints, not just the missionaries in hostile lands–but ALL.

If you’re going to live for God, you’re going to run into persecution somewhere along the line. The devil’s going to make sure of it!

Now I’m not saying that to frighten you or to depress you. I’m saying it because I want you to be prepared.

When you’re wise to the strategies of the devil, it’s harder for him to use them successfully on you to confuse you and get you off track.

Second Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” So stay armed and ready for Satan‘s attack. Then, whenever and however it comes, it won’t bring your life to a halt or even slow you down.

That’s especially important right now because we’re living in the last days. The devil’s time is drawing short. He is desperate. He is going to do everything he can to stop the Church. But Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church!

Remember the more we grow to be like Jesus and the more God’s glory is revealed through our lives, the bigger threat we are to Satan’s kingdom. Jesus said, “Rejoice and be glad at such a time, and exult and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is rich and great and strong and intense and abundant in heaven” (Luke 6:23, The Amplified Bible).

So, when persecution comes your way, and you know it will, rejoice and be glad. Take the Jesus cure and begin to leap and jump and praise God! There is no way persecution will hurt you if you do that. I’ve tried it and it works. RETURN TO BARRYWEDDLE.ORG.

Live Free From Fear!

 

Dr. Barry Weddle, A Man of Uncommon Wisdom

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.”
(Psalm 91:1-3)

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Is it possible to live free from fear in this dangerous and unpredictable world? Yes, it most definitely is! Because protection is a solid promise of God.

However, it’s not a promise that’s offered to just anyone; it is promised to those who abide in the Lord. To abide means to dwell, to remain and to continue. To abide in the shadow of the Almighty is to live in continual union with Him, keeping His Word and obeying His voice. Those who abide in the Lord can live without dread of what the devil will do.

Let me make this clear though– God’s promise of protection doesn’t guarantee that the devil will leave you alone! It means that God will give you a way of escape every time the devil rears his ugly face at you.

If you are afraid of the dangers around you, spend more time in the Word and in prayer until your trust in God overcomes your fear. Draw closer to the Lord until you are abiding in the shadow of the Almighty and–no matter how dangerous this world becomes–He surely shall deliver you! Return to BarryWeddle.org.

Your First and Highest Calling

Dr. Barry Weddle, A Man of Uncommon Wisdom

“God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
(1 Corinthians 1:9)

Do you know what God wants you to do more than anything else today? He wants you to fellowship with Him.

He wants you to walk with Him and talk with Him. To discuss the things of life with Him. He wants you to draw near to Him and partake of His very nature.

So many of us get so caught up in striving to please God in the things we do that we forget our first and highest calling is just to be in fellowship with Him.

That’s right. God longs for us just to want to be with Him.

Have you ever considered how much it would mean for you to just come to God and say, “Father, I didn’t really come today to get anything. I’ve prayed about my needs already and Your Word says they’re met according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So I just came to be with You. If You have anything You’d like to tell me, I’m ready to listen…and I want you to know that whatever I see in Your Word, I’ll do it. I’ll put it into effect in my life.”

Why don’t you tell that to God today? He’s waiting to have fellowship with you. Return to BarryWeddle.Org.

Why Did God Create You?

 

Dr. Barry Weddle, A Man of Uncommon Wisdom!

“What we have seen and [ourselves] heard we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have (which is a distinguishing mark of Christians) is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah.”
(1 John 1:3)

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Man is something really special. He is made in the image of God. He is made to have fellowship with God.

Some people get the idea that God made man so He’d have someone to dominate. But God is not a dominator. God is love and love needs to give to someone. That’s why God made man. He made him so He could give him His love.

God could have given His love to the angels, and He did that. But giving to angels didn’t provide total fulfillment. Why? Because angels aren’t made in His image.

You’re the same way. Let’s say, for example, you have a puppy as a pet. You can fellowship with that little pet just so much, but then there comes a time when you need to talk to somebody. There comes a time when you need to have communication on your own level.

The reason you’re like that is because you’re created in the image of God. That’s how He is. He has a desire to fellowship with someone like Himself.

Dare to believe you’re something really special today–a one-of-a-kind creation made by God in His very own image. Dare to receive His love and dare to love Him back! Return to BarryWeddle.Org

Stand Up & Be Counted!

