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Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
The Mark of Sincere Love
What does Paul say? “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, ESV). It was clearly a call to put people above projects. It was a call to put love above accomplishments. It was a call to put schemes in a proper place, outside of the realm of what God intends the church to be. It wasn’t a call to growth; it was a call to love. It wasn’t a call just to do ministry work; it was a call to realize that the greatest ministry work of all is to love one another and to love those who are lost and without Jesus. It’s not going to be cold-hearted or a just going through the steps type of discipleship. It’s going to be a fire of passion in your heart. It’s going to be the zeal in a heart that has that fire for God. It’s not going to be ambition. It’s not going to be pressure. It’s going to be Jesus Christ loving you so richly that that love permeates your whole heart and begins to be poured out to other people. These things are the mark of true faith, as Paul wrote to Timothy. “I am reminded of your sincere faith” (2 Timothy 1:5). Our word ‘sincere’ comes from two different Greek words. One is a word they used in theatre; play acting, putting on a show. The original word for ‘hypocrite’ was someone who was acting out a role. The second Greek word in front of it which means ‘none,’ in other words, not an actor. Not putting on a performance. Not trying to look like a disciple but actually being a disciple. Not trying to look religious but actually being spirit-filled. Not trying to do good deeds so others might see them. If we are actually walking in faith, we will be sincerely loving. |
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The Joyful Cry of Our Hearts
The Holy Ghost is the one who teaches us to say, “Abba Father.” This phrase refers to a Middle Eastern custom from Bible days regarding the adoption of a child. Until the adopting papers were signed and sealed by the adopting father, the child saw this man only as ‘a father.’ He had no right to call him abba, meaning “my.” As soon as the papers were signed, registered and sealed, the child’s tutor presented him to the adopting father; and for the first time, the child could say, “Abba Father!” As the father embraced him, the young one cried, “My father! He’s not just ‘a father’ anymore. He’s mine.” This is the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. He tutors you in the ways of Christ’s heart. He presents you to the Father. He keeps reminding you, “I have sealed the papers. You are no longer an orphan; you are legally a son of God.” Our cry should be one of exceeding joy and thanksgiving. Not only are we not forsaken, but the Holy Spirit is there with us during moments of confusion and suffering. The Holy Spirit’s mission is to comfort Christ’s bride in the absence of the bridegroom. “I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:16, NKJV). The title he gives the Spirit could also be translated as “Comforter,” one who eases pain and sorrow, brings relief, consoles and encourages. I particularly like this definition from the Greek: “One who lays you down on a warm bed of safety.” By calling the Holy Spirit the Helper and Comforter, Jesus made an infallible prediction that his people would suffer and need comfort. The Holy Spirit brings comfort by reminding you that he lives in you with all the power of God inherent in his being. God sent the Spirit to use all his power to keep you out of the clutches of Satan, to lift your spirit, drive away all depression and flood your soul with the love of your Lord. As Paul wrote, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). These promises should give us even greater joy as we cry out, “Abba Father!” AMEN |
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Finding Victory and Peace
Paul wrote to the early church, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16, NKJV). This command to walk in the Spirit is given to all, not just a few super-saints. Here are three steps for how you can obtain this walk. 1. You must go after this walk with everything in you. If you are saved, the Holy Spirit has already been given to you. Now ask him to take over and surrender to him. Ask him to be your guide and friend. As the gospels command, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). You have to determine in your heart that you want him to lead you. Moses, speaking of the latter days, said about God, “You will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29). 2. Focus on hearing the Spirit, and get your eyes off your trouble and temptation. Paul and Silas would have wallowed in fear and depression if they had focused on their troubles. Instead, they focused on God, praising and worshiping him. Most of the time when we go to prayer, we focus on past failures. We replay our defeats time after time, saying, “Oh, how far up the road I could be if I hadn’t failed God and messed up in my past.” Forget everything in your past! It’s all under the blood. Don’t fret about the future either because only the Lord knows what’s ahead. 3. Give a good deal of quality time to communion with the Holy Spirit. He will not speak to anyone who is in a hurry. Wait patiently. Seek the Lord and minister praises to him. Take authority over every other voice that whispers thoughts to you. Believe that the Spirit is greater than these and that he will not let you be deceived or blinded. As scripture boldly states, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Focus on the Holy Spirit with your whole mind and heart, and you will find victory over sin and otherworldly peace. |
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Speak the Truth with Love
Claude Houde As parents, let us remember that it is first and foremost in our home that our children will receive the most meaningful teachings of their lives by seeing us live, manage and resolve our conflicts and also by observing the way we act with each other. One of the great issues in our pursuit of unity within our families is our ability to handle conflict. Too often, families find themselves at one of two extremes.
