"Expand Your Circumference!"

"Expand Your Circumference!"

For some time now, my heavenly Father has been relentless in teaching me
how to become a more efficient “conduit” (pathway) so that He can more easily
flow through me to reach down and bless His children on the Earth.
God gave us dominion over the planet, to subdue it and cause it to
multiply, but His power must flow through us to get it done. That’s exactly what
He did with Jesus, who flatly stated that He could do nothing without the
Father’s power flowing through Him. Our Savior was indeed a “conduit” ...a
pipeline by which His Father could touch the Earth. We are no different today
because Jesus is our example to follow.
I looked up the word “conduit” in the dictionary and it essentially
says: conduit - a round tube or pipe for conveying electrical wires (from one
place to another). Conduit comes in different sizes (diameters) from 1 inch
on up.
In line with this, I’ve been hearing in my spirit the word
“circumference” a lot. And this theme has become more persistent and amplified.
I know what the word “circumference” means but I looked it up anyway:
circumference -- the line around a circle. The larger the circumference, the
larger the size of the round conduit...and the more of God’s electrifying
power can flow to the needy.
This went on for a while and I sensed an urgency. Finally, a single word
evolved into a sentence within me: “Son, I want you to expand your
circumference!” With my lightning-fast Hispanic mind I deduced that perhaps God
wanted me to expand my sphere of influence (circle of friends, business
people)...or maybe He wanted me to expand my circle of distribution for BETTER
NEWS...or perhaps He wanted me to expand my knowledge of the Word...or maybe He
wanted me to expand my relationship with Him.
In the final analysis, I missed completely what He was saying. Finally,
inside of me I heard this: “I want you to expand the circumference (size) of
the conduit that you are. It is difficult for Me to try to stuff 12 feet of
blessing through a 1 inch conduit.”
I got the picture in a hurry!
This may seem like a small revelation at best, but in fact it is huge. I
believe that Heaven is “severely backed up” with answers to prayer,
promises, blessings, and instruction that are destined to reach us. But that
never gets here because there are so few of His children that He can
effectively flow through to make these things manifest.
I’m one of these guys that believes that we’re not waiting on
God...He’s waiting on us. He wants to do so much more through us than we could poss
ibly think or imagine...but we hinder God because we don’t yet understand how
the Kingdom of God operates. I like how Bill Winston puts it: “Jesus has
legally restored us to our Father God and given us His authority, the
authority of His name...However, we have to know how the kingdom of God operates in
order to access what he has given us.”
One of the things that we can’t seem to grasp is that His grace can only
flow through us when we are in inner peace. I’ll talk about that in just a
minute.
On A Lighter Note...
Those of you who have known me for a while understand that I am
committed to convincing the world that the Kingdom of God in Heaven is composed of
mostly Hispanics (except for Lucifer, Judas Iscariot and Mary’s sister
Martha). This entire concept may sound ludicrous and perhaps even border on
blasphemy to most...but hey, I’m sold. I’ll never quit because if I ever do, you
won’t have anything to laugh about on this increasingly insane planet (count
your blessings, folks).
I’ve reached most of my conclusions on this subject only after extensive
empirical research, and on occasion I will update those who are interested
in my progress. This is one of those times.
To begin with, the bedrock of my position has always been founded on
Genesis 1:27:“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God
created He him...”
How much more plain can it be? If God created me in His own image and
my skin is brown, and I speak Tex-Mex Spanish and I love enchiladas...then
God must be the same as me. There’s no other way you can slice this pie, guys.
To attempt to repudiate this assertion is an exercise in utter futility and
involves arrogance and self deception of the ugliest kind.
But let’s get down to the latest discovery that advances my latest
theory. Recently, a cache of ancient Bible manuscripts was discovered in South
Texas, ten miles west of Laredo in a cave behind Luby’s Cafeteria. The
historic find has been labeled “The Rio Grande Scrolls,” and the information
gained is not only exciting but invaluable.
We’ve all heard the joke about the existence of automobiles in Biblical
times, right? This silly theory is based on Acts 1:14, which states that at
one time “all the disciples were in one Accord.” Well, since Honda makes
a car named “Accord,” it naturally followed that there were indeed cars in
Israel during Jesus’ ministry. Incredibly absurd, right? Wrong.
After careful study of “The Rio Grande Scrolls,” it was discovered that
there really was an automobile factory in Egypt at precisely that point in
time. It was located adjacent to the pyramids and close to the right rear
leg of the Sphinx (stay with me guys, I’m going somewhere with all of this).
But here’s the real crux of the discovery: not only did this automobile
factory produce cars while Jesus walked the earth...it also mass-produced a
small pick-up truck called the Accord 150. This fits my hypothesis to a “T”
bigtime!
I stubbornly maintain that there was no way Jesus’ disciples could
follow the Savior on foot for 30 miles a day, virtually every day. Jesus was able
to do it because He was God and possessed supernatural energy. But His
disciples, on the other hand, were just guys.
Please get this: the only way they could keep up with Jesus was in a
pick-up truck: the Accord 150!
The obvious question from most of those who are reading this would be:
“How in the world could they fit 12 grown-ups in a small pickup?” Well,
there’s only one response that truly answers that question: the Disciples were of
Mexican descent! Not only were they adept at making everybody fit in a
pickup, but also in the truck were a couple of old fishing nets, assorted tax
receipts that belonged to Matthew, and 12 basketfulls of bread and fish.
All of the above further supports my theory that Hispanics played a
pivotal role in the history and success of Christianity in the earliest of times
(with all due respect to my Jewish brothers and sisters).
P.S. Hey, lighten up folks. I’m only kiddin’. If you believe any of this
stuff, I’ve got some property on the moon that I’d love to sell you...

