Fred C. White's Blog: Fountain Gate

Living by the Power of God

Living by the Power of GodGod’s power will help believers overcome difficult situations and live victoriously. The same power which God used to raise Jesus from the dead is available to believers. “Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23 NIV). The Spirit is the one who makes the power available to believers. In this message, you will discover how to activate the power deposited within you.

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Walk in the Spirit: Do Impossible Things

Walk in the Spirit: Do Impossible ThingsJesus did mighty things and he is still doing mighty things today. “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). What Jesus does is impossible to the natural man, but believers can do whatever he does. Find what Jesus does and do it by the Spirit. Believers receive new life from the Spirit, so they should follow the Spirit; “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). Not only can believers do what Jesus does, but they are required to do it. There is a basic principle about the works of Jesus: whatever Jesus does believers can and must do. For example, Jesus justified believers and proclaimed them to be righteous, so they can and must live righteously. This study examines how believers can and must do things which seem impossible.
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Strategic Healing: Taking Authority over Sickness

Strategic HealingMany people use medical and other natural means to combat the same sicknesses which Jesus overcame with supernatural authority and power. He dealt with the roots of sickness and got immediate results. The devil made people sick, but Jesus anointed by the Spirit healed them (Acts 10:38). Fighting sickness is a spiritual battle against spiritual forces. “We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ERV). Believers have been given authority and power to heal the sick. The objective of this study is to help believers overcome sickness by understanding the basis for divine healing.
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Marriage Transformation by the Spirit

Marriage Transformation by the SpiritWhat can marriage be? Think about it. Surely, marriage is greater than that which is seen. As long as people measure marriages against one another, they will see plenty of faults. “When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12 NIV). With the Spirit there is no limit on how great marriage can be. Dream higher than you have ever dreamed and the Spirit will take your marriage higher and higher. Married life can soar with wings on high like a beautiful butterfly.

God’s standard for marriage is his model for the body of Christ: perfectly joined together with the same mind and purpose. “I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10 EXB). This study examines the transforming work of the Spirit in marriage, explaining its process and purpose. 
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Seven Wonders of the Anointing

Seven Wonders of the AnointingAre you wonder-struck at Christ, the Anointed One, living on the inside of you? Multitudes have been amazed at who he is and what he does. The people who believe in Jesus will be amazed and marvel at him (2 Thessalonians 1:10). The anointing is available to all, but it passes over the wise and strong who labor for it and exalts the meek and lowly who marvel at it. Like an adventurous child searches a secret garden, those with childlike faith and a sense of wonder will be captivated by the anointing within them.
The anointing is the life of God flowing through believers. At the core of each believer is the mystery of the Spirit’s anointing which expresses the depths of the Father and his love for his children. The glorious riches of this mystery is the indwelling of the Anointed in you (Colossians 1:27 VOICE)! As believers understand the mystery of the anointing, they know more about themselves and how to live the abundant life Jesus came to give them. This study examines how to increase the influence of the Spirit’s anointing within believers. 
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Five Essentials for a Rich Life

Five Essentials for a Rich LifeThree business failures would be enough to stop most people from wanting to have their own business, but not Vern. For Vern had a dream and a passion burning within him to start his own business. He had been willing to risk everything on becoming a successful business owner. Having failed three times, Vern was selling cars when I met him and recognized his potential. I knew he lacked some essential knowledge to be successful in business, so I recruited him to study economics and watched his journey through life. People can improve their financial situation by understanding the essentials for possessing the true riches.