If the question of how you handle conflict were asked of your spouse and children, what would they say about you? "Daddy has a hot temper… Mom often criticizes others..." Or would they say, “My husband, my wife, my father, my mother are not perfect, but I have seen them make progress through the years. They do not return evil for evil; they find and bring about peace. The sun does not set on their anger. They don't allow grudges to take root in themselves”? We must no longer be immature children. We must no longer lie to get out of having to deal with problems. We must learn to grow in every aspect of our lives. As scripture says, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15). Dear believers, let us love our families and one another by learning how to graciously and lovingly speak the truth. |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
A Dangerous Love of the World
Once I met a man who is a pastor in Laos under a harsh Communist regime. His church is underground, and he’s been put in jail for being a believer. In that country, almost 90 percent of the time when you get put in jail, you never come home. That’s how dangerous it is.As a pastor in America, I might have more people download my sermons and I might have more opportunities to preach in different churches, but that man far outweighs anything I’ve ever had in terms of his knowledge, revelation and relationship with God because he stood strong in the forging of that fire of suffering and difficulty. Oftentimes, here in America where we’re not under that same weight of persecution, church becomes so easy and light and fluffy, and our practical theology becomes comfortable and easy. If we’re not careful, materialism and comfort come in and take us away from that radical, true devotion. It moves us away from the fire of faith, from being on fire for God. In his letter to Timothy, Paul speaks of one particular man who drifted away from the Lord because of difficulty. “Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:9-11, ESV). The end of Colossians mentions Demas, and Paul’s letter to Philemon includes a greeting from Demas who is called Paul’s fellow-worker. Here, however, he said Demas had forsaken him. In other words, this man loved the things of this world and didn’t want to sacrifice, suffer and deal with hardship as a part of being a radical follower of Christ. So he left. Whether you’re in good times like we are in America or you’re at that place where Paul’s warning that difficult times are coming on the face of the Earth is becoming a reality, we are not excluded from this warning against the allure of the world. No matter what, we would be on guard, diligent, faithful, on our knees, looking to the Word of God. The Lord is asking us to be on fire for him, no matter what times we’re in, even if we’re in good seasons and everything’s peaceful. We must not allow ourselves to be compromised when things are easy so that we will not give up when things are difficult. |
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More Precious than Gold
The story of Esther is one of intense spiritual warfare. The devil was trying to destroy God’s people on earth, this time through the evil Haman. This wealthy, influential man persuaded the king of Persia to declare an edict calling for the death of every Jew under his rule, from India to Ethiopia. The first Jew in Haman’s sight was righteous Mordecai, Esther’s uncle. Haman had gallows built especially for Mordecai, but Esther intervened, calling God’s people to prayer and laying her life on the line to countermand Haman’s order. The king not only reversed the death order, but he gave Haman’s house to Esther, an estate worth millions by today’s standards (see Esther 8:1-2). Yet Haman’s mansion wasn’t the only spoil taken in this story. Scripture tells us, “The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor” (Esther 8:16, NKJV). These were the true spoils gained in battle with the enemy. Our trials not only gain us spiritual riches, but they also keep us strong, pure and under continual maintenance. As we put our trust in the Lord, he causes our trials to produce in us a faith more precious than gold. The Apostle Peter understood this well and said, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7). Jesus plundered the devil at Calvary, stripping him of all power and authority. Paul wrote to the church, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). When Christ rose victorious from the grave, he led an innumerable host of redeemed captives out of Satan’s grasp, and that blood-bought procession is still marching on. That cooperation begins when we are in the midst of conflict. Our resources are the Christlikeness we win while immersed in battle. They’re the lessons, the faith, the character we gain from warfare with the enemy. There is value in the battle. We can be confident that good will come out of it. |
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What Cannot Be Mimicked
