OpenHeaven.com Digest Publication


In This Issue
1. Returning to Love
2. God is about to re-boot the church.
3. What Do You Want? - Video
4. News Headlines

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1. Returning to Love

By Ron McGatlin

The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. If I am experiencing something else such as strife, frustration, or depression, there is something else at work. Jesus brings freedom; it is someone else that brings bondage. The love of God produces in us His righteous way of being and doing, His peace that passes natural understanding, and His joy full of glory that is not tied to natural circumstances.

God resists the proud but gives more grace to the humble. Often adversity and our failures are used of God to bring us into a place of pure love and humility. Real love and humility are always worth all we went through to get there. Pure love from God and for God brings us to a brokenness of humility and a love for everyone, including those who act as enemies toward us. Real love for those who persecute us or spitefully use us is a part of the kingdom of God lifestyle.

Mat 43-44: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

It is easy to get so busy seeking to carry out the call of God that we lose contact with the intimate love life with God in our own lives. While seeking to help others out of religious bondages, we can be again entangled in bondage ourselves. Our intimate love relationship can be sacrificed in the complexity of trying to bring freedom to God’s people entangled under religious order of the passing church systems of hierarchical order of rule.

We must come back to the pure love of God expressed in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit. The real kingdom of God is love in action. It is established by love, operates by love, and is held together by love. Without the love of God there is no kingdom of Heaven on earth. Most of us reading this know these things. Yet, it is possible to connect into religious systems seeking to bring a new order of love and one day awaken to realize that we have begun to act and react in opposition to the existing systems and actually become part of the thing we sought to change.

This is somewhat like law enforcement officers dealing with underworld criminal activities so long that they drift into the same types of practices. They may begin to use illegal or at least immoral methods to accomplish the enforcing of the law. Crooked or abusive policemen are often a product of their environmental influence over a period of time.

Paul wrote in Galatians 6:1: Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Galatians 5:1: Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

For me it is time to return to walking in the pure love of oneness with Christ and lay aside all else, to live in and demonstrate to others the pure love life of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Jesus did not first teach and preach the kingdom. He demonstrated it in love and power first and then taught the disciples who were ready to hear and understand. First demonstrate the kingdom, and then preach and teach the kingdom of God.

Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

archive.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net




2. God is about to re-boot the church

By Brian Simmons

God is about to re-boot the church. Humility will be the new normal when the God of glory reveals Himself. We will begin to walk in the power of authentic humility when we shun the arrogance of this world and meet one another with no pretense, no title, no lifting ourselves above another. This is the new dimension of the kingdom. We become one when we forget our importance. He will continue the wo...rk of de-selfing the church until we truly reflect the One we love.

"Be free from controversial or pride-filled opinions, for they will only harm your cherished unity. Don’t allow self-promotion to hide in your hearts, but in authentic humility put others first and view others as more important than yourselves. Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to your friends instead of your own interests. ⁵And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation."

Philippians 2:3:5
The Passion Translation

Brian Simmons



3. What Do You Want? - Video

Kriston Couchey

What Do You Want? Video>

4. News Headlines


Egyptian Christians' 'Radical' Response to Islamists - 8/31/2013
The city of Minya sits at the epicenter of the persecution against the Christian Church in Egypt. During the past several weeks, Christians have suffered the worst attacks in centuries. Radical Islam spurred the violence, but the onslaught is being met with the love of Christ. The Amir Tadros Church in Minya is just one of dozens of churches that have been burned down.


News From British Isles, Ireland, Europe and Worldwide - 8/31/2013
Young Christians have fun and develop their faith - Russian hotels to have a Bible in every room - Britain: Muslim TV hate preachers ‘inciting murder’ - NIGERIA: Education under threat - Iraq: Shia Sunni conflict - Egypt: Christians targeted - Japan: Radioactive leak 'serious' - South Africa: Family Policy Institute calls for clampdown - More>


Thousands Find Salvation and Freedom in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - 8/27/2013
We are rejoicing again tonight with thousands that found salvation and freedom here in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. I preached a very strong message of repentance and told the people that it’s not enough just to pray a prayer – following Jesus means that your life must change. I could almost feel the conviction falling on many people as the Holy Spirit took over and drew them.


Faith-based Ministry to Rescue another 3,400 Christians from Sudan - 8/27/2013
(Sudan)—Thanks to incredibly generous donations from our supporters, we are once again extending our Exodus mission; preparations are underway to rescue a further 3,400 Christians from Sudan. Since the launch of this major operation around a year ago, we have airlifted or bussed nearly 5,000 vulnerable Christians to South Sudan, where they are beginning a new life.


Peruvian woman miraculously healed by God, treks mountains proclaiming the Gospel - 8/27/2013
Was it an angel? Whoever touched her, the result was immediate. “I began recovering miraculously.” Sister Luz now organizes listening groups. Her audio Bible is extremely helpful for those who are elderly or cannot read. She also treks through the mountains to bring the Good News to villages. They call her Sister of Light, because she carries the light of God’s Word.


The Evangelicals You Don’t Know: Introducing the Next Generation of Christians - 8/27/2013
Tom Krattenmaker, a USA Today columnist who describes himself as a “secularish” liberal from the People's Republic of Portland, has surprised his friends in the media by taking a friendly look at Today’s evangelicals in his book, The Evangelicals You Don’t Know: Introducing the Next Generation of Christians.


Survivors exist in slums, long for justice - 8/27/2013
It was five years ago this weekend that Christians in India's Odisha (formerly Orissa) state faced mass genocide. "I witnessed the beatings and abuse and suffering of so many people." Anti-Christian sentiment is still thriving. Believers who survived the 2008 violence continue to face harassment and assault. In 2012 alone, between 30 and 40 young girls were raped.


Why We Need the Manifest Presence of God - 8/27/2013
I was reminded of how critically important it is to have the manifest presence of God in our midst. But before anyone misunderstands me, I’m not talking about specific manifestations, nor am I talking about how we respond outwardly to the Spirit’s presence. I’m talking about people having a life-changing encounter with the living God as He moves in our midst.


2013 SoCal Harvest with Greg Laurie Draws 105,000 to Angel Stadium over Weekend for Message of Hope - 8/27/2013
Harvest Crusade Features Duck Commander Phil Robertson of A&E's Duck Dynasty, Music from Top Christian Recording Artists, and Nightly Message from Greg Laurie. more than 105,000 people poured into Angel Stadium of Anaheim over three nights to hear a life-changing message of redemption and God's love. 9,263 people indicated decisions of faith.


Back from the Dead: Man's Faith 'Stronger Than Ever' - 8/27/2013
DAYTON, Ohio -- Thirty-seven-year-old Tony Yahle is thankful he could attend church services with his family. "It feels great." "I was always a believer, but I mean it's a whole new level now." Yahle came back after being dead for 45 minutes. Word of his miracle made headlines around the world, astounding the medical community and turning skeptics into believers.


More News Headlines