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Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil. -Hebrews 2:14
...that He might paralyse him that held the dominion of death, That is
the Adversary. -Hebrews 2:14 Rotherham
That he might subdue,
or that he might overcome him, and destroy his dominion. The word destroy
here is not used in the sense of closing life, or of killing, but in the
sense of bringing into subjection, or crushing his power. This is the work
which the Lord Jesus came to perform--to destroy the kingdom of Satan in the
world, and to set up another kingdom in its place. This was understood
by Satan to be his object.
Jesus put to naught
the hosts of darkness! He paralyzed their death- dealing power! And when
Jesus met John the Revelator on the Isle of Patmos, Jesus said, "I
am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive fore evermore,
Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18).
Keys represent
authority. Jesus conquered Satan and stripped him of his authority. Jesus
was the master of all hell!
But Jesus did not
conquer Satan for Himself. He conquered him for us. It was as though you and
I personally had met Satan and had conquered him, stripped him of his
authority, and stood a master over him.
Jesus
answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is
that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou
hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou
that living water?...Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of
this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. -JOHN
4:10,11,13,14
Bible scholars know
that water is a type of Holy Spirit.
Jesus Himself used
water as a type of the Spirit. When Jesus told the woman at the well of
Samaria that He was the Giver of living water, she got it confused with the
water in the well - natural water.
Then Jesus said,
"The water that I shall give...shall be...a well of water springing up
into everlasting life."
He was talking
running streams, in opposition to dead and stagnant water, the New Birth,
the well of living water within the believer.
The dead stagnant
spirit of a man, his lifeless and hopeless soul by nature is like such a
desert, or like a traveler wandering through such a desert. It is thirsting
for happiness, and seeking it everywhere, but does not find it. It looks in
all directions and tries all objects, but in vain. Nothing meets its
desires. Though a sinner seeks for joy in wealth and pleasures, yet he is
not satisfied. He still thirsts for more, and seeks still for happiness in
some new enjoyment. To such a weary and unsatisfied sinner the grace of
Christ is as cold waters to a thirsty soul.
...Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. -James 4:7
Submit yourselves
therefore to God. That is, in his arrangements for obtaining his favor.
Yield to what He has judged necessary for your welfare in this life through
salvation the life that is to come.
The duty here
commanded is that of entire compliance in the provision of God in his grace.
All these are for our good, and submission to them is required by the spirit
of true humility.
The reason for the
command here, and in the successive charges to particular duties, is to show
us how we might obtain the grace which God is willing to bestow, and how we
might overcome the evils assignments against us. The true method of doing
this is by submitting ourselves in all things to God.
Every passage in the
New Testament that deals with the devil always instructs us to do something
about the devil. Never are New Testament believers told to only pray that
God would do something about the devil. While we yield to God in all things,
we are to yield to the devil in nothing.
Here in James 4:7
"you" is the
understood subject of the sentence. "You
resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Notice it's
not, "Pray to God for Him to do something about the devil." Nor is
it, "Pray that Jesus won't let the devil get you."
Also notice that the
Bible doesn't say, "When you feel like it, you can resist the devil,
and it will work for you." No. Whether you feel like it or not, the
authority still belongs to you. You can't feel authority; you just exercise
it!
The Devil may
approach you, whether by charm, by flattering promises, by the fascinations
of the world, by temptation, or by threats. Act on James 4:7. Don't just
consider it a fairy tale, but as the Word of God, which is to be acted upon.
If you'll act on it, the devil and all his cohorts will run from you as in
terror!
For
if, because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through
that one, much more surely will those who reigned through that one, much
more surely will those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited
favor) and the free gift of righteousness (Putting them into right standing
with Himself) reign as kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ, The
Messiah, the Anointed One. -Romans 5:17 Amplified
In the time when Paul
wrote this, kings reigned over certain countries or domains.
You are to reign in
your domain too. We have much more reason to expect it. It clearly accords
much more with the administration of a Being of infinite goodness. This
doesn't mean you're to reign or rule over other people, but you're to rule
and reign in your life, in you dominion.
You're to rule and
reign over circumstances, poverty, sickness, disease - because you have the
authority! You shall be triumphant over all theft enemies; you shall gain
the ultimate victory; and shall jointly partake with the Captain of our
salvation in his splendors of His dominion
You have it through
the One, Jesus Christ.
Don't let the devil
cheat you out of the blessings God intended you should have. God never
intended that you should be poverty stricken and destitute. He didn't intend
that the devil should rule and reign over your family and dominate them.
