Dream Big - Live Big!

Sunday, January 25th, 2009 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

January 25, 2009

Dear Friends,

Did you ever lay upon your bed at night thinking about your life?  During those times, did you ever find yourself dreaming big dreams and envision yourself doing mighty and awesome works? They didn’t have to always pertain to ministry-related activities, but also of a personal nature and activities where you excel and have great success…You see yourself successful, prosperous, healthy and full of happiness, with great joy and satisfaction. But as night wanes and dawn breaks forth, you feel like those possible achievements and “good life” are but a dreamy mist that is fleeting and soon fades.

You should not discount those times when your imagination soars with the impossible becoming possible. In fact, during those times you should write down (“journal”) those thoughts, imaginations and ideas, because they are usually divine. The Lord (especially when your life is God-centered) is trying to get across to you His loving plans and expand your faith to receive the fullness of His Will for your life.

It says in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The word “ways” (referring to God) in the Greek, means “course of life”; and the word “thoughts” (referring to God) means “purpose” and in another context it means “imagination”. So, when you are lying upon your bed at night and your imagination soars with greatness, know that it is not just your imagination at work but it is also God’s imagination, plans and purpose that is being revealed to you through His Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord, I know that those thoughts may seem greater than your ability and you are at a loss to see how such wonderful things can manifest in your life. But God is God; and He thinks wonderful dreams and great plans for His children.

Once again, as in many cases with receiving God’s goodness, it is we who are the obstacle. It is a chronic problem where a lack of our understanding the depth of God’s love for His children, and the right-standing that we have with Him (that we are seated with Jesus in heavenly places), that limits God from manifesting His best in our lives.

Why do we short-circuit God’s best in our lives? What is it that causes us to doubt God at His Word, and choose to believe the prevailing and seemingly daunting situations in our lives that overshadow God’s love? It continues to say in Isaiah 55:10-11: “ 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.” God’s Word will not return to him ineffectual and empty; and it will “accomplish, advance, appoint, bestow, bring forth” (as Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary explains) where God wishes. God’s Word will prosper or “to succeed, to be victorious, causing something to turn out successfully” (as it states in The Complete Word Study Dictionary) where He sends it.

Now think about it – It sounds pretty much guaranteed, doesn’t it? Those dreams that look too good to be true are yours (NOW) if you will dare to believe. In fact, as you start to walk in the largesse of God’s goodness, those dreams will get larger and larger, and your vision will expand. Always remember, God is a God of abundance and overflow: God will never say to you, “No more - That’s enough blessings for you!” No, God will give you as much as you can handle. You are the one who determines the measure of God’s Blessings that you will receive.

So, just get alone with God, and after a time of praising Him and praying in the Spirit, just be quiet before the Lord. Start allowing God to reveal His thoughts, plans and purposes to you. Then, go to the Word and find scriptures that build your faith in God’s love and faithfulness. Meditate upon God’s Word and see yourself walking in the fullness of what God has revealed to you. As you do, the impossible will become possible. God will reveal His ways and strategies to bring those dreams to pass; and one day, you will just step right over into God’s best – It will be effortless and with such great ease that you will say, “Why didn’t I step into this before!”

Dream big – take to yourself (by faith) everything that God has revealed to you; and you will come to live big – walking in the fullness of God’s plans and purposes for your life. If you will follow this simple plan - then one day you will come to know the truth, that with God all things are possible!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will

You are important to God!

Sunday, January 18th, 2009 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

January 18, 2009

Dear Friends,

I have been thinking over the past week, why the Body of Christ has failed (for the most part) to have a greater impact upon the world. Yes, we are making progress; but not progress or impact on the same level that the Book of Acts Church made. Our witness to the world is not of victory; it’s not of a demonstration of God’s love - either as individuals or as the Body of Christ as a whole. Why is that?

I believe that the Body of Christ has failed to be a powerful victorious witness and a demonstration of God’s love in a Holy Ghost impacting way to the world, due to not having a greater revelation of God’s love; and specifically, not having a greater revelation of how much God loves us.

Jesus stated in in John 13:34-35 (New Living Translation): “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”  This is the New Testament commandment given to the Body of Christ, that we should love on another. Now, we are to love the world, but Jesus was not talking about loving the world in this commandment. We can see that by the result of loving one another - “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”  That has been a big problem in the Christian world: The Body of Christ is not loving one another. There are too many divisions among Christians, and particularly among denominations, who think they have the REAL TRUTH over every other group of Believers. We at Great Joy in the City Ministries, have a major goal of bringing unity among all Christians because we are fully aware of the commandment given to us by Jesus. We all need to do a better job of showing love to one another - because this is the only way that we will prove to the world that we are the disciples of Christ!