Our Inner Peace is Key To Receiving God’s Manifold Grace

We have got to begin to understand how the kingdom of God operates in
order to fully benefit from what God has already granted to us. In line with
the Word and the finished work at the Cross, God’s many promises and
blessings began to flow through us the minute we asked for them. But “God cannot get
to us what cannot flow through us.”
I feel a caution in my spirit not to get real specific about a lot of
this because there is not space or time to elaborate. But I will touch the
most obvious things first, and then perhaps pursue this subject in detail in
the next issue of BETTER NEWS.
The Bible is teeming with declaration, explanation, and instruction
concerning inner peace and how crucial it is for us to walk in it and live by
it. Because we live in this fallen world, we have a natural proclivity to lean
toward strife and anxiety.
• One of the last things Jesus said to us before his ascension to Heaven
was John 14:27:
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you.”

The Savior knew how critical it is that we understand the role of internal
peace in our success.
• Jesus immediately followed up with:“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid.”
God’s grace (undeserved favor) for healing, prosperity, wisdom and
understanding, intercession, spiritual warfare, raising the dead, etc. cannot
flow through inner turmoil, unforgiveness, fear, and confusion. A troubled
heart is a huge obstruction to the transition of God’s blessings from the
spiritual realm within us to the natural physical realm outside of us. The heart
is the “innermost part of man” (in the soulish realm) that appears to be
the transfer point...the “outlet” from the inside of us to the outside world.
Proverbs 4:23 says that we should guard what’s in our heart, for out of it
flow the issues of life. Proverbs 23:7 states that as a man thinks in his
heart, so is he.
The clear message here is that our heart should be “without spot or
wrinkle” so that the power of God can flow through it without being “blocked”
or compromised.
• Can we ourselves keep our heart clean? Not according to Philippians 6:4:
“Be anxious for nothing, but through prayer and supplication. let your
requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all
understanding, shall guard your heart and your mind through
Christ Jesus.”

It’s very plain: the peace of God will guard our hearts. How do we
achieve this peace? We don’t. Jesus took care of that at the Cross:
“...the chastisement of
our peace was
upon Him...”
Peace is a gift that’s already paid for. Like our salvation, let’s just
receive that marvelous inner peace and then hook up with the power of the
Holy Spirit to clean up all the nasty stuff inside us that needs to go.
• 15 of the books in the New Testament begin with the phrase “Let grace
and peace be multiplied to you...” If that doesn’t emphasize the utter
importance of grace and peace in our daily walk, nothing does.
I heard someone say that “Peace keeps what grace gives.” That’s
powerful! Jesus was always in total control of himself and His circumstances
because He bathed himself with His Father’s peace always.
I also know from experience that the Devil cannot and will not
manipulate a peaceful believer. That’s why he tries so hard to feed garbage into our
minds. And he’s like a cockroach: he always keeps coming back. But that’s
okay:
“It is written, ‘Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions (and cockroaches) and over all the power
of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’” Luke 10:19

“Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in
good health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John:2

This is the same scripture, paraphrased: Beloved, no way will you always
prosper
and be in good health unless you first receive cleansing in your heart.
Begin to
walk today in inner peace, and all these other things will be added unto
you.