November ‘08 Partnerletter

Thursday, October 30th, 2008 | GJITCM Partner Letters | No Comments

November 2008

Dear Friends,

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”

·         Acts 8:5-8

I pray that this letter finds you blessed and walking in the truth that you are predestinated by God for Victory and Success (Eph 2:10)! I mean it – get this reality into your mindset, and be expectant. If you will transform your mind with this Biblical reality, you will start to experience God and His blessings on a new and higher level than you ever thought imaginable!

I am leaving for Pakistan tomorrow and wanted to get this letter out before I depart. I am very excited about this trip because I will be heading to a new area of Pakistan. I will be traveling to the city of xxxxxx, which is known as a Christian seminary city. Many of the Christian pastors produced out of Pakistan have an educational start in one of the many seminaries located within the city. We will be coming to xxxxxx to hold a pastors faith seminar; bringing the uncompromised Word of Faith to these ministers-in-training. Imagine the impact we can have upon young leaders going into the ministry by teaching them the uncompromised Word of Faith? We can influence an entire ministerial leadership generation by teaching them how to have faith in God’s Word; and learn the principles of Seed-time and Harvest - how to prosper in God; and the reality that ‘with God all things are possible’ which will  

strengthen their Spirits and faith to walk in Signs, Wonders and Miracles…I believe that this particular Pakistan ministry trip has the potential to change a Muslim nation for Jesus. So, please stand in agreement for the success of this trip.

GJITCM has been experiencing a greater apostolic anointing over the last months, and this was especially true of our Mumbai Pastors Faith Seminar which was held at the beginning of October. It was a very successful seminar which was attended by 550 pastors and church leaders. The Holy Spirit truly moved during the teaching sessions, with many demonstrations of God confirming His Word with signs following. As I have stated previously, I believe that the demonstration of God’s power confirming the Word taught and preached seals the Bible lessons heard. We always have an increase in attendance the second day of the seminar from ‘word of mouth’ (pastors telling other pastors). In Mumbai, we increased 38% in pastor attendance the 2^nd day, after seminar participants witnessed Words of Knowledge, deliverances, and signs and wonders in demonstration. The 2^nd day we had a powerful testimony from a woman minister of an overnight financial miracle. During the first day of the seminar, I gave a teaching on financial seed-time and harvest; and told the participants that if they were serious about being a sower of financial seeds, God would give ‘seed to the sower’ (2 Cor 9:10). We took an offering that first day and the woman had no money. But she wanted to give, and prayed to the Lord that if He would give her money she would sow into the next day’s offering. That night she received a pair of earrings which she sold the next morning, came to the pastor seminar and sowed the money into the offering. We had her testify before taking the offering for the day; and as a result, GJITCM received its largest one day offering in India – Praise the Lord! Overall, we collected a GJITCM record of over US$730 from offerings during the seminar. You may think this is nothing to get too excited about; but you must remember this happened in India, where seminar organizers (especially Westerners) give money, gifts and even motorcycles away to draw attendees: The offerings amount was truly a miracle of God; and proof that God’s Word will work in any country of the world! Overall, the seminar participants had life changing experiences as they received a revelation of the truth of God’s Word. It was awesome to see them shouting for joy and sharing what the seminar meant to them – Great Joy came to Mumbai!

As a result of the seminar, we had over 300 new Bond Servants of Christ Ministerial Fellowship (BSCMF) members; including 65 newly ordained pastors. You might not know this, but some of our members are pastors of large church networks. In Mumbai, we had a Bishop of over 440 churches nationally, who became an ordained pastor with BSCMF. We now have 3,303 BSCMF members; making our organization one of the most influential, interdenominational ministerial fellowships in Asia!

Finally- Do you need a weekly Word of Joy? Do you need some fresh manna every week that can inspire you to greater heights of faith, and a ‘Word in Season’ that can help in a time of need? I want to encourage you to visit our GJITCM website every Monday at: www.greatjoyinthecity.org, and go to the section, “Dr. Will’s Weekly Word of Joy”. I believe you will be blessed and receive an apostolic Word that may just be what you need for the week ahead. I write these messages every weekend (they are not taken from an archive); and they are based upon my week’s study and prayer time with God (usually a minimum of 4-5 hours every day). Also, while visiting the website, go to our photo gallery section and see the latest photos of recent meetings (like last month’s Mumbai Pastors Faith Seminar); as well as some awesome pictures of miracles and great crusade shots from Pakistan and India. Check out the photos and give praise to the Lord for the Truth that “with God all things are possible”!