But there is a key reason why Christians fail to show the love of God towards one another, which hinders our witness to the world and stops the Blessing of God from manifesting in our lives:

Believers do not have a revelation that God loves them. And if Christians do not believe the love God has for them, they do not have the love of God to give to others: In other words, if you do not receive God’s love for you, how are you going to love anyone else? How are you going to demonstrate the love of God to the world?

I will be honest and confess to you that this was a big problem in my life. I had a major problem believing that God loved me. It comes from a harsh upbringing full of abuse, and being told I was no good and would never amount to anything in life. Having never known love growing up, it was a difficult for me to accept the fact that God loved me. When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior in December of 1980, I had a supernatural experience with God. God’s love came upon me in a very real and tangible way; to the point that I did not know where I was or who I was: All I knew was the love of God. I grew to understand that God had to do something extraordinary, to make a divine connection with me to demonstrate the fact that He loved me. But still, even with that powerful demonstration of God’s love, I had problems accepting the truth that God (or for that matter, anyone else) really loved me. I had “head knowledge” (I read the words and mentally agreed with them), but I did not truly believe them. Through many years of meditating upon the love of God, did I finally get a revelation and come to KNOW the love of God for me.

It states in 1 John 4:16 (Amplified Bible), “And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him.”

Let me make this clear to you: You need to BELIEVE and KNOW the love that God has for you. You believe the love God has for you by choosing to have faith in God’s love for you. This comes from having faith in God’s Word: If God’s Word says He loves you, then it doesn’t matter what your mind says or what your past experiences have been. You choose to believe the love that God has for you by renewing your mind to what God says. The end result  - the real proof - of truly believing the love of God for you, will be the evidence of happiness, joy and satisfaction in your life. The word “know” in the Greek is the word, “ginṓskō”, and it means to know in a complete sense; an intimate knowing, like a husband ‘knowing’ his wife. This only comes about by some serious fellowshipping with God. Let me tell you from personal experience: If you want to overcome any obstacle to truly knowing God’s love, you will have to spend time with God every day!

You see the problem with many people is that they mess up (like all people do). But since they have a hard time accepting the truth about God’s forgiveness and righteousness, they beat themselves up. They do not like themselves because of the mistakes and faults in their lives. They figure if they don’t like themselves because of failures, how can God possibly love them? And that is the problem: If you do not receive God’s love, then you can’t give God’s love! If you can’t receive God’s love, then you can’t receive God’s blessings! You will be in constant failure of trying to work your way out of a bottomless pit of earning God’s love through ”acts of righteousness”: AND YOU WILL ALWAYS FAIL!

No - Receive God’s love by faith. Receive Jesus’ forgiveness and right-standing with God by faith. Always remember: You are loved by God. You are very valuable and important in God’s eyes. No matter what you have done, or how bad you have messed up in the past - GOD LOVES YOU AND BELIEVES IN YOU!

You need to say it every day: “God loves me. I am important to God!” Say it over and over; say it every day, for months and years if necessary. You need to get a revelation that God loves you, and know and believe the love God has for you. Then and only then, can you give and demonstrate God’s love to others!

Make the decision to develop a revelation of the love that God has for you. You are given the commandment by Jesus to love one another as God has loved you. The love of God poured out by Believers towards one another, is our proof to the world of who we are in Christ Jesus. A real demonstration of God’s love is the only true way of impacting the world for Christ!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will

Dr Will is coming to Pakistan: February 5-14, 2009!

Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | Pakistan Ministry | No Comments

Dear Pastors, Believers and Friends,

Do you want to experience the love of God through a powerful demonstration of Signs, Wonders and Miracles?

Do you need a Word from God that will change your life forever?

Then join Dr. Will Pantin during his 10 days of powerful apostolic ministry in Pakistan.

Ministry trip dates are: February 5-14th.

Pastor Faith Seminars, crusades, evangelistic meetings in Lahore, Shiekhpur and Quetta will be the venues to bring ‘Great Joy’ to the nation of Pakistan!

Pastor Tracy Harris, a teacher of God’s Word, who operates in a powerful prophetic anointing with join Dr. Will for part of the trip.

