Making It In (15 Steps to Make Heaven Your Home & Earth your Blessing)

By James Hughes

This book outlines the fifteen steps to making heaven your home and earth your blessing. In it, are discussed God's dynamic plans for his people, whether it be prospering in wealth, finding that perfect spouse, or rejoicing daily with great joy. One of the most dynamic Christian teachers of our time explores how to access the triggers of success in every area of our lives. Whether it be the seventeen kinds of love between a man and a woman that the bible outlines, or the six uplifting marriage ministries, or whether it be the wherewithal to become a millionaire or build a growing ministry thousands of souls strong, this annointed preacher unviels God's mysteries in a way that can impact lives and reveal the true meaning of God's word. Becoming spiritual and going higher in God are only two of the definite outcomes of this sensational new book for our times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Hughes
• Release date: Jul 30, 2012

Book preview

Making It In

The fifteen steps that help make heaven YOUR home and earth YOUR blessing

Minister James Hughes B.A., C.H.R.M., M.T.S(cd), C.T.E.S.L.

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The Dedication

Follow holiness, without which no man shall see God.

This book is dedicated to my deceased brother John, a theology student like myself. Due to a brain tumor, he awakened in eternity at the tender age of thirty. Unfortunately, according to those who knew him, he had misplaced Christ. And so, I can’t help wondering if he actually awoke on the wrong side of God’s fence. If he did go to the wrong place, may all who read this book not follow him there.

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Making It In

The fifteen steps that help make heaven YOUR home and earth YOUR Blessing

About the author

About the topic

Step One, Going through the holiness process

Step Two, Worshiping through the pain

Step Three, Finding shade under God’s trees

Step Four, Being a gem; the 12 gemstones of Yahweh

Step Five, Comprehending functions of the mind

Step Six, Not all brooms catch corners

Step Seven, When my breaking point is reached

Step Eight, Regaining lost communications

Step Nine, Avoiding the gossip factory

Step Ten, Making money while staying holy

Step Eleven, Trying to win souls & fill churches

Step Twelve, Feeling the brush of angel’s wings

Step Thirteen, The seventeen kinds of biblical love

Step Fourteen, The Six Marriage Ministries

Step Fifteen, Dangerous Word Facilitation

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ANALYZING THE KINDS OF LOVE

Kinds of love? Isn’t all love the same?

The 1st Love, stemming from ATTRACTION

The 2nd Love, stemming from BEING ON A LIST

The 3rd Love, stemming from LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

The 4th Love, stemming from ENTICEMENT

The 5th Love, stemming from CARING FOR SOMEONE

The 6th Love, stemming from CONVENIENCE

The 7th Love, stemming from A LOVE OF VIRTUE

The 8th Love, stemming from AN INHERITANCE

The 9th Love, stemming from SECULAR GUIDANCE

The 10th Love, stemming from BEING TURNED ON

The 11th Love, stemming from BEING INFATUATED

The 12th Love, stemming from DIVINE GUIDANCE

The 13th Love, stemming from BEING OBSESSED

The 14th Love, stemming from BEAUTY & THE BEAST

The 15th Love, stemming from REPRESENTATION

The 16th Love, stemming from REDEMPTION

The 17th Love, stemming from FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Aren’t all marriage ministries the same?

Support Ministries, AQUILA & PRICILLA

Faith Ministries, ABRAHAM & SARA

Seed Ministries, JOSEPH & MARY

Vision Ministries, ZACHARIAS & ELIZABETH

Preparatory Ministries, MANOAH & HIS NAMELESS WIFE

Survival Ministries, JOB & HIS GRIEF STRICKEN WIFE

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About the Author

James grew up on the rough side of life, psychologically abused by his mother, and plunged into a world of drugs and alcohol before he hit high school.

At age twelve he was an alcoholic and by age eighteen he was finding himself passing out in the streets and alleys of Toronto.

He was plagued with demons that often haunted him and tried to lure him to an early grave. In 1982 he found solace and refuge in a small Pentecostal church in the west end of Toronto.

It was there, at the age of twenty-six, that he was delivered from drugs and alcohol.

Since then, he has managed to marry the Christian girl of his dreams, and is now the father of two great adult children, ages Twenty-one and twenty-four.

His daughter is married and his grand daughter, Charlotte, is amazing.

This year is his twenty-eight wedding anniversary, and he rejoices in the fact that God has given him a wife, so very dedicated to both their ministries.

And, for thirty years, James has managed to remain with Jesus, whose miracle working power has kept him alcohol and drug free.

In 1997, he entered the University of Toronto, eventually receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree, a Certificate in Human Resource Management, and a Teaching Certificate. After a break in his studies, he is now back at the University of Toronto, where he studies at Wycliffe Bible College. There he is working on a twenty course Masters Degree in Theological Studies.

His love of biblical languages has motivated him to study Hebrew, Persian and Middle Egyptian in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies.