Here on the streets of New York City, you can buy a Rolex watch for as little as 15 dollars. As every New Yorker knows, though, these watches aren’t truly Rolexes. They are simply cheap copies of the real thing. There seems to be a duplicate for just about everything today, but there is one thing that cannot be replicated, and that is true spirituality. Nothing that is truly spiritual can be copied. The Lord recognizes the work of his own hands, and he won’t accept a man-made replica of any of his divine workings. Why? Because it’s impossible for man to duplicate what is truly the work of the Holy Spirit alone. He’s constantly at work, doing something new in his people. There is no possible way for us to reproduce that work artificially. This is the big mistake of modern religion. We think if we merely impart knowledge of the scriptures and biblical principles to people, they’ll become spiritual. The fact remains, though, that no person or institution has the power to produce spirituality in someone. Only the Holy Ghost does that. Very little of the work God’s Spirit does in us can be seen. This is why truly spiritual people rarely look for outward evidence of his work. Paul says, “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NKJV). In the context of this passage, Paul is speaking of sufferings and afflictions. He said, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Those who submit to the leading of God’s Spirit, who face their afflictions confident that the Lord is producing something in them, will emerge from their crucible with strong faith. They testify that the Spirit taught them during their suffering and has been doing an inward work, renewing their spirit. In all my years of walking with the Lord, I’ve rarely seen an increase in my spirituality unless I endured hard testings and opened myself to the Holy Ghost’s working. If we submit ourselves to God’s renewing, he will produce in us a faith and spiritual strength that cannot be copied by the world. |
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A Different Type of Disciple
Paul wrote to Timothy, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:6-7, ESV). Two chapters later, Paul says “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty” (2 Timothy 3:1). The King James Bible says “perilous” even; it’s probably a stronger word. In the last days, there will be perilous times coming on the face of the earth. What does discipleship look like in times of turmoil and oppression? When Paul wrote to this young man in 2 Timothy, he was in prison and he was warning that perilous times were about to be unleashed not only around the world but in Ephesus. Paul’s prediction came true for Timothy; it wasn’t long after that that Emperor Domitian set up his capital in Ephesus, and he required that all who came to Ephesus to burn incense to him. They had to put a little bit of ash on their arm and forehead afterward to say, “I just burned incense to King Domitian.” Then they would go into the marketplace where they bought food, clothes to keep warm and coal for cooking meals for their children and families. Unless these people had sacrificed to Domitian and put the mark on their foreheads or hands, they couldn’t enter the market where all of these vital supplies for everyday living were sold. In the last days, there are going to be difficult, perilous times, and you have to stay pure. You have to stay holy, but it’s going to cost you. You can’t sacrifice your life to idols or to the lords of this world. Paul was asking Timothy to have a fearless spirit in the midst of a perilous time. He was telling him, “You are to be a different type of disciple.” “As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it…. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14, 16-17). God has promised to equip us through his Word. Once we put on a spirit not of fear but of power and once we are trained in righteousness, we will be ready to face the days of evil and oppression. |
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God’s Purposes in Overcoming Enemies
In 2 Kings, we read about the Syrian army besieging the city of Samaria. The Syrians simply camped outside the city, waiting for the Samaritans to starve. Conditions grew so desperate that women were offering their children to be boiled for food. It was sheer insanity (see 2 Kings 6:24-33).Four lepers who were living by the city gates finally said to themselves, “Why are we sitting here until we die?...Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die” (2 Kings 7:3–4, NKJV). There was such despair. They saw no way through this trial. They didn’t believe God’s word that he would save them, so they were ready to surrender themselves to their enemies. When they arrived in the Syrian camp, everything was deathly still. They searched every tent, but everyone was gone. Scripture explains, “For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army….Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives” (2 Kings 7:6–7). When the lepers realized this, they went throughout the camp eating and drinking and then they started hiding the great treasures God had provided. “Then they said to one another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us…’ So they went and called the gatekeepers of the city…” (2 Kings 7:9-10). The Lord had turned the whole situation around and had given resources to restore and refresh his people. It was an enormous victory, but it wasn’t meant to touch only a few people. These blessings were meant to be shared. Those who are the Lord’s people are promised glorious victory over the enemy, but God’s work on our behalf isn’t meant to stop with us. God wants you to know, “I am going to make you more than an overcomer. I’m working out an even greater purpose in you for my kingdom. You are intended to bring my blessings to countless people who are under the shadow of despair and death. You will bring them good news!” |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Walking Daily with God
The first book of scripture tells us of a man who should inspire our walk with God. “So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:23-24, NKJV). Our brother Enoch had no Bible, no songbook, no fellow members, no teacher, no indwelling Holy Spirit, no rent veil with access to the Holy of Holies, but he knew God! “But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). How do we know that Enoch believed God was a rewarder? Because we know that is the only faith that pleases God, and we know that Enoch pleased him. God is a remunerator, one who pays well for faithfulness. How does the Lord reward his diligent ones? There are three important rewards that come by believing God and walking with him in faith.