So, if you want to join us during this nation impacting apostolic ministry trip in February, please contact Rev. Tahir Rafiq, GJITCM Country Director at: 92-300-4647909; or write him at tahir@greatjoyinthecity.org for itinerary details and reservations.

Come join us as Dr. Will and GJITCM demonstrates the love of God in Pakistan!

You are right-standing with God!

Sunday, January 11th, 2009 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

January 11, 2009

Dear Friends,

There are millions of Christians around the world who are trying to figure out how to get “clean enough” with God to have their prayers answered and be blessed. I cannot tell you the number of people who ask me to pray for them every day because they feel too unworthy to pray on their own; or who tell me how they need my prayers to help them overcome the problems in their lives. There are many of you who are reading this right now, who ask God every day to forgive you over and over again for sins committed years ago; and there are some of you who just speak out in fear, “God forgive me, I am a sinner” , when an image appears in your mind of a past sin.

I want to be perfectly clear and honest with you - If this sounds familiar, and you recognize yourself in one of the previous scenarios laid out, you are under Satan’s bondage and have a “sin-consciousness”: And while you are under such bondage, you will never receive God’s best in life!

Deear friends, I am talking from experience. I was in bondage for years to a sin-consciousness that kept me in bondage, made my faith weak and hindered my receiving God’s best. But then I got a revelation that I want to share with you -

It states in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 

Now get a revelation of this - Jesus, who was without sin, was made sin with YOUR SIN. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, while in prayer, he sweated blood. Jesus understood that he was going to bear the sins of all of mankind. When Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Why?  Because for the first time (in all of eternity), Jesus was separated from God (sin separates us from God). While on the cross, Jesus bore the full brunt of God’s judgment of sin. Jesus who was sinless, took upon himself the sin of all of mankind - Praise the Lord!

Jesus bore all of your sins. In return, as it states in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “…that we might be the righteousness of God in him.” You have been made righteous with Jesus’ righteousness! Get a revelation that you have received a greater gift than you are now fully aware. Yes, your sins have been forgiven and you won’t go to hell - if that was the only gift you received that would be good enough. BUT YOU RECEIVED MORE - you are in right-standing with God; and you are now seated with Jesus at the righthand of the Father (Ephesians 2:6).

Satan wants to keep you in bondage to a sin-consciousness. He wants to constantly remind you of past sins and say to you, “Dont you realize the sin you committed? Don’t you know how bad you messed up?” And Satan will replay the sin in your mind (even though you have already asked Jesus to forgive you); and you agree with Satan and say, “Yes, I messed up; I am no good: I am a sinner: I am not worthy of God answering my prayers.”  The Church World confesses and believes incorrectly, Romans chapter 3, reciting verse 10 by itself (without reading the entire chapter): “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.” There are Christians who have been held in a sin-conscious bondage for years and decades. They are always replaying the sins of the past, and are reminded by Satan that they are not worthy of God’s love. This is a lie out of the pit of hell!

Romans 3:21-24 states: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

Get this scripture into your heart -

“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:”

You have been made right-standing with God by faith. You will never be good enough if you try to be self-righteous by your good works. You may have messed up and sinned, but Jesus paid for that sin; and now you are CLEAN, INNOCENT AND RIGHT WITH GOD! Just receive by faith, what Jesus did for you when he went to the cross, and believe that you are now the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ!

I am going to make a statement now that is going to shock you at first; but the more you meditate upon it (in light of the scriptures that I have given you), it’s going to be life changing. In fact, I will dare to say, if you will get a revelation of this statement, it will change your thinking, faith level and prayer life forever:

You are as right with God as Jesus is; because you have been made right with God with Jesus’ righteousness!

Don’t run the other way! Say that statement over and over again, and meditate upon it. I gave you the scriptures to declare the truth of the statement: You are as right with God as Jesus is; because you have been made right with God with Jesus’ righteousness!

Now, if you have been made right with God with Jesus’ righteousness, and are in right-standing with God as Jesus is: What is holding you back?? Did Jesus get his prayers answered? Did Jesus have all his needs met? Did Jesus do miracles, signs and wonders through the power of God? GET A REVELATION: You have been given Jesus’ righteousness; and you are sitting with Jesus RIGHT NOW IN THE SPIRIT at the righthand of God!

I want to leave you with this final scripture in 1 John 4:17: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”  It states in the New Living Translation, “…because we live like Jesus here in this world.”

Praise the Lord! Stop reliving you past sin; stop feeling guilty for the sins you have already been forgiven for when you first confessed them; stop allowing Satan to keep you in bondage through a sin-consciousness.