Till next time -

You are loved and blessed of God – and by me,

Dr. Will Pantin

Dr. Will Pantin

November ‘08 BSCMF Letter

Thursday, October 30th, 2008 | BSCMF Newsletters | No Comments

November 2008

Dear BSCMF Member,

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

·         John 8:31-32

The above scripture is well known to most Christians, especially the last part that says, “ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” But I want to give you a revelation: Knowing the truth does not come to everyone! No, read the scripture - I want you to notice that Jesus was talking to Believers. So, being a Believer doesn’t mean that you will come to know the truth. To know the truth that will set you free, you need to become a Disciple of Christ. Please understand – not every Believer is a disciple. A disciple is not just a student or learner. A Disciple is a Believer who accepts the Biblical instruction given to him and makes it his rule of conduct. You need to have intimate fellowship with God and His Word, and declare every day: “Not my will, but thy Will be done, Oh Lord!” You need to follow Biblical instruction daily.

Do you know you can walk like Jesus walked upon the earth? John 14:12 gives us evidence of that fact by it saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” But, as you can read, there is a condition: “He that believeth on me…” shall do the same as Jesus did. Those who are Disciples of Christ will walk in the same power and ability as Jesus. You receive the same power and ability because you follow Jesus and His ways. The reason why you aren’t walking in the same power and ability is because you have not made the quality decision to be a Disciple of Christ. Yes, you are a Believer – but that is only the first step. You need to make the quality decision that you will follow and obey whatever Jesus and the Word of God says; that you will make it the guiding light to your life. Once you make that decision – and only then – will you come to know the truth and the truth will make you free. So, take time in prayer this month. Seek God’s face, and come before Jesus and say, “Yes, I make the decision to become a Disciple of Christ. I declare, not my Will by thy Will be done.” Only then will you know the truth and become truly free, and walk like Jesus walked upon the earth!      

May God bless you richly,

Dr. Will Pantin      

Satan’s deceptions will steal God’s best from you!

Sunday, October 26th, 2008 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

October 26, 2008

Dear Friends,

When I think about Satan deceiving man, I always think of the opening scene from my all-time favorite Hollywood movie, “Casablanca”. Two tourists are sitting at an outdoor cafe, and a local pickpocket thief is warning them about the crime they all just witnessed and thieves in Casablanca. The pickpocket thief says, “I beg of you, Monsieur, watch yourself. Be on guard. This place is full of vultures, vultures everywhere…everywhere.”. Meanwhile, as he is warning the unaware tourist couple, he picks the man’s coat pocket and steals his wallet. The thief leaves with a smile; the man thanks him for the warning, and as he pays his bill finds his wallet missing.

The Bible states in Galatians 6:7-8, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  The basic meaning of the scripture is that it doesn’t matter what you think about a situation or your actions - if its against God’s Word and Will, it’s going to come back and open the door for Satan to steal God’s blessings and pre-ordained victorious life (Eph 1:3,11; 2:10; Gal 3:3-14, 29) from you: Whether you agree or not with God’s Will, there is a price you will pay in life for your disobedience against it! Satan’s deception comes to bear in your disobedience, in trying to convince you that you know better than God, and he gets you to act contrary to God’s Will. This has been Satan’s avenue of attack against man from the days of Adam and Eve.

Satan’s deception usually comes from either distracting you from the truth of God’s Word concerning a matter (sin born of ignorance of God’s Word); or Satan will deceive you into being openly rebellious against God’s Word. That is what Satan did with Adam and Eve. Eve told the serpent that they could not eat of the tree of good and evil, because if they did they would die. The serpent replied, “…Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5). Eve made a decision and agreed with Satan over God’s command. She thought she knew better than God and paid the ultimate price. Eve was deceived by Satan, and Adam was openly rebellious as he followed his wife and acted against God’s commandment.