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Hope that Shines through Darkness
Keith Holloway Dear believers, I want to tell you today that you've got something that the sinner doesn't have, something incredibly valuable and powerful, something you must know. As a child of God, you are and have incredible blessings! Now many of you may be thinking that I’ve lost my mind because of how many troubles and trials and darkness that you’re facing. Unfortunately, some of that is the reality of life, but there is something that is equally true and, in fact, is a far surpassing truth for us. Every person whose life is hidden with God in Christ has been given undergirding power and authority of God. Now that’s a blessing! The scriptures teach that we must declare what God has promised us. There is no extremism in that statement. Remember, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Proverbs 18:21, ESV). It is part of our diving inheritance, secured by Jesus Christ. Peter wrote to the church, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5, ESV). Peter wanted the church to know that even during their troubles and trials, the darkest hour is right before the sun comes up. He wanted them to know that they had been born again to a living hope. Hope is an expectation of God's good coming to us no matter how deep the darkness. Declaring in faith the hope-filled promises of God will sustain us. We have a living hope. We've been born again into that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Bible says, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:14-16). You should greatly rejoice in the fact that you've been born again and that Jesus Christ has given you abundant mercy and imbued you with the power of God that raised Christ from the dead. He dwells with you. He dwells in you. |
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Guarding What God Has Deposited
In Paul’s letters to Timothy, he described how to identify false teachers and then charged his young protégé, “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:11-12, ESV). The hungry, seeking heart can have as much of Jesus as it wants. Don’t be satisfied. Go all out! Pursue a true life with Christ. Get more of Jesus. Fall in love with Jesus. Seek the Father in the morning and the Holy Ghost in the afternoon and Jesus at night. Spend your whole day wrapped around Jesus, being filled with him. I think that’s what Paul was calling Timothy to here. Taking hold of eternal life, the life in Christ to which we were called, means making Jesus everything in your life. Jesus is my all-in-all. Jesus is in every part of my life. Paul was saying, “Man of God, pursue that with everything in you. Let that be your passion, and those virtues of righteousness, godliness, steadfastness will be like live coals in your heart. Blow the wind of the Holy Spirit on them. Allow the Holy Spirit to breathe on you afresh once again so that fire never grows cold, the embers never fade but rather continue to burn. You put fresh firewood on that thing.” A little later, Paul used even stronger language in his commands to Timothy. He said, “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge,’ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith” (1 Timothy 6:20-21). Paul was saying that there’s responsibility in your life. It answers the question: If discipleship is totally up to God, then why are some Christians radical, full-on disciples and others are not? I would say it comes down to this issue that Paul is talking about in his letters. Are we pursuing the gifts of the Spirit, chasing more of Jesus’ presence in our lives and holding fast to our faith? Are we guarding the new life God has put into us? Let us all work to make this a YES in our lives. Love to ya all, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. |
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What Do We Know of Endurance?