James is currently working on opening a Pentecostal bible college in Toronto. As his wife, I certainly wish him every success in his future endeavors, and I continue to encourage him in his dream of opening this exciting new college so he might devote all his time to helping expand the spiritual minds of others, to which his dynamic and insightful talents seem so uniquely suited. I’ll let you be the judge.

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About the Topic

When it comes to living holy, Christians can often be heard talking about how unfortunate it would be, to have given up the pleasures of sin, only to still be pronounced as eternally unfit for heaven by our Lord Jesus. So I thought it prudent, to launch these fifteen teachings on living holy, while enjoying all the blessings Christ can bring, a far more palatable task than just sitting idly by as the mouth of hell enlarges itself at our expense.

I also felt it useful, to include in this book, formulas for success that could benefit the Christian in every area of his/her walk with the almighty, whether that be attaining a higher spiritual level, acquiring a million dollar bank account, finding love in a spouse, or even helping win a multitude of souls for the Lord.

For one thing we have to understand is that living holy has more that it’s fair share of benefits. Living holy brings us closer to God and closer to whom God wants us to be. Living holy also positions us to receive the very blessing we often obsess over. Prosperity, victory, joy and deliverance go hand in hand with the very holiness we sought to evade or abandon.

And so, while living holy does obviously entail denying oneself, it also entails greatly enriching oneself in so many ways.

This book then, seeks to accomplish both feats, one, preparing us for acceptance into his heavenly kingdom, and two, helping us to achieve all the blessings to which we are so graciously entitled by his word of promise.

Jesus spoke cynically of latter day followers going to hell with both eyes open, both hands clapping, both feat stomping, and both lips praising. Why? Because they refused to honor simple commands, such as, be ye holy, for I am holy, or present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, or he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living.

Living for God is not as difficult or unbearable as we make it out to be. We are God’s temple, and there are fifteen easy steps which help us to keep our bodies, hearts and minds on the pathway to glory while we prosper in health, wealth, joy and spirit, knowing that God hath given us all things richly to enjoy.

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Step One-Going Through The Holiness Process

The process of becoming holy mustn’t be confused with the process of becoming saved. This book is about being holy and being blessed. For each Christian faith already has its own unique doctrine for being saved, whether through baptisms, repentance, works, spirit reception, everyday living, confessions and/or ceremonies surrounding one giving their heart to the Lord. The purpose then, of this book, is not to try and twist one’s arm into a certain kind of worship, congregation or even into a certain religion. The purpose of this book, is not even to try and judge whom are the real followers of Christ but rather to assist those professing to be Christ’s followers into being holy and blessed.

And, if one truly wants to assist a person in becoming holy, thereby prosperous and abundantly blessed, then it is not good enough for one to simply tell that person what they should do, or not do, or even how they should live. Rather, one needs to explain the process a person must go through in order to not only be holy, but stay holy.

The holiness process can be best defined by breaking down the state of holiness into its eight components in their true order; dedication, consecration, sanctification, purification, justification, perfection, priesthood and glorification. This process seems complex but it is a lot easier to accomplish than it sounds.

Dedication, which is the first phase of the holiness process, encompasses dedicating one’s self to the Lord. That’s it, pure and simple, just a single act of standing before God and promising that your mind and body now belong to God and God alone. It only takes a few seconds to do, and yet most Christians rarely do it. It’s one thing to give my heart to the Lord, but unless and until I dedicate my body and mind to the Lord, promising they are now God’s and no longer under my control, then I am simply wasting my time when it comes to becoming holy.

So many Christians have skipped this dedication, promising instead they would live holy today, only to falter tomorrow. Paul spoke of a dog going back to its vomit or a pig wallowing in mire. If my body is truly the temple of the living God, then as a building, I must dedicate it so it will be adequately maintained and used for a specific purpose.

If you don’t dedicate a building to a specific purpose, then it is liable to be used for anything and everything. A school, once built, is dedicated formally by education dignitaries as a centre of learning. A hospital, once completed, is dedicated by medical officials and politicians as a centre for healing. Yet when we stand before God, in the presence of his holy angels and our Christian peers, we commit our hearts to traveling the Christian pathway without actually dedicating the building which is our body and mind.

When soldiers in Israel were asked to fight, they were not allowed in battle if their newly built houses were not yet dedicated. Deuteronomy 20:5 confirms this, for we read, and the officers shall speak unto the people saying, what man is there that hath a new house and hath not dedicated it? Indeed, think of how unfair twenty-two thousand oxen must think it is, to have been slain during the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, while we as modern day Christians don’t even symbolically commit to slaying our own wills where our body is concerned. What we need, then, is a formal declaration of commitment that our bodies and minds now belong to Christ, and that we will deny ourselves and let Christ take control of the physical man to start us on our journey. But if we fail to accomplish the latter, then that journey will never technically have begun. If I am not at present ready to dedicate myself completely to God’s use, then there must come a time

when I am ready. It is easy for me to say, Lord, I promise to walk with you from this day forth. It is quite another thing however, for me to say, Lord, I dedicate my body and my mind to your use from this day forward and will not involve said body or mind in anything that Jesus wouldn’t involve himself in. I may not be ready to commit to such an oath when I first get saved, but I cannot start the holiness process until I am ready to commit to it. It is kind of like buying a new home. I can live in it for the time being, but I will not dedicate it to guests until I first paint, hang curtains, clean rugs, remove garbage and put furniture in it.

