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Prophetic
   and
Practical
Teaching
for  21st
Century
Warriors


February 2005

Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT)
Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others.
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.
Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.

I have been praying and asking our Wonderful Counselor why there are not more miracles so that 3,000 or 5,000 people may
receive Jesus Christ as Savior. And why there are very few signs and wonders following the saints of God as they go about their
lives and ministry. Whole regions received the Lord Jesus as Savior as they witnessed miracles and saw that Jesus is ALIVE!
It has been a puzzlement to me to read what our God can do in the Gospels and the book of Acts yet see so little demonstration of
His Grace flowing forth to heal the sick, cause the lame to leap, the deaf to hear and the blind to see. Why don’t we walk in what is
one of the basic tenants of His word? To heal is rudimentary to our Lord. He shed His blood to SAVE, SET FREE, and HEAL. And, it
says in the Bible that we shall do even greater things than what is recorded about our Jesus.

In answer to my wondering and all of the “whys” I have asked, the Lord has been talking to me a lot about selfishness. I have come
to believe that selfishness or, what the King James Bible termed vain-glory, is the primary reason God’s power does not flow
through us to others. It is vital that we come to understand that the more self absorbed we are the less God absorbed we are. If we
are not absorbed with the things of God we begin to care only about ourselves and not other people. When that happens we
become useless to our Lord in accomplishing His works of love.

There is a direct relationship to being selfish and the amount of power our Lord can pour through us to
accomplish His work here on earth. He wants to be able to pour His pure love through us to hurting people who
are in need of salvation, deliverance and healing, but there is a block.

He showed this issue to me as a filter, like you would have for your furnace. The filter is our heart. When we receive Jesus, our
filter is made brand new. It’s clean and ready to let His love pour through us. The holes in our filter are large enough to let God’s love
pass through easily. But, then trials happen…hurts, wounds, stress of life hits us...duddenly, self become more important than the
things of God, and far more important than other people. Clumps of black selfishness start to dirty our filter. Pretty soon, our filter
gets all black with dirt and just like a dirty furnace filter can no longer produce clean air, our dirty heart filter can no longer produce
God’s pure love. The love is all tainted with vain-glory, instead of God’s glory.
The power of His love to save, deliver and heal is blocked.

This kind of situation, if left unchecked, will lead to evil. It says in James 3:16 (NLT). For wherever there is jealousy and selfish
ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil. It is not possible to walk in the power of God’s love if you are selfish.

Since the very fabric of our western society is based on self–gratification, and many of these attitudes have come into the church,
it is no wonder that we do not see an abundance of miracles, signs and wonders.  When we ask God to reveal to us every way
that we are selfish and self-serving and begin to live out Philippians 2: 3-4, esteeming others more than ourselves, then the power
of God will begin to flow through our blood cleaned filters.  If you want to walk in more love and power, ask the Holy Spirit to search
your heart for selfishness. When the sin is found, humble yourself before Jesus and repent. Asked to be washed by His blood. Ask
Him to give you His unselfish heart.

Then watch and see what the Lord will do through you.

~Selah~

Shalom Beloveds of God,
May Adonai richly bless you!

Cheryl
Cheryl Birch Ministries, Inc.

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