To endure means “to carry through despite hardships; to suffer patiently without giving up.” In short, it means to hold on or hold out, but this word means little to the present generation. Many Christians today are quitters. They quit on their spouses, their families and their God. Peter addresses this subject by saying, “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth’; who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:19-23, NKJV). The apostle Paul similarly commands, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). Finally, the Lord himself gives us this promise: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). What is your hardship? Is your marriage in turmoil? Is your job in crisis? Do you have a conflict with a relative, a landlord or a friend who has betrayed you? We are to take hope. Just as Paul’s suffering never let up, neither did his revelation, his maturity, his deep faith and his settled peace. He said, “If I’m going to be a spiritual man — if I really want to please my Lord — then I can’t fight my circumstances. I’m going to hold on and never quit. Nothing on this earth can give me what I get from God’s Spirit every day in my trial. He’s making me a spiritual man.” Paul’s life “breathed” with the Spirit of Christ. So it is with every truly spiritual person. The Holy Ghost pours forth out of that servant’s inner being the heavenly breezes of God. This person isn’t downcast; he doesn’t murmur or complain about his lot. He may be going through the trial of his life, but he’s still smiling because he knows God is at work in him, revealing his eternal glory. AMEN |
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Faith to Withstand the Battle
Let me tell you how and where Paul produced his epistles. He wrote them in dark prison cells. He wrote them after being scourged or having survived another shipwreck. He was intimately familiar with hardship and suffering. Paul knew that all of the truth and revelation he taught came from the battlefield of faith, and he rejoiced in his afflictions for the gospel’s sake. He said, “Now I can preach with all authority to every prisoner who’s been locked up with no hope, to everybody who has ever looked death in the face. God’s Spirit is making me a tested veteran so I can speak his truth to everyone who has ears to hear.” If you’re going through hardship, God hasn’t turned you over to the power of Satan. No, he’s allowing your trial because the Holy Spirit is performing an unseen work in you. Christ’s glory is being formed in you for all eternity. You’ll never get true spirituality from someone or something else. If you’re going to taste God’s glory, it’s going to have to come to you right where you are in your present circumstances, pleasant or unpleasant. I believe one of the great secrets of Paul’s spirituality was his readiness to accept whatever condition he was in without complaining. He writes, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13, NKJV). Paul is saying, “I don’t try to protect myself from my unpleasant circumstances. I don’t beg God for relief from them. On the contrary, I embrace them. I know from my history with the Lord that he’s doing something eternal in me.” Our part in every trial is to trust God for all the power and resources we need to find contentment in the midst of our suffering. Please don’t misunderstand me. Being “content” in our trials doesn’t mean we enjoy them. It simply means we no longer try to protect ourselves from them. We are content to stay put and endure whatever is handed to us because we know our Lord is conforming us to the image of his Son. |
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Trials for a Greater Purpose
Perhaps today you are experiencing betrayal, persecution, torment in your mind, trouble with your children, the loss of someone close to your heart or some other experience that has left you with almost unspeakable pain. It has driven you to prayer where you ask, “Lord, is this really necessary? Can’t you just take it away in a moment? Why the struggle? Why the fury?” Our answer lies in the Psalmist’s poem, “He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters. He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him” (Psalm 105:17-19, NKJV). The Hebrew word for “tested” is seraph, which means “to melt metal, to refine, to purge gold or silver by fire in order to separate it from the impurities in it.” Here is what the scripture is saying: God gave Joseph a promise, but until that promise became a reality, the Word of God led Joseph to a place where he was put through the fire and purged of everything within him that was unlike the heart of God. God knew there would be a myriad of people who were going to need provision, not only Joseph’s own family but also the nation where he lived. There would be people starving and without hope. The Lord wanted to put something in Joseph’s hand that would bring deliverance to his generation, but he simply could not put this kind of treasure in the hands of an untested vessel. As you head into a season of hardship, have you ever considered that the Lord is sending you ahead as he did Joseph? His mercy is sending you ahead to prepare you so that he might put something in your hand for people who will be in need. The apostle Peter explained it this way: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7, NKJV). |
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Discipline to Finish the Race