Just get angry at the devil. Demand of him, "Take your hands off my
children. You've got no right here. I'm ruling over this domain." If he
resist, quote the devil Romans 5:17.
And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. -COLOSSIANS 2:15
And
the hostile princes and rulers He shook off from Himself, and boldly
displayed them as His conquests... -COLOSSIANS 2:15 Weymouth
The Bible teaches us
here that Jesus put Satan to nought and He triumphed over him. Another
translation reads, "He stripped him." He was stripped of his
authority over man.
Yet more than
stripped, he has no armor. He has literally lost his protection from our
word attacks against him. Of course he runs in terror when the over
powering ammunition of God’s word comes out of your mouth
In this text is an
allusion to the treatment of enemies when conquered. They are spoiled of
their armor, so much the word apekduomai
implies; and they are exhibited with scorn, humiliation, contempt and
reproach to the populace, especially when the victor has the honor of a
triumph.
To the former of
which there is an allusion in the words deigmatizo
en parrhesia, making a public exhibition of them; and to the
latter in the words thriambeuo autos,
triumphing over them. The principalities and powers refer to the
emperors, kings, and generals taken in battle, and reserved to grace the
victor's triumph.
When Jesus put Satan
to nought and stripped him of his authority, it was you in Christ who did
that work. Christ acted in your stead - in your place. He did it for you.
What Christ did was
marked to your credit. He did it as your substitute. (He did it in your
place, and God marked it to your credit as though you were the one who did
it!) Yet the devil is reserved for continual scorn, humiliation, contempt
and reproach at our hands to show all principalities and powers we are the
victors
No, we're not immodest
about what you are in the flesh. (We don't amount to much in the flesh.)
We're talking about who you are in Christ. The Word in you is equal to
all that God is. There is no limit to your victories in this life except
your faith.
You can say, "In
Christ, I conquered Satan. I stripped him of his authority. And when Jesus
arose from the dead, I arose with Him!" I am victorious over sickness,
poverty, and death. I am safe and protected on all my borders. I rest
a peace in my Saviors strong arms
And
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all
things to the church, Which is his body... -Ephesians 1:22,23
Some philosophizing
teachers of the school of Simon Magus, in Western Asia Minor, had, according
to IREN & AElig; US and EPIPHANIUS, taught their hearers these names of
various ranks of angels. Paul shows that the truest wisdom is to know Christ
as reigning above them all. We know the King our Christ is above all names
subject to his kingdom though we cannot name them all.
What a need there is
for the Church to awaken to the appreciation of her powerful position and
privilege - to be exalted to the place God wants her - to realize she is to
rule over the powers of the air!
How often the Church
has failed in her ministry of authority, actually bowing down in defeat and
being overcome with fear. We need see ourselves in heaven. For the Head and
body are not severed by anything intervening, else the body would cease to
be the body, and the Head cease to be the Head
"...and gave him
to be the head over all things TO THE CHURCH..." To the Church! The
reason Jesus is Head over all things - the devil, demons, sickness, poverty,
and everything else that's evil - is for the benefit of the Church! We need
to sit reverently and meditate before these mighty truths so their
tremendous meaning can grasp our hearts.
In this attitude, the
Spirit of Truth can lift us into the place where we can see the full meaning
of what God's Word is saying: That God made Christ to be the head over all
things for the sake of the Church, so that the Church, through the Head of
the Church, might exercise authority over all things.
And
ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
power...Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the
dead...hath he quickened together with him...
Colossians 2:10,12,13
And
therefore; and so. Translate in the Greek order, "Ye are in Him (by
virtue of union with Him) filled full" of all that you need (John
1:16). Believers receive of the divine anointing which flows down from their
Divine Head and High Priest (Ps 133:2). He is full of the "fulness"
itself; we are filled from Him.
Notice the expression
"through the faith of the operation of God." Jesus was quickened
(made alive) by the faith of the operation of God - add we were made alive
at the same time. Which faith was produced by the operation or energy, or
unction, or anointing of God. Believing is the act of the soul;
but the grace or power to believe comes from God himself.
It was God who raised
Jesus from the dead. It was God who gave Jesus a Name above every name. It
was God who blotted out "the handwriting of ordinances" against
us, took it out of the way, and nailed it to His cross (Colossians 2:14). It
was God who stripped the powers of darkness of their authority and handed it
to the Son (Colossians 2:15). And it was God who quickened us "together
with Him."