You are right with God; and you are as right with God as Jesus is, because you have been made right with Jesus’ righteousness! God loves you just as much as He loves Jesus. When Jesus was on the earth, there was not one prayer that went unanswered. As Jesus is now - seated at the righthand of God - so are you in this world!

If you have confessed your sin, no matter how bad it was, you are now forgiven through the blood of Jesus. You are innocent, clean and in right-standing with God. Now go and receive all of the Blessing of God that belongs to you through Jesus Christ; and go and bless all the world!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will

Divided loyalties produce failures in life!

Sunday, January 4th, 2009 | DR. WILL'S WEEKLY WORD OF JOY | No Comments

January 4, 2009

Dear Friends,

As we begin the new year, I have a Word from the Lord that will keep you flowing in God’s best; and Godly wisdom that will produce the Blessing of God in your life throughout the year:

Keep close to God throughout the year, no matter what you see or what circumstances say - If you stay loyal to God, the power in His Word will produce abundant Blessings in your life throughout the year!

Are you loyal to God? Now before you discount the question and immediately answer “Yes”, I want you to hear me clearly. Loyalty to God is not just a proclamation that you are a Believer in Jesus Christ. To be loyal to God means that when things look impossible in the natural world, you still choose to believe in God’s faithfulness and love: You have trust in God, no matter what circumstances or the world says: That is true Loyalty to God!

We normally do not look at our doubting and wavering (when faced with tremendous obstacles) as disloyalty; but what else can you call it? When you choose not to trust God and believe what He says, that is being disloyal to God. In fact, when you choose to believe the world’s circumstances over what God says, you are make the decision to separate yourself from God…think about it! You are separating yourself from God; and when you separate yourself from God, you are separating yourself from the answer to the impossibilities of life.

It states in James 1:6-8 (New Living Translation):

“But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

Now, I want you to study this scripture and mediate upon it. It reveals God’s wisdom that will produce God’s Blessings for you throughout the year. It states:

1. Have faith in God alone - You need to develop your trust and confidence in God; to have faith in God alone. This can only come about by spending quality fellowship time with God every day. I can not tell you how much my faith has grown in God, when I spend time praising, worshpping  and just talking to God - Not asking God for things; but just talking with God about my life and asking Him questions. If you truly want to have a closer walk with God (thus, greater confidence and trust), then you need to spend quality time fellowshipping with Him.
2. Do not waver - The original Greek word for “waver” means to “separate oneself”. When you waver you are displaying fear. When trouble comes you have to make sure you are not in fear and separating yourself from God and the Truth. You have to chose to believe that God is capable, able or willing to help you in your circumstances.
3. Do not have divided loyalities - You have to make the quality decision that you are in this world but not of this world; and that the only way to receive from God (as a Child of God) is to do it His Way. Jesus said specifically in John 18:36, “My Kingdom is not of this world”. If the Word of God is clear that there is a distinction between God’s Kingdom and Ways and the world’s system and ways, then why are you still trying to do it BOTH WAYS with one foot in the world and one in the Kingdom on Heaven? You are only producing failure in your life with divided loyalities.

Jesus made it clear: You want to receive God’s Blessings? You want to receive your needs met? You want God’s goodness in manifestation in your life? Then follow after Matthew 6:33 (Amplified Bible) - “But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.”

Seek, aim and strive after FIRST God’s Kingdom and Ways!

No more divided loyalties; and no more “Plan B”. You need to make a committment, once and for all, to follow after God; and to have trust, confidence and loyalty to Him. God is waiting for you to show yourself true, and believe that He is willing and able to help you. Satan is betting that you will crumble under the pressure of your circumstances and to give up on God!

If you were honest with yourself, you would see that you have been having divided loyalties throughout your walk with God - Yes, you trust God; but only till the pressure gets to be too much, then you start doing things the world’s ways. My friends, you will never obtain God’s best till you settle this matter in your heart!

As we begin 2009, go before God with the elements of Communion (the bread and the wine). Make the quality decision that in 2009, you are going to be loyal to God and to trust in Him alone - NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES SAY. If you will make the decision to be loyal to God and His Word, God will loose all the resources of heaven to see you through to victory.

Divided loyalites produce failures in your life; but being loyal to God will produce abundant Blessings. God is wanting to pour out His Blessings upon you without measure. So, make the decision to be loyal and watch as you are overwhelmed by the goodness and blessings of God in 2009!

Be blessed and full of Joy -

Dr. Will