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it — lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?” (Luke 14:28-30, NKJV). Christ knew many of his followers would not have what it took to see them through. He knew they would turn back and not finish the race. I believe this is the most tragic condition possible for a believer. They start out fully intending to lay hold of Christ, to grow into a mature disciple and become more like Jesus; then they drift away. Such a person is the one who laid a foundation and could not finish because he did not first count the cost. What a joy it is to meet those who are indeed finishing the race! These believers are growing in the wisdom and knowledge of Christ. They are being transformed daily, from moment to moment. Paul says to them encouragingly, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is not heaven these believers seek but Christ in his glory! I know that many who read this particular message are in the process of pausing or taking a step backward. It may seem like a small step, but it will cause a swift descent away from his love. If this is true of you, realize the Holy Spirit is calling you all the way back, back to repentance, self-denial and surrender. At this very moment, time is a big factor. If you ever intend to lay hold of Christ, do it now. See it through! |
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He Calls Us to Fight
We must be prepared for what is coming. We must be ready to spend our days in spiritual warfare, knowing that a flood of iniquity is aimed against the people of God. “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints’” (Jude 1:14, NKJV). Scripture says we are kings and priests unto the Lord, and we represent these tens of thousands going out to battle Satan’s army. Satan wars against us because he hates us greatly (see Revelation 12:17). If we are determined to lay hold of Christ, we need to realize that we are invincible in Christ. It is written, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). God says we are guaranteed victory over all the power of the enemy; we have all the host of heaven fighting for us. May God give us more Holy Ghost fight so that each of us can shout to the world and all the hordes of hell, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 37–39). This is the battle cry of those who hunger for Jesus. Every man or woman of God is going to become the target of hell’s evil devices once a commitment is made to become a living sacrifice for Christ. The hordes of hell will be unleashed against the one who sets his heart to walk in holiness of faith. Satan will afflict and set up roadblocks because you have become a real threat to his program of deception. You can resign the warfare, give up, quit and become a dull, fruitless wanderer. For me, I choose to resist the devil’s plot, rise up in faith and resume the fight. Satan cannot keep down one who truly trusts in the Lord. AMEN |
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Perfecting Faulty Prayers
Tim Dilena God will take a simple salvation prayer, a simple prayer for protection, a simple prayer for healing, and he will add power to it. He will go above and beyond what I ask for or could even think of. You don’t have the capacity, but the Holy Spirit in you does. All this pressure is not on you. God’s saying, “I’ve got my hand on this. I’m going to take this farther than you’ve ever gone.” It all depends on who’s hand is on you. It goes like this: A basketball in my hand is worth about 19 dollars; a basketball in LeBron’s hand is worth about 75 million dollars. A tennis racket is useless in my hand, but a tennis racket in Serena Williams’ hand is a French Open or Wimbledon. It all depends on whose hand it’s in. Two fish and five loaves in my hands are just two fish sandwiches; two fish and five loaves in Jesus’ hands will feed five thousand people. A nail in my hand may produce a house burning down, but a nail in Jesus’ hand produced salvation for the entire planet throughout all of history and the future. It just depends on whose hands it’s in. We are in God’s hands. Some of you may have said, “I don’t know how to pray.” That’s the truth. Fortunately, the pressure’s off of us. The Spirit knows how to pray. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26, ESV). How ridiculous is it to think our prayers depend on us saying the right words? There are so many dumb prayers that come out of my mouth; thank God he doesn’t answer those prayers! If God answered every prayer just like we wanted him to, life would be a train wreck. He sifts through our prayers and makes them right. That should give us confidence. Every one of us can and should pray. As you’re being led to pray, God says, “Perfect. I’ll take your flawed prayer, correct it and put power to it. I will push it beyond what you can even imagine.” Thanks be to God our Father. |
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False Prophets and Teachers False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction. Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the Way of truth. In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling you made-up stories. For a long time now their Judge has been ready, and their Destroyer has been wide awake! God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell, where they are kept chained in darkness, waiting for the Day of Judgment. God did not spare the ancient world, but brought the flood on the world of godless people; the only ones he saved were Noah, who preached righteousness, and seven other people. God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying them with fire, and made them an example of what will happen to the godless. He rescued Lot, a good man, who was distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people. That good man lived among them, and day after day he suffered agony as he saw and heard their evil actions. And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment, especially those who follow their filthy bodily lusts and despise God's authority. These false teachers are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious beings above; instead, they insult them. Even the angels, who are so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers, do not accuse them with insults in the presence of the Lord. But these people act by instinct, like wild animals born to be captured and killed; they attack with insults anything they do not understand. They will be destroyed like wild animals, and they will be paid with suffering for the