In the mind of God,
legally speaking, it was when Jesus was quickened and made alive, that we
were recreated. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus..." (Ephesians 2:10). This fact of our re- creation becomes a
vital reality in our lives when we are individually born again (made new
creatures).
Raised with Christ!
Quickened with Him! Seated with Him! (Ephesians 2:4-6).
And
he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. -Colossians
1:18
We have recognized
that Jesus is the Head of the Church, and we've exalted Him to His position
of Power, all right. But do we see that the Head is wholly dependent upon
its body for carrying out its plans. do we see that we are seated with
Christ in heavenly places. do we see that Jesus has authority over Satan's
power. If this authority is ever exercised, it will have to be exercised
through the Body. We have been so sure that we couldn't do anything, that we
have left everything up to Christ the Head of the Church - and the Head is
powerless without the Body.
Take your own
physical head as an example. It is powerless to carry out any of its plans
without the cooperation of the body. Your head might see a songbook on the
rack in front of you, but unless your body cooperates, your head will never
be able to sing from that book.
The ministry God
wants to accomplish through His Son in this world will be carried out
through the Body of Christ. And we - the Body of Christ - have the same
authority the Head has!
Wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. -Ephesians 6:13
The
message of the armor tells us how to take our place and maintain it against
the devil. And having done all, to stand. Rather, And having conquered
all, stand: this is a military phrase, and is repeatedly used in this sense
by the best Greek writers. "Having in a short time discomfited all our
enemies, we returned with numerous captives and much spoil."
"Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth..."
The girdle of truth is a clear understanding of God's Word. It holds the
rest of the armor in place like a soldier's belt.
"...and
having on the breastplate of righteousness."
The breastplate has two meanings:
(1) Jesus is our righteousness, so we put Him on;
(2) The breastplate represents our active obedience to the Word of God.
"And
your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."
This is faithful ministry in proclaiming the Word of God.
"Above
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked."
This is complete safety by faith in the blood. No power of the enemy can
penetrate the blood! Faith is the grace by which all others are preserved
and rendered active, so it is properly represented here under the notion of
a shield, by which the whole body is covered and protected. Faith, in
this place means that evidence of things unseen which every genuine believer
has, that God, for Christ's sake, has blotted out his sins, and by which he
is enabled to call God his Father, and feel him to be his portion. It
is such an appropriating faith as this which can quench any dart of the
devil.
"And
take the helmet of salvation..." This is the covering
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation ornamented with hope protected in love.
"...the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
All other parts of the armor are for protection (defense); this one is to be
used offensively against the enemy. He in whom the word of God dwells
richly, and who has that faith by which he knows that he has redemption,
even the forgiveness of sins, need not fear the power of any adversary.
"Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit..." You've
got on the armor. Now you are ready for the prayer fight.
But
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. -2 Corinthians 4:3-4
No man in his right
mind would speed down the highway at 100 miles per hour past flashing red
lights and signs that said, "Danger! Danger! Bridge Out!" But a
man who was drunk or on drugs would.
Likewise, no man in
his right mind would go through life and plunge off into eternity and hell,
lost. But people do it because the devil has them doped and blinded.
Christ commands his
disciples in preaching the Gospel to go to the LOST sheep. The Son of man is
come to seek and to SAVE that which is LOST. And such persons he
represents under the parable of the lost sheep; to find that which is LOST,
the good shepherd leaves the ninety-and-nine in the wilderness, and goes in
search of it. The word more properly signifies, in all those connections,
and in the parallel passages, not those who ARE LOST, but those who are
perishing; and will perish, if not sought and saved.
A minister was
sharing about his brother's salvation. He said that he realized it was the
devil who had his brother bound and was keeping him from being saved. One
day the minister said, "Satan, in the Name of Jesus Christ, I break
your power over my brother's life, and I claim his deliverance and
salvation!"
I find it hard to
attribute to Satan the authority of god of this world but sadly the
truth is those who are blind, and kept blind do not see whom they serve. We
do not have control over human wills, but we do have control over evil
spirits that blind men.
providing
honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight
of men.
II Cor 8:21
AMERICA
IS A BLESSED LAND
According to a major university study, if we could shrink the earth's
population to a village of precisely one hundred people, with all the
existing human ratios remaining the same, here's what this town of one
hundred would look like:
Fifty-seven would be Asians, twenty-one would be Europeans, fourteen would
be from the Western hemisphere and eight would be from Africa. Fifty-two of
the one hundred people would be female. Forty-eight would be male. Seventy
would be non-Christian. Thirty would claim to be Christian. Eighty-nine
would be heterosexual. Eleven would be homosexual.