 

Dr. Barry Weddle, A Man of Uncommon Wisdom!

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”
(1 Timothy 2:1-2)

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We are commanded to pray for our country and our leaders. But having prayed, God expects us to act. The elections in the United States are vital to the future of this nation. Our country is in the midst of a spiritual outpouring, and it’s vitally important that the right people be elected. We must see to it.

Don’t wait until election time is upon us before you start seeking God for whom to vote. Begin to pray now so that the news media and other voices from every corner cannot influence you and cannot draw you in a direction away from the Spirit of God. Pray so that you won’t be influenced by natural reactions and natural responses to cleverly designed commercials and ideas.

Start praying now about the coming elections. Whether they are small local elections or major national elections, make them a part of every prayer you pray. Then thank the Spirit of God for His wisdom concerning your vote. Thank Him for giving you His wisdom about what to say and when to say it to others. Thank Him for giving you wisdom to declare the Name of Jesus and declare that this shall be a God indwelt, God-ordained, God-overseen administration.

So register. Pray. Vote. Then stand up and be counted by the power of the living God. Return to BarryWeddle.Org

How’s Your Spiritual Maintenance?

 

Dr. Barry Weddle, A Man of Uncommon Wisdom!

“The cares and anxieties of the world, and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.”
(Mark 4:19)

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Did you know that the seemingly innocent things in your everyday life can suffocate your spiritual life if you allow it?

A friend of mine said the Lord told her in prayer one day that this nation had become a nation of maintenance men. “You have so many things to maintain,” He told her. “You maintain your house. You maintain your car, your yard, your machines, your hair….”

It’s true. You can become a maintainer of so many natural things that you don’t have any time left to maintain your own spirit!

When you find yourself in that situation, it’s time to simplify your life. I’ve had to learn that myself. Now when I’m considering something I think I need, I don’t just count the cost in dollars and cents. I think about how much time it will take to maintain it. I check to see if I can spiritually afford it.

Second Timothy 2:4 says, “Don’t get entangled in the affairs of this life.” One thing I’ve learned over the last 25 years: Nothing is as important as spending time in prayer and in the Word with the Father. Absolutely nothing in my life is as vital as that.  Return to BarryWeddle.Org.

Take Correction

 

Dr. Barry Weddle, A Man of Uncommon Wisdom

 

“Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man…and he will increase in learning.”
(Proverbs 9:8-9)

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There is one thing you can do that will accelerate your spiritual growth more than almost any other thing: learn to take correction–from the Spirit of God and from His people.

So few believers seem to be able to do that. When their preacher gets in the pulpit and preaches about something they already know, about some aspect of life they’ve already submitted to the Lord, they think he’s great. They like him because he makes them feel good. But the moment he stands up and begins to preach about something they’re doing wrong, they take offense.

God says that’s foolish. He says, in Proverbs 1:7, only fools strike out at, or despise, correction.

So don’t be like that. When your pastor or anyone else in the Body of Christ has a word of correction for you, receive it gratefully. Appreciate those who share the wisdom of God with you. When someone points out somewhere that you’ve missed it, instead of reacting against them, examine yourself and say, “Is that right? Does that agree with the Word? Do I need to make a change there?”

If the answer to those questions is yes, then make the changes you need to make to get your life in line.

I know that’s not easy. None of us likes to be corrected. But if you’ll make up your mind you’re going to receive that correction anyway, that you’re going to remain teachable, you’ll be able to go on and grow in spiritual things much more quickly.

One man said, “If you think you’ve already arrived, you aren’t going anywhere.” Remember that next time someone corrects you. Love that person and thank him for speeding along your spiritual progress. If you’ll do that, you’ll come out ahead every time. Return to www.barryweddle.org/

Real Intercession

“And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.”
(Isaiah 59:16)

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When somebody hurts us, our natural human reaction is to strike back…to ask God to clobber them. But that’s not God’s way.

I realized that one time when some relatives of mine got robbed. I was praying about the situation and puzzling over it. “Lord,” I began to ask, “why did You let that happen? Why didn’t You just knock that thief over the head when he tried to do that?”