suffering they have caused. Pleasure for them is to do anything in broad daylight that will satisfy their bodily appetites; they are a shame and a disgrace as they join you in your meals, all the while enjoying their deceitful ways! They want to look for nothing but the chance to commit adultery; their appetite for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into a trap. Their hearts are trained to be greedy. They are under God's curse! They have left the straight path and have lost their way; they have followed the path taken by Balaam son of Beor, who loved the money he would get for doing wrong and was rebuked for his sin. His donkey spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's insane action. These people are like dried-up springs, like clouds blown along by a storm; God has reserved a place for them in the deepest darkness. They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of destructive habits—for we are slaves of anything that has conquered us. If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in worse condition at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been much better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred command that was given them. What happened to them shows that the proverbs are true: "A dog goes back to what it has vomited" and "A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud." 2 Peter 2:1-22 (GNB) |
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Neither a Skunk nor a Turtle
Claude Houde Managing your emotions in a healthy way is continual work. We must always be learning how to not suppress or deny our emotions but also to not let them dominate or define us. In your next dispute, I encourage you to commit to keeping either of these two resolutions:
Today, this week, and throughout the year, I and my house will learn by the grace of God, to speak the truth with love. We will no longer be babies. We will no longer be skunks or turtles. We will let God help us express ourselves, forgive one another, release our dispute, seek peace with righteousness and regularity, courage and compassion, in order to grow and more closely resemble Christ. Amen! |
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How We Become Stronger
Whenever opposition arises, God’s grace thrives in us. Think about what happens to a tree when a great storm beats violently against it. The wind threatens to uproot the tree and carry it away. It breaks off branches and blows away its leaves. It loosens its roots and blows off its buds. When the storm is over, things look hopeless. Yet, look closer; the same storm that opened crevices in the earth around the trunk of the tree has helped the roots go deeper. The tree has access to new, deeper sources of nutrition and water. It has been purged of all its dead branches. The buds may be gone, but others will grow back more fully. That tree is now stronger, growing in unseen ways. Just wait till harvest because it’s going to bear much fruit. Maybe you’re in a storm right now. The wind is blowing hard, shaking you violently, and you think you’re going down. Beloved, don’t panic! You’ve got to know that in the midst of the tempest, you are putting down deep spiritual roots. God is developing in you a deepening humility, a greater mourning and sorrow for sin, a heightened hunger for his righteousness. Paul says, “Not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3, NKJV). In 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, we read, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The word ‘working’ in this verse is the same as ‘produces’ in Romans 5:3. God is making you a seasoned soldier of the cross, battle-scarred but battle-smart and courageous. You may get down on yourself at times, but the Lord never does. The fact is that he could have acted sovereignly at any time to pluck you out of your struggle, but he didn’t because he is using to produce strength and new life in us. |
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True Communion with God
Many Christians talk about intimacy with the Lord, walking with him, knowing him, having fellowship with him; but we can’t have true communion with God unless we receive into our hearts the full revelation of his love, grace and mercy. Communion with God consists of two things: 1. Receiving the love of the Father 2. Loving him in return You can spend hours each day in prayer, telling the Lord how much you love him, but that isn’t communion. If you haven’t received his love, you haven’t had communion with him. You simply can’t share intimacy with the Lord unless you’re secure in his love for you. I know when I come to my Lord, I’m not coming to a hard, fierce, demanding Father. He doesn’t wait for me with an angry countenance. He doesn’t trail me, waiting for me to fail so he can say, “I caught you!” No, I’m coming to a Father who has revealed himself to me as pure, unconditional love. He’s kind and tenderhearted, full of grace and mercy, anxious to lift all my cares and burdens. I know he’ll never turn me down when I call on him. The prophet Zephaniah says something incredible about God’s love for us. He writes, “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, NKJV). God rests in his love for his people. In Hebrew, the phrase “He will rest in his love” reads, “He shall be silent because of His love.” God is saying, in essence, “I’ve found my true love, and I’m satisfied. I don’t need to look elsewhere because I have no complaint, and I won’t take my love back. My love is a settled matter!” He cares about everything concerning me (see Psalm 100). Can you receive his word that he loved you before the world was created, before humankind existed, before you were born? Can you accept that he loved you even after you fell into Adam’s sinful ways and became an enemy to him? That’s why I come into his courts with praise and thanksgiving because I’m thankful for who my God is. |
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Loving Jesus in Return