Six people would possess fifty-nine percent of the entire world's wealth,
and all six people would be from the United States of America. Eighty out of
a hundred would live in substandard housing. Seventy of the hundred people
in this village would be unable to read. Fifty of these hundred people would
suffer from malnutrition. One would be near death. One would be near birth.
Only one would have a college education. Only one would own a computer.
Anyone reading this has to stop and think how truly blessed those of us
living in the United States of America are. We are part of a unique group.
The reason is, we live in a blessed nation. This nation is blessed because
the government was founded on the principle of "In
God We Trust."
If
ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth. -Colossians 3:1-2
The elevation of the
believer to be seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father took place
potentially at the resurrection (Ephesians 2:5,6). Every heavenly blessing
is yours (Ephesians 1:3). But you have to take your place there to enjoy
them. The believer whose eyes have been opened to his throne rights in
Christ may:
(1) Accept his seat, and
(2) Begin to exercise the spiritual authority that seating confers to him.
As Elisha said to
Elijah when about to ascend, "As the Lord liveth ... I will not leave
thee"; so we must follow the ascended Saviour with the wings of our
meditations and the chariots of our affections. We should trample upon and
subdue our lusts that our conversation may correspond to our Savior's
condition; that where the eyes of apostles were forced to leave Him, thither
our thoughts may follow Him [PEARSON]
The devil bitterly
resents our entrance into his domain. He has been used to exercising
authority and ruling over someone's life, so he will concentrate his forces
against us when we come into these mighty truths. And no truth encounters
such opposition as the truth of the authority of the believer.
The only place of
safety is to be seated with Christ in heavenly places far above all
principality, power, might, and dominion. If the believer abides
steadfastly, by faith, in this place, he cannot be touched by the enemy.
Of ourselves we can
no more ascend than a bar of iron lift itself up' from the earth. But
the love of Christ is a powerful magnet to draw us up
He
that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of
stumbling in him. -1 John 2:10
Whenever you find
yourself stumbling into failure or sin, check if love resides in your heart.
Sit down with the Lord and ask Him to show you if you're in strife with
anyone or if you've taken offense. If you have, the devil can come in and
trip you up.
Believers get upset
with something the preacher says. He'll decide that the preacher is wrong
and go off in a huff. He's in trouble. Mark 4:17 tells us the devil uses
those kinds of offenses to steal the Word from our hearts. He causes us to
get cross-wise with each other. Then he's able to pull the plug out of us
and drain the Word like water from a bucket.
Don't ever let that
happen to you. If you hear a preacher or another believer saying something
that rubs you the wrong way and you catch yourself getting offended say,
"Oh no you don't. You're not stealing the Word out of me, you lying
devil."
Search the Word and
listen to the Spirit within you and find out what you should do. If you
still feel what that person said to you was wrong, pray for him.
Remember, taking
offense never comes from God. He says we're to be rooted and grounded in
love. So reject those feelings of offense. Give yourself to that person in
love and in prayer. You'll be able to walk right on through that situation
without ever stumbling at all.
Yea,
they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
-Psalm: 78:41
Can you limit God?
The Bible says Israel did. And we have limited God with our prayer life!
John Wesley said,
"It seems that God is limited by our prayer life. He can do nothing for
humanity unless someone asked Him to do it."
Why is this?
God made the world
and the fullness thereof. Then God made man and gave man dominion over all
the works of His hands. Adam was made the god of this world. Adam, however,
committed high treason and sold out to Satan. Then Satan became the god of
this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).
God didn't just move
in and destroy Satan. If He had, Satan could have accused God of doing the
same thing he had done. But God devised a plan of salvation. And He sent His
Son, whom Satan could not and did not touch, to consummate the plan. Through
Jesus, God redeemed mankind.
Now authority has
been restored to us through Jesus Christ - and when we ask God, then He can
and will move. That is why it seems He can do nothing unless someone asks
Him to do it.
And
Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the
wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou
also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are
therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the
righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked,
that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
-Genesis 18:23-25
God refused to
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until He had talked it over with Abraham, His
blood covenant friend!
Abraham's prayer in
this chapter is one of the most suggestive and illuminating prayers in the
Old Testament. Abraham was taking his place in the covenant that God had
made with him - the Old Covenant, the Old Testament.