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Five Essentials for a Rich LIfe

Five Essentials for
a Rich LifeThree business failures would be enough to stop most people from wanting to have their own business but not Vern, because he had a dream and a passion burning within him to start his own business. He had been willing to risk everything on becoming a successful business owner. Having failed three times, Vern was selling cars when I met him and recognized his potential. I knew he lacked some essential knowledge to be successful in business, so I recruited him to study economics and watched him find success in life. People can improve their financial situation by understanding the essentials for possessing the true riches.
Whether you start with little or much, you can be armed today with the information needed for a better financial future. It is best to keep money in the proper context for life is more than money. If you seek wisdom, you will find what you need to prosper. Wisdom says, “I’m ready to meet those who love me, bestow true riches upon them, and fill up their lives until their treasuries overflow” (Proverbs 8:21 VOICE). This study shows how to manage money for a rich life. It will give you some tools to deal with your money. If money is important to you, then you will want to manage it wisely. Understanding the true riches and the essentials for a rich life will help you manage your money wisely.
Introducing True Riches
True riches are the supernatural abilities, power and strength that believers have through Jesus Christ. These riches originate with the Heavenly Father, his Son and his Spirit as they enter a believer’s heart. True riches include salvation, grace, mercy and fruit of the Spirit to name just a few. They are eternal and cannot be corrupted, making them different from the material things which perish. The patriarchs of old had the true riches and lived in abundance. Abraham walked in the true riches, because God was his friend, and Abraham obeyed his commands. Likewise, believers today can walk in the true riches and abundance.
An abundance of true riches is deposited in the hearts of believers as they accept Jesus as Savior. Everything that is needed to sustain life is within every believer, so there is no lack to those who operate in the supernatural realm. The true riches are activated by faith rather than by natural efforts. By receiving the true riches, believers can change their own financial situation and walk in abundance.
Focus
Your life is a story to be told. It centers on such things as family, career, status, friends, relationships and influence. The things at the center of your life are the main things which you think about, which define you and which determine your worth. Also, these are the things that cause conflict and problems in your life.
The lives of most people are complicated. Their lives are not centered on just one of these areas but on several areas. For example, a person may try to balance life between career and family. Having more areas at the center of your life creates more conflicts and problems. Those people whose lives are centered on natural things acquire their finances by their own strength and intellect. In other words, they are the primary source of their riches and their problems. Being self-centered blocks the true riches of God and keeps a person in spiritual poverty. The life of my friend Vern was centered on his need to become a successful business owner. He always got in the way of his own success.
God wants you to trust him and be dependent upon him. “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who is giving you power to make wealth, that he may confirm his covenant” (Deuteronomy 8:18). This power is revealed in the New Testament as the Holy Spirit’s anointing. God anointed Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38). Thus, it’s the anointing which empowers believers to generate wealth.
Essential Element #1 Source of a rich life: Receive God's power to get wealth by faith.
Power makes you a witness. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Be a witness to the abundant life which Jesus came to give you. The story of life for believers is what God’s power is doing through them.
Goals
Most people desire to have enough money to live comfortably, but some want to acquire great wealth. Others may be satisfied with just enough income to do the things which are most important to them or the things they enjoy doing. Yet some people are consumed with acquiring earthly goods and personal riches. It makes no sense to become very rich by destroying yourself. “It is worthless to have the whole world if they lose their souls” (Matthew 16:26 EXB).
There are many goals which a person could pursue. Several of these may appear to be good goals, but God’s perfect will for an individual is related to only one goal, and that goal fulfills his purpose. Vern was not successful in business until he understood his true purpose. His dream was not as big as God’s purpose for him.
Purpose has been in the heart of God from the beginning. He has a specific purpose for every person. His purposes are hidden but can be discovered by those who seek to know them through the Spirit. The purposes of God can only be understood with the Spirit’s help (1 Corinthians 2:14).
There is a price to be paid for those who will be rich. Those who truly follow Jesus live a sacrificial life to please him. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24). Each sacrifice ends in death, but in Jesus believers live a new life. They do not continue to live as before by being fully immersed in the world’s system. Instead, they live by faith, continually renewing their minds to the word of God by the Spirit.
Essential Element #2 Goals for a rich life: Discover and fulfill God’s purpose.
A person can be obedient to God’s purpose only by discovering and then fulfilling that purpose. Discover God’s purpose for you by following your passion. At the age of 16, our daughter, Amy, went with us to Honduras, Central America. While there she picked up a sick baby and held that child. God put within her a passion for the sick. When she went to college, her advisors started her in a program for teachers. I knew she did not have a passion for teaching, so I asked her to find out what she had a passion to do. She sought the Lord and decided to go into nursing. She has been successful in the medical field. Fulfill the purpose God has for you.
Plans
People need tools to keep track of their net worth and cash flows. Financial statements are some of the most important things used in financial planning. However, financial statements by themselves do not address everything that is important in financial planning. There are spiritual issues which also need to be addressed.
Financial Statements
You can plan to increase your net worth by increasing your net cash flow. Two financial statements provide an indication of your financial condition. Use a balance sheet to find your starting point. A balance sheet shows assets, debts and net worth at one point in time. A cash flow statement measures your income and expenses over a period of time.