How does this affect you receiving God’s blessings? I want you to think of God’s blessings of victory and success as a big apple pie. Now, that entire pie belongs to you. But Satan wants your pie, and will do everything he can to keep you from having that apple pie and stealing it from you. So, every time he can get you to disobey God, he steals another piece of your pie; and your pie portion gets smaller and smaller. There are Christians who are living off of ‘pie crumb blessings’ because their life is one of being self-deceived and rebellious. They can’t figure out why their life is a mess, and why nothing seeems to go right for them. But Satan is laughing as he stands there with their entire apple pie!

Pride is the biggest weapon Satan uses to deceive man. It is the weapon that brought about his downfall when he was the archangel, Lucifer, and rebelled against God. As the Bible writes about him, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isaiah 14:13-14). “I will be like the most high God”?? Pride comes before a fall, and Satan was kicked out of heaven with one-third the heavenly host that took his side, and fell to the earth. Satan is still deceived thinking that he can exalt himself over God. He thinks he can act independently of God’s Will. Pride always thinks it knows best; and when you act prideful, you are really saying that your ways are higher than God’s Ways!

You may say, “No way, Dr. Will, I do not act like Satan.” Oh really? Every time you think you know better and disobey God, you are deceived just like Satan. There are Believing Christians around the world who think it’s okay to have close fellowship with the world and that it won’t harm or affect them negatively. Or how about the Believer who thinks its okay to have sex outside of marriage (which is “fornication”, a sin in the Bible) because they “love” their partner? Or the growing number of “Believers” who believe there is more than one way to get to heaven outside of Jesus? I just read in a news article, where a famous Country Music singer stated that she is a “committed Christian” but believes in reincarnation - Talk about deception! The entire world is deceived into thinking unmarried sex, multiple partners, gay marriage, abortion, stealing, lying, etc. is okay; and what is worse they say, “Well now, God is love and Jesus said to walk in love, so everything is okay; who are you to judge me?” Christian believers use the same deception (”I can get Jesus to forgive me, so I can sin today and seek forgiveness tomorrow”) all the time to justify their rebelliousness and sin.

But what does the Bible say, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked”; which means, you are only fooling yourself, there will be a consequence to your sin. Now, please understand me; I am not trying to bring condemnation into your life, or trying to act holier than you. I am giving you Godly wisdom which I have learned the hard way. I am trying to get you to walk in a greater measure of blessing in your life - I want you to have 100% of your ’Blessings pie’! In my 50+ years of life, I have learned the hard way that my rebellousness against God has cost me God’s blessings. But I have learned the truth, and have made the quality decision to repent from that rebelliousness and walk that narrow walk with God that leads to Blessings. Remember: true repentance means you turn 180 degrees from sin and go in the opposite direction; and it doesn’t mean that you repent today, then when tomorrow comes, you indulge your carnal desires and repent again!

No - you need to get to the point in your life of being totally honest with yourself. I am not saying you are going out to bars and having sexual flings with strangers; or you are living with a partner outside of marriage. How about when you know it’s God’s command to walk in love, but a guy just cut you off on the highway and you want to get even with him? You have a decision to make - do I walk in love? Or do I walk in sin? There is no justification for your wanting to get even with the guy by running him off the road…Let me give you a more basic illustration: How about your refusal to seriously consider and receive this Word from God, and brush it off declaring, “I dont care what you said about God’s Word, I believe God in my own way” ?  When you walk in rebelliousness to God’s command (no matter what you think about it), Satan steals another hunk of your “Blessing Pie”. Satan’s deception says, “I have a right to be angry and get back at them” or “Religion is a private matter and I can believe God in my own way”. But that ‘justification deception’, only ends up costing you God’s Blessings. There is no justification; there is no “your own way”; there is only God’s Way that leads to Blessings!

Get honest with yourself - follow God’s command. Remember: Galatians 6:7 works both ways: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked”, if you sow God’s Word into your life - you will be blessed! So, don’t allow Satan to steal God’s blessings from your life. Learn to be rebellious againt Satan (and not God) and walk in God’s best!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will

Your relationship with God determines your blessings!