Abraham, through the
covenant, had received rights and privileges we understand little about. The
covenant Abraham had just solemnized with the Lord Jehovah gave Abraham a
legal standing with God. Therefore, we hear Abraham speak plainly as he
intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah, "Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right?"
He knew the Judge of
all the earth would do right. He does not plead that the wicked may be
spared for their own sake, or because it would be severe to destroy them,
but for the sake of the righteous who might be found among them. And
righteousness only can be made a plea before God.
The obedience of
faith makes room for God to deliver those whom are His righteousness. Faith
Make us righteous and righteousness produces God’s promise of help.
But
now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the
mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
-Hebrews 8:6
All through the Old
Testament, we find men who understood and took their place in the covenant.
Joshua could open the River Jordan. He could command time to stand still.
Elijah could bring fire out of heaven to consume not only the sacrifice, but
the altar as well. David's mighty men were utterly shielded from death in
time of war as long as they remembered
the covenant. When you read about them, you think you're
standing about "supermen."
Nearly all the
prayers in the Old Testament were prayed by covenant men. Those prayers had
to be answered!
The promises of the
new covenant of grace are better, because strength and assistance is engaged
for, and graciously offered, in order to enable us to perform the conditions
of them: The law required sinless obedience; the gospel accepts
sincere obedience, and offers grace to perform it.
The believer today
has the same covenant rights as believers who lived under the Old Covenant.
In fact, we have a better covenant
established on better promises. Therefore, we ought to be able to do all
that they did and more, because we have a New Covenant, a better covenant,
established on greater promises and even more attainable through God’s
intervening grace power.
For
as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it
may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it. -Isaiah 55:10-11
So we are invited to
trust in an effectual gospel which can by no means fall to the ground.
We have no cunningly devised fable put before us, but the infallible truth
of God who cannot lie. All things else may fail, but the promise of
God will be fulfilled as surely as God is God.
This truth should be
used continually in prayer. It is the very backbone of our prayer life. No
word that has gone forth from God can return to Him void.
God said, "...I
will hasten my word to perform it" (Jeremiah 1:12). A marginal note in
the King James Version reads, "I will watch over my word to perform
it."
God will make His
Word good if you dare to stand by it!
The greatest answers
to prayer I personally have received came when I brought God's Word to Him
and reminded Him of what He had said.
Praise God, He keeps
His Word!
If
ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much
fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
-John 15:7-8
"If ye abide in
me..." If we are born again, we do abide in Christ. If Jesus had said
that and that alone, we would have had it made, but Jesus said, "...AND
my words abide in you..."
Jesus' words abide in
us in the measure that they govern our lives - in the measure that we act
upon them.
If Jesus' words abide
in us, we are bound to have faith, because the Bible says, "So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans
10:17). It would be impossible for Jesus' words to abide in someone and that
person not have faith!
Unbelief, or doubt,
is a result of ignorance of the Word of God. If we live the Word, then when
we come to pray, that Word dwells in us so richly that it becomes Jesus'
Word on our lips. It will be as the Father's words were on the lips of
Jesus. The joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast.
The
Lord is...longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance. -2 Peter 3:9
We know that saving
the lost is God's will - because it was to save the lost that Jesus laid
down His life. It is not slackness, remissness, nor want of due abhorrence
of sin, that induced God to prolong the respite of ungodly men; but his
long-suffering, his unwillingness that any should perish: and therefore he
spared them, that they might have additional offers of grace, and be led to
repentance-to deplore their sins, beseech God's mercy, and find redemption
through the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore, knowing
this, we should not pray, "God save my mother, if it is your will.
Don't let her go to hell, if it is your will. If it is not your will, let
her go to on to hell."
No!
We know God's will in the matter. God's will - His Word - makes it clear in
such Scriptures such as John 3:16 and II Peter 3:9 that God's will is for
men and women to be saved. Therefore, we can pray for the lost with great
boldness.
Believers especially
can exercise great authority in praying for the salvation of their families.
You can use this when praying for your family members: "This is the
confidence that we have in God, that, if we ask anything according to His
will, he hears us. What I am asking for is according to God's will;
therefore, He hears me. That is what the Word says. And if we know
that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of him. According to the Word, then, I have my petition."
At that point stop
asking and start thanking God. It's astonishing how well thankfulness works.
That doesn't mean that your entire family will necessarily come to the Lord
overnight, but as you stand in faith, thanking God, they will have every God
given opportunity to come.
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Amazing Grace Ministries