These two financial statements can be used together as tools to monitor your spending and increase your net worth. A positive net cash flow, which is shown in the cash flow statement, can increase your net worth as shown in the balance sheet. If you have a positive net cash flow in a given period, you can apply that money to acquire assets or pay off debts. Either of these activities would increase your net worth.
Spiritual Heritage
Behind each financial statement is a spiritual force. Your parents, grandparents and great grandparents have had an influence on you (Exodus 20:5). Even if you did not know all of them, their lives still affect your life in both positive and negative ways. There are character traits and spiritual influences that span the generations. A godly heritage offers a strong foundation for financial success. Lust and bitterness can span generations. Deceptions were rampant in the lives of the Old Testament patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 20:1, 26:7 and 27:19). In the New Testament, Timothy received a legacy of faith from his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5).
Stop the reaping of iniquities set in place by your ancestors and by you. Those who plant iniquity will reap the fruit of iniquity (Hosea 10:13 and Job 4:8). Bruce, a friend of mine, was reaping iniquity by thinking everyone would reject him. His negative thinking hindered his financial success. When he overcame the reaping of iniquities with repentance and the blood of Jesus, his thinking changed. God gave him creative inventions for the oil and gas industry which have made him very rich.
Essential Element #3 Plans for a rich life: Address the spiritual forcesbehind your financial situation.
Many people plan for the future which they think they deserve, rather than the future God wants to give them. The mind of man plans what he will do and how he will do it, but God may overrule and dispose of a matter as he pleases (Proverbs 16:9). God has his own plans for your life. He plans to prosper you and to give you hope and a good future (Jeremiah 29:11). Take a broad perspective for financial success by using financial statements and spiritual elements such as prayer. Everyone contends against spiritual forces (Ephesians 6:12). Only believers have the authority and power to deal with spiritual matters.
Actions
God calls his people to the high standard of being a good steward of his true riches: “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). This concept addresses true riches, but the traditional approach to stewardship in religion relates to how well a person handles finances and supports religious institutions, which are both natural. A person does not need a lot of money in order to be a good steward from God’s perspective. Do not be wasteful or slothful, but be a good steward of the riches which God has given you. He wants his children to be good stewards over his riches.
One of the greatest investments a person can make on this earth is to invest in the lives of others. Build strong personal relationships, and invest your time and effort in those to whom the Spirit leads you.
Vern was always leading his family into financial difficulties. When his wife was offered a great job in another state, he had to make a difficult decision to follow her rather than lead his family into more troubles. For the first time, he decided to put his family first and follow her. He got an entry-level job with a major financial corporation. When he was on the job only a short time, he recognized the corporation was facing serious problems for which the leaders were not trained properly. He was able to hire several good economists to help solve the problems the corporation faced. Vern led these economists in developing a culture of working and playing hard together. They restructured the process the corporation used to manage its finances. Several of those economists became chief financial officers for that corporation and other corporations, as well. Vern fulfilled his God-given purpose by restructuring the global financial industry.
Essential Element #4 Actions for a rich life: Align current actions with your goals.
If you are a vessel which God can use to be a blessing to others he will pour out his riches on you. Keep focused on the goal which is your purpose and help others discover and fulfill their purpose. Your household will be blessed, and you will be a blessing to others.
Refinement in Goals and Plans
Many people rely on formulas, experiences of others and recommendations from advisers in making decisions about investments and other financial matters. For example, a popular rule of thumb is to save 10% of a person’s income and tithe 10% of the income. Such an approach is comparable to flying a plane on automatic pilot. With all the information that is known in the natural realm, this approach may seem appropriate. However, no one can successfully cruise through the invisible supernatural realm on automatic pilot.
If you follow any financial plan for long, it will become irrelevant. Changes in the plan have to be made over time. Good financial decisions are made as a person follows the Spirit. Believers cannot base decisions on the failures or successes of other people. Otherwise, David would have repeated his winning battle strategy when he was attacked a second time. But the Lord told David to attack in a different way during the second battle (2 Samuel 5:23).
Your dream may have crashed and burned like Vern’s dream of owning a business. But God wants to raise your dream out of the ashes. With the increased knowledge, experience and finances Vern gained by working with the corporation, he was able to start a business selling motorcycles with his son. Life for Vern was no longer just about himself, because he made a place to be with his son and leave a legacy to him.
Essential Element #5 Refinements in goals and plans for a rich life: Continually seekthe Lord and move forward in the light of his truth.
Operating effectively in the supernatural realm cannot be based on natural things. It’s by the Spirit. The people of Issachar were successful, because they knew the changing times and seasons (1 Chronicles 12:32). Those with the Issachar anointing to prosper will know the changing times and seasons. Believers need to continually seek the Spirit for guidance on how to live the rich life.
Conclusions
Both natural and supernatural approaches to managing finances were considered in this study. Believers have access to riches in both the natural and supernatural realms. Those who walk in the abundant life which Jesus gave them are able to draw on God’s true riches in the supernatural realm and wisely manage finances in the natural realm. Religion offers a deceptive view of stewardship which focuses primarily on finances in the natural realm and ignores the true riches of the supernatural realm. However, the true riches are more important than finances in the natural realm. God’s approach to stewardship addresses riches in both the natural and supernatural realms. You can prosper financially when you understand God’s true riches and apply the essentials for possessing them. If you only operate financially in the natural realm, you will get natural results; however, if you operate in the supernatural realm with your finances, you will bring the supernatural into the natural.