Sunday, October 19th, 2008 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

October 19, 2008

Dear Friends,

Do you believe that God loves you? Are you believing God right now for an answer to prayer? Are you believing God for the victory and success in life that Jesus purchased for you? The way we receive answered prayers and walk in the Blessings of God is by our trusting God. We need to believe that God’s Word is true and that He is faithful to perform what He has promised.

As we walk out our Christian life, we need to be like Abraham ‘the Father of our faith’. Abraham, when he was an old man of 100 years, was promised by God that he would be the ‘Father of many nations’ through an heir - a son. Now, up until that time, Abraham wasn’t able to have children; imagine all those years that Abraham was childess and how it looked in the natural world. But the Bible (New Living Translation) states in Roman 4:20-21:

“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises.”

How did Abraham receive the promise of a son, even though in the natural it looked impossible? Abraham did not waver in believing the promise and was fully convinced that God was able to perform what He promised. Abraham trusted God. How did he trust God? Abraham’s trust and confidence in God came about by his walking closely with God: In fact he is called the “Friend of God” (James 4:4).

Do you have that kind of a close walk with God  - through fellowshipping with Him by reading the Bible and by prayer - that you can be called a “Friend of God”? In fact, spending time in prayer is one thing, but do you just talk with God during the day? Do you ask Him about daily things and get His wisdom on seemingly mundane matters? You would ask such things of a friend: If you went to the shopping mall with a friend, you would ask them whether you should buy a particular pair of shoes, wouldn’t you? Well, God lives inside you, so why don’t you talk with God that way? When you fellowship with God regularly and intimately, you build up your trust and confidence in God and His promises!

The reason why so many Christians have a hard time believing God and His promises is that they don’t spend enough time with God. They don’t seek God daily and talk with Him about every day matters. Christians also don’t believe God because they have a hard time believing their own words - they have a hard time telling the truth; and if they can’t believe their own words how are they going to believe someone elses?

Abraham never wavered in trusting God; in fact it says that his faith grew stronger. This is evidence of the kind of friendship Abraham had with God. Your faith in God’s promises will grow stronger as you spend more time with Him.

The choice is yours - God has promised you success and victory through His Word. God has promised that Jesus has redeemed you from the curse that is upon this earth; and God has your life all planned out: Plans to take care of you and not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hoped for. The question is though - Do you believe God’s promises? Even if you do not see any evidence of it coming into your life? Abraham did, he believed God’s promises and received the promise with the birth of Isaac. Abraham became the Father of many nations!

If you will follow the faith of Abraham and not waver in believing the promises of God - no matter what the circumstances of your life tell you - you will receive. Develop your relationship with God; walk with Him daily as an intimate friend and believe. Don’t waver and have confidence that God is able to perform what He has promised. God is faithful; and you will receive (no matter the circumstances) if you will have confidence and believe!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will

Your life is in your future!

Sunday, October 12th, 2008 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

October 12, 2008

Dear Friends,

It states in Philippians 3:13-14: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  The word “apprehended” in the original Greek translation means “possessed”; and the phrase “high calling” means “higher place”….So the Apostle Paul was talking about our possessing a higher place (your wealthy-blessed place) with God, and God’s way of reaching it. How did he say we would reach that higher, blessed, preordained place of victory and success?

We reach that blessed place when we stop living in the past and by setting our faith and hope to acheive today and tomorrow - in other words: Your heavenly-blessed life is in your future!

On August 24, 2008, the Spirit of God changed my mindset on the way I thought and lived that has helped me tremendously; and I want to share what He spoke to me. He said:

“Son, there is nothing in the past worth hanging on to - your life is in your future!”

Too often we focus upon the past; and what is worse - we live in the past: We remember the bad times of our past and we make excuses for our current circumstances by what happened in the past. Or we live in the “good old days” and constantly want to go back to that time when things were “better and happier”. We constantly focus upon and live our lives in the past. This is Satan’s deceptive plan for your life: If he can keep you focused upon the past, then your faith is not actively expecting God’s love and blessings to be manifested in your life today and in the future.  Living in the past keeps you reliving the pain, rejection and bad experiences - in reality, you are meditating on failure: And as the scripture states - “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Satan wants to limit your faith, and thus limit your God-ordained blessed life, by keeping you in the past.