In other words, the road to salvation begins when I begin walking with the Lord, but my road to holiness cannot begin until I dedicate my temple unto the Lord. And I can’t dedicate a building to the same Lord who died for me, if I know for a fact it will still be used for lying, fornication, stealing, adultery, drugs, malice keeping, gossiping, studying pornography, and all sorts of other unholy living.

It is a sad fact that many of us Christians who have been walking in the faith for five, ten, twenty or even thirty years, have still not dedicated our temples to the living God. Until I pledge to stop using my body and mind for sin, I need to go back to the cross where I first found Christ and dedicate my temple so I can start the holiness process moving in the right direction.

Once I have finally dedicated my temple, I am now ready for the next phase of the holiness process, consecration.

Consecration involves moving quickly to identify and remove all unholy characteristics from my temple through prayer, fasting, commitment and meditating on

God’s word. In other words, consecration is the necessary follow up to the dedication, and must be carried out immediately with heartfelt sincerity. What parts of my body give me the most trouble and how will I bring them under subjection? What thoughts must I not dwell on or even entertain? How should I speak? What will my strategy be for abstaining from fornication, adultery and impure thoughts? Whom in church can be a trusted buddy for me to call for support and encouragement in case I feel my resolve slipping?

And what measures can I take to reign in my unwieldy tongue? And can my tongue even be trusted on the phone or in a crowd? Are there places or people to whom I should not carry my ears? Whom inside and outside of church should I no longer hang around with? Which temptations must I avoid at all costs? What sins have I been struggling with that the pastor and church officers can help me pray about?

Once I have compiled my list and begun the task of casting aside all my bad ways and faulty traits, the most important thing for me to remember is that I must complete the task thoroughly and completely. If I dare emerge from my consecration having only dealt with certain faults, while still clinging to certain other faults or bad ways, then I defile the process and risk the wrath of God. For God spoke of the need for us to be cold or hot and not lukewarm.

Even in the days of the Levitical priesthood, it was not permissible to simply go through the motions by doing a partial consecration. Emerging from one’s consecration before it was completed meant certain death. Indeed, Leviticus 8:33 reminds us to finish the task properly or else, for we read, and ye shall not go out of the door of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end, for seven days shall he consecrate you.

Regardless of how long it takes, we need to acknowledge and get rid of our faults and bad ways before we can emerge from our consecration. Yet for many of us Christians that may prove easier said than done. For we will often hold onto characteristics, feelings, bad things or relationships that only do us harm. But discarding all that is unholy is essential to completing a consecration.

And so, once we have completed said consecration, it is now time to enter into the next phase of holiness, our sanctification. Simply put, now that my consecration has cleaned me up, it is time to get closer to God.

Sanctification then, is a state of being. It is the right I earn after consecrating my life. Now I can pledge a willingness to go deeper into Christ. Now I can utter a readiness to let God take me to the next level in him. Now, as one who is striving to live holy for the master, I can begin to receive all the blessings and miracles that a deeper relationship with aaGod brings to me.

Joshua 3:5 echoes these sentiments, declaring unto the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And so, we realize that a brighter tomorrow is not far off if we take the time to simply go deeper in Christ. And we can accomplish that sanctification through praying more earnestly, meditating more fervently and fasting more sacrificially so we might ask to achieve a closeness to God’s glory we never before thought possible.

Sanctification is where I can prove to God I have truly turned over a new leaf in my quest for becoming holy.

Having said that, getting close to God is not without consequences. For as much as the priests and people of God were both consecrated and sanctified, God could still see their remaining faults, and had to call for their purification.

I can begin the purification process by asking God to purge me from all the bad ways I did not see during my consecration. For we all have imperfections and bad habits which we may overlook when cleansing ourselves.

To recap, then, I start the holiness process by dedicating my temple, promising to use my mind and body, and my heart as well, for God’s purpose and not for sin. Then, looking deep within that same heart, I consecrate that same mind and body by getting rid of faults, bad ways and clinging sins. Once I thoroughly cleanse my life, I emerge from that consecration and enter my sanctification. As noted earlier, to sanctify ones self, is simply to go closer to, and deeper in, our Lord and savior Jesus. After that, I ask God to purify me, a task the almighty would undertake whether I made the request or not.

Purification removes all the sins, bad habits and imperfections I cannot see. In the time of Moses, even though the priests had already gone through consecration and gotten closer to God through sanctification, they still had to go under God’s purification microscope. Malachi 3:3 confirms this, saying, …and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of righteousness.

The Apostle Paul also stressed the importance of this purification stage, declaring, no chastisement seems joyous for the present, but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

No question that asking God to remove the bad ways I can’t see, can be a scary prospect indeed. Passing through the purifying