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Creative Miracles

Creative MiraclesWhat do you do when you need a miracle but none of the spiritual gifts are working for you? The gift of miracles would solve your problem, but if it is not working then it is just not presently an option. You could wait for something miraculous to happen, but it could be too late in coming. Is there not another option for you? Yes, there are always options for those who believe God’s living word. The word of God is full of power waiting to be released as active energy by those who believe. “The word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing and effective]” (Hebrews 4:12 AMP). Speaking the word of God can produce high-energy, creative miracles. God spoke the worlds into existence. “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). By hearing the voice of the Spirit, believers can speak the living word of God into the earth and miraculously change things. This study examines how believers can operate in God’s creative miracles.
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Ordained Personal Relationships: Grace Joints

Ordained Personal RelationshipsTouching life together through personal relationships is the heart of God’s kingdom. He joins or connects people together in relationship with him and with each other as it pleases him. “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired” (1 Corinthians 12:18). He draws people to himself by his Spirit and connects people together by his Spirit. Men want to limit relationships by doctrine, denominations and local congregations, but there are no such limitations in the spirit. Both divine connections and divine assignments are used in fulfilling God’s purpose for building personal relationships. This study shows that God builds his kingdom on ordained relationships by grace. It examines how to build and sustain meaningful relationships with grace.
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Spiritual Fruit

Spiritual FruitFulfilling destiny is the way believers produce fruit for the kingdom of God. While purpose relates to God’s plan for a person, destiny relates to a person’s response to God’s purpose. Destiny involves embracing and accomplishing God’s purpose. All believers are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). In addition to this general aspect of destiny, there are specific aspects of destiny related to each individual. Destiny does the will of the Father, accomplishing his purpose. The specific destiny for believers involves doing those things they hear and see the Father say and do. 


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