Let me give you one of the most powerful verses in all of scripture. Proverbs give us these prophetic words of Christ: “Then I was beside him as a master craftsman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in his inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:30-31, NKJV). Beloved, we are the sons being mentioned here. From the very foundations of the earth, God foresaw a body of believers joined to his Son. Even then the Father delighted and rejoiced in these sons. Jesus testifies, “I was my Father’s delight, the joy of his being, and now all who turn to me in faith are his delight as well!” So how do we love Jesus in return? John answers, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3). What are his commandments? The gospel says, “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him [Christ] a question, testing him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘”You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’” (Matthew 22:35-40). The first and most important command is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind. We’re to hold nothing back from him. The second is that we love our neighbor as ourselves. These two simple, non-grievous commands sum up all of God’s law. Jesus is saying here that we cannot be in communion with God or walk in his glory if we bear a grudge against anyone. Therefore, loving God means loving every brother and sister in the same way we’ve been loved by the Father. |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
He Has Already Made Provision
When God calls us to any specific work, he has already made provision for everything we need to accomplish it. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8, NKJV).This verse is not just a hope; it is a promise! It begins with the words, “God is able!” God is not interested in just meeting your needs. He always wants to give you more than you need. That is what ‘abound’ means, an ever-increasing, super-abundant supply. “Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). Think of what is being promised here. When you are down and tired and don’t think you can go any farther, God is able to so invigorate you that you will have all you need in every possible situation at all times. It is as if the Lord is saying, “Listen, all you shepherds! Listen, all you who faithfully attend my house and labor in prayer, praise and intercession. I want to give you an abundance of strength, hope, joy, peace, rest, finances, encouragement and wisdom. In fact, I want you to have an overabundance of all you need.” God never intended for us to be spiritual paupers, poor in the things of the Lord. On the contrary, the mature believer is the one who enjoys a revelation of all the great provisions God has prepared for him, and he goes after this revelation by faith. Indeed, the Bible says we are to seek him for this revelation. Paul wrote, “Now we have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:12–13). I believe most Christians have not honestly faced the power of these promises of God. We’ve read them many times, but they remain as dead letters to us. We must lay hold of them and say, “Lord, reveal to me what you have prepared! Open my mind and my spirit to your resources. Your Word says I must know all these things that are freely given to me so that I can claim them for your glory!” |
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Becoming Immune to Deception
Keith Holloway A very important passage of the Bible that often confuses readers is “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’ Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?’ “And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many.’” (Matthew 24:1-5, NKJV). The center of religion, the priesthood and the law was found in that temple, and the idea that it would be destroyed was deeply disturbing to the disciples. When they asked ‘What’ and ‘When’ and ‘How,’ Jesus’ response had nothing to do with the temple or the specifics of what was coming. In our vernacular, Jesus said, “Look, first and foremost, you guys have to pay attention and prepare because such deception is going to come that many — many — who call on the name of Christ, many who are found in our religious centers, many who fill our churches will not listen nor be prepared, and they will be deceived.” Most deception starts with things that are said in contradiction to the Word of God. Many will come and say, “Follow me. I’m a pastor or prophet of God. I have the answers!” What they say will not line up with scripture, but many of us will not heed what Christ said. When deception is dealt with elsewhere in the New Testament, it’s dealt with in the church and regarding doctrine. It doesn’t take much for us to picture modern times when people have said things that led a multitude astray. The real question is “Why?” The answer is that people were not listening to Christ. How do we hear from God? Do we need to run to the mountains or attend a conference? My friends, God has already given us his Word. It’s the scriptures. We need to be men and women who don’t just read the Bible, but we ought to study and meditate on it. We don’t live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. AMEN |
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God Provides a Way of Escape
The Spirit of Christ is living in us, and the power of God is working through us even in our temptations. We know this because the Bible clearly states, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV).I love what Paul says here, that God will provide the way of escape. We live in a culture today that doesn’t want to believe that Christ is the only way of escape. Oprah has her way of escaping, and Dr. Phil can show you another way of escaping, and a certain clinic can show you their way of escaping; but the Bible doesn’t say Jesus is one of many ways of escaping. Christ clearly states, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). When God says that he will provide, is that reminiscent of any Old Testament passage you might