How to Endure to the End: A Financial Guide for Christian Living

By Pamela Hatfield

How to endure to the End deals with the necessary ingredients to help Christians endure through the storms of life. If you have ever thought if God would just tell me what I need to do I would do it, then this book is for you. God cant just tell people what to do like He did in the Old Testament because our beliefs, traditional teachings and our worldly brain actually keep us from hearing the truth. We no longer even recognize the works of the Holy Spirit or know how to seek interpretation to our dreams therefore hindering the communication between God and ourselves. This book is geared toward Christians who are seeking to grow in their faith. It is not directed to any particular denomination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 15, 2004
• ISBN: 9781468511222

Pamela Hatfield

Widowed at age 41 with not even enough insurance to cover all the funeral bills she learned very quickly that she had not really known what it was to fully trust in God, even though she had been a devoted Christian and Bible student for years. She shares how God taught her to trust in Him. She believes that her authority to write this book come solely through Christ Jesus, just as Paul put it in Ephesians 3:3 “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery” of how and why we must trust in Him to live the life that Jesus paid for by gaining knowledge of how to better understand the revelations that Christians receive from God.

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© 2004 Pamela Hatfield.

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 07/08/04

ISBN: 1-4184-6992-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-1122-2 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Bibliography

About The Author

Introduction

What do you do with divine revelations? In my case, you write a book sharing what God has revealed to you. About seven years ago the Lord showed me that I would be writing a book that describes how trusting in God is the very core of a Christian’s life. If Christians totally trusted God, we could live just like Adam and Eve before they were banished from the Garden of Eden.

I have worked with children both professionally and teaching in my church. For many years I have been an avid Bible student and have attended workshops to enhance my profession but found many of the same principles apply to my spiritual life.

It is my hope that this book will help Christians grow in faith. How to Endure to the End: A Financial Guide for Christian Living deals with necessary ingredients to help Christians endure through the storms of life. After the events of September 11, 2001, more and more people are turning to their faith as they search for answers and assurance that God is still in control.

Christians must learn to develop the mind of Christ, and that requires patience and persistence. I talk about the new research concerning the rational and irrational brain. The rational brain can be called the worldly brain and the irrational brain can be called the spiritual brain. The book goes into detail about this concept.

Christians must also learn to keep their eyes focused on the Son. In this book, I share how an offended spirit causes us to take our eyes off Jesus. I also tell about my experience of how the Lord taught me that Christians so easily shut out the Holy Spirit. Shutting out the Holy Spirit deprives us of many benefits and hinders our total trust in God.

Although we must live in this world, we can learn to live in the kingdom of God right here on earth. I have listed 20 laws for living in the kingdom of God, many revolving around the Ten Commandments. I have also dared to imagine what our life would be if we truly walked in the Spirit and lived in the kingdom of God. The book contains a community directory for the kingdom of God concerning this idea.

As strange as it may sound to some people, the Holy Spirit has actually revealed many truths to me as I have studied the word. This book is geared toward Christians who are seeking to grow in their faith and who are open to some new ideas and concepts. It is not directed to any particular denomination. The scripture references are taken from the King James Version.

Chapter One

Have you truly become a new creature in Christ Jesus since you were saved? If not, perhaps it is because you have strayed from the true word of God. Do these things seem to happen every time you think you have received a word or instructions from the Lord?

• Someone comes along and interprets the word differently.

• The least little trial comes along and the word no longer holds true.

• You convince yourself that it is impossible to do things the way the Lord has shown you.

• You decide you misunderstood the Lord, because your new revelation does not seem to apply to your life at the moment.

Perhaps these things happen because the foundation that Jesus poured when you were saved is covered by man’s teachings.

Foundation on the True Word of God

(47)Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: (48) He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. (49) But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell: and the ruin of that house was great (Luke 6: 47-49).

Have you ever wondered if some of the diseases of this world are the result of man disobeying God and adding to or taking away from His word? I do wonder sometimes, but it really doesn’t matter about the diseases, for diseases are small things compared to when the Lord comes back. It is the age-old question: When the Lord comes back, will He find faith? Sure, we have faith that Jesus died for us and faith enough to believe that God created the whole world, but do we have enough faith to endure to the end? Will Jesus find faith in us when He comes for His church?

(16) I (Jesus) have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. (17) And the Spirit and bride say, come. And let him that hearth say, come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely, (18) For I testify unto every man that hearth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (19) And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (20) He which testifieth these things saith, ‘surely I come quickly,’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (21) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:16-21).

The Lord has shown me some powerful truths:

• Christians today are doing the same things as God’s people were doing when Jesus came to earth.

• Part of the reason for this is that our very foundations are built more on man’s teachings than on the true word of God.

While I was preparing to write this book the Lord led me to read II Timothy several times. The book of II Timothy has many verses that really minister to my spirit. Verses like, for God hath not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and love, and of a sound mind. This verse lifts me up and ensures me that through faith I can refuse to fear what man can do to me. Also, the verse, it is a faithful saying: for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I draw so much spiritual strength from these verses and have the boldness I need to keep on keeping on, as Michael Combs put in one of his songs.

The next verse held a truth I was not expecting. My attention was directed to II Timothy 3:16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. I had read this verse and even heard it in sermons many times, but I never really paid any attention to it. Every time I read that verse, I thought about the whole Bible being inspired by God. However, that is not what this scripture is saying. What do all the scriptures mean? I had always thought the whole Bible was all the scriptures, but the Lord showed me that is not true. If you were writing a letter to someone and you said the whole Bible is the word of God, would that include your letter? Why no! I thought, and I started questioning the meaning when it hit me. Paul said all scripture; he did not say all scripture and this letter." The whole Bible is inspired by God, but all of the Bible is not the scripture Paul was referring to. As I was studying this verse, a question came up in my spirit. So what is the scripture Paul was referring to?

What an amazing revelation I experienced! The Laws of Moses and the books of the prophets are what Paul was referring to as scriptures. There is a difference between scriptures that are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, and the rest of the Bible.

A vast difference exists between the actual teachings of God and the teachings of man in the Bible. The thus saith the Lord in the Laws of Moses and the books of the prophets are what is good for setting up doctrines. Jesus said that these are the same ones he read and studied when he was here on earth. These were the scriptures that Paul and the other writers in the Bible used for their doctrine.

The teachings in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and any words in red in the King James Version of the Bible are just updated versions of thus saith the Lord. Jesus’ words come directly from God. He tells us several times that He only does and says what he has seen of the Father. All of Jesus’ teachings were from God’s previous words. After all, Jesus was God in the flesh.

I came to understand that in the book of Revelation, the words in red are from Jesus. When John wrote the words in Revelation, he was totally under the Spirit and was actually writing in the Spirit. John was in a kind of trance. He was out of his body and present with the Lord. The information John wrote was not translated through his brain. Other teachings in the Bible are translated through the writer’s brain. Therefore, only the words in red in the New Testament, including the few verses in Acts where Jesus spoke after his resurrection, and the old scriptures are profitable to set up doctrines. The rest of the Bible was inspired by God, but it came through man’s brain.

How amazing that I would think Paul was calling his own letters scriptures! Paul was bold, however, I do not believe he had any idea that so many years later people would read his letters, much less think of them as scriptures! Of course, Paul’s writings are scriptures to us now, because they were inspired by God, but they could not have been what Paul was saying would be profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Another truth I learned was that all the other scriptures in the Bible were inspired by God and given to us as examples