Your God-ordained life is in your future; and you need to press forward with your faith and hope (full expectancy) of God’s love and blessings being manifested. You have to develop the mindset that your future is full of victory. You need to learn to forget those things which are behind: Sure…learn the lessons from the past; keep the wisdom from experience gained from the past; but then look ahead...Look to the future. Also, you need to “press” to obtain the blessings of God; and the original Greek meaning of “press” is the word to “pursue”: HOW CAN YOU PURSUE BLESSINGS WHEN YOU ARE FOCUSED UPON THE PAST? When you focus upon the past you are not being active with your faith- you are not pursuing.

So remember: Every morning you should wake up with an expectancy and a thankful attitude of God’s love being manifested in your life. Be expectant! Thank God in advance for His pre-ordained blessings! If you are expectant and thankful, it will cause your faith to rise up and you will be full of joy - you will be excited about your life with a spring in your step all the day long. If there isn’t a full manifestation of God’s blessing by the end of the day, then rejoice that tomorrow is coming; and go to bed with a peace knowing that you are a day closer to obtaining the promise.

Do you understand? With faith and a life attitude that is thankful and full of expectancy for today…tomorrow and the future - how can you fail to receive? How can you not walk in victory? How can your life not be full of joy?

So rejoice: Good things - Godly blessings - are on the way! Be full of hope and expectancy. Your life is in your future!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will

India Ministry Update - Mumbai Oct. ‘08 Trip Report

Monday, October 6th, 2008 | India Ministry | No Comments

From the seminar, GJITCM received an additional 352 Bond Servants of Christ Ministerial Fellowship (BSCMF) members; within this figure we had 64 pastors ordained. It should be noted that many pastors are senior overseers with multiple churches - for example, in Mumbai we had a Bishop receive BSCMF ordination who oversees over 400 churches nationwide. As a result of the trip, we have 2351 BSCMF members in India, and a total of 3,303 BSCMF members in South Asia: Praise the Lord!

God has a plan for your life: VICTORY!

Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

October 5, 2008

Dear Friends,

A few months ago, I came across this scripture that has revolutionized my faith and life. It is Jeremiah 29:11-14, from The Message Bible -

“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out–plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed. GOD’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you…”

Praise the Lord: God has a plan for your life (pre-planned from the foundation of the world) - a divine plan of victory! I have been meditating upon that Word of God continuously for the past two months and faith has come, and so has hope and expectancy. Every day of my life, I earnestly expect God’s love and blessing to be manifested in my life - I believe every day that God’s Will be done in my life; and that I walk according to God’s way: A pre-planned life of victory.

But before you start jumping for joy, I want to point out one thing - there is a condition for you to walk in that pre-planned victory. God said in His Word, “…When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” You need to get desperate for God and His ways. God wants you to love Him with all your heart, mind and soul; and when you are faithful to seek Him and His plan for your life with all your heart, then you open the divine doors for God to shower you with His faithfulness and blessing; and victory will come to your life in ever increasing abundance. When you give up your will, then you open the door for God’s plan. And that includes your will and actions which result from negative thoughts, insecurities and personal fears about yourself.

So, I ask you - how bad do you want victory? Is it worth it to you to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus? 

It was to me - A few months ago, I made the quality decision to forsake all to follow Jesus; all of my desires and wants - all the things that I held dearest to me; and I have said every day since: “Not my will but thy Will be done”. It wasn’t an easy thing to do - submission never is. True Godly submission is giving up those things that you selfishly want in life but give up: things, circumstances and situations that you personally want and love but give up, because God said that it is not His Will for you to have those things. But if you make that decision (no matter how difficult) and seek God with all your heart, you will open up the door for God’s perfect Will and plan for your life.

So don’t be anxious about your life, God’s got it all planned out: A life of victory is only a quality decision away….But the question remains -are you desperate enough to get serious about God and follow His path? Remember: Narrow is the way that leads to life - victorious life!

I was desperate and made the quality decision, and it changed my life forever. I challenge you to do the same and open the door of God’s victory in to your life. You won’t regret it; for God is the only true source for happiness and fulfillment in life….God’s plan for victory is waiting for you - it’s your choice - so choose God’s plan of victory!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will