Suddenly, God enabled me to back up from that situation and look at it with spiritual, instead of just purely natural eyes.

When I did that, I knew the answer to my question almost as quickly as I had asked it. It was because of His mercy. God has great, great mercy. Not just for me and my family but for theirs too.

Think about that next time someone does you wrong. Instead of asking God to knock that person in the head, like I did, consider the fact that–as ornery as he may be–he may well have a grandmother somewhere who’s praying for him to be saved. Stop and remember that God loved him enough to die for him, that He’s longing to pardon–not punish him.

Then you can begin to pray for him instead of against him, uniting yourself with his grandmother (or anybody else who happens to be praying for him). You can go to the Lord for mercy for him and you can go up against the devil on his behalf. That’s real intercession and it throws the forces of darkness into total confusion. They have absolutely no defense against it.

The Lord is looking for people who are bold enough, committed enough to do that. Dare to be one of them. When you’re tempted to clobber somebody, dare to change his life instead. Click here to return to www.BarryWeddle.Org/

Change Your Image

 

Dr. Barry Weddle, A Man of Uncommon Wisdom!

Change the Image

“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
(Romans 8:24-25)

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According to Romans, hope is actually looking at something that you can’t see. How do you do that? You do it by looking at the promises of God in the Word until with your inner eyes–the eyes of your spirit–a picture is formed.

For example, one of the hardest things I ever had to do was face the fact that the inner image I had of myself physically was fat. It didn’t matter how hard I tried to change, it wouldn’t go away. I was always on a diet. I must have lost (and regained) hundreds of pounds over the years.

I finally had to admit that as long as my inner image of myself was fat, my outer self was going to match it. Remember, it’s faith that changes things, and without the inner image of hope, faith cannot work.

So I decided to fast for seven days. I searched my Bible for every scripture I could find on food and eating and I found many.

I meditated on every one of those scriptures and prayed in the Spirit for seven full days. What was I doing? I was laying hold on a different inner image.

This is not something you can do overnight. It takes time. Especially if the inner image you’re changing has been there for years.

But you can do it. Go to the Word of God today and begin to change the images inside you. Change them from images of despair to images of hope. Get a blueprint in your heart and your faith will build on it!  Return to BarryWeddle.org

Have You Heard that Money Does Not Grow On Trees?

I am sure you have heard that before, but did the person who told you that,

Dr. Barry, a man of uncommon wisdom!

tell you where it does come from? Luke 6: 38 tells us where money comes from. It says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall MEN give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you give, it shall be measured to you again.”

I believe with all my heart that God is a provider, but I also know that, his means of provision are through people. Don’t forget, God does not print Dollar bills! Why? Dollars are not the currency in heaven, but we need it here, thus God has given us dominion in the earth and part of our earthly mandate is to create wealth.

Don’t forget, God does not GIVE wealth; he gives the POWER (or ability) to get wealth. (Deut 8:18) Do you know that, the money you are praying for is not in heaven, but already here on earth? In fact, it has been here all along, even before the need arose. Power to get wealth is what we need; the ability to attract the money that is already here on earth.

We are told in the bible, that when Israel left Egypt, the gold and silver they took along, did not come from heaven; it was in the wrong hands all along and God had to favor them to get some of the gold and silver. Listen! God’s perfect will is not for his people to live hand to mouth, struggling to make ends meet! He wants us to know what it takes to create the wealth we need to fulfill our assignment in the earth.

How did the Egyptian come about the gold and silver they possessed? How did Bill Gates become one of the richest men on the earth? Did he pray for money? The Egyptians and people like Bill Gates are doing what we have failed to do, because we think like one lady that said to me; “If God wants me to have money, he’ll give it to me!” I said, “Yea, and if God wants your hair combed, he’ll comb it for you!”

While we pray and fast for money, the people of the world are busy creating wealth. God is not a respecter of persons. However, he is a respecter of principles, and if the people of the world act on God’s principles, they will be blessed while his own children languish in debt because they fail to operate in God’s ordained principles for wealth creation.

“IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE ON EARTH FINANCIALLY.”

Yes, “when God gives a vision, he gives provision,” but he does it through people. Therefore, children of God, we must come to an understanding of how to create wealth in order to accomplish what God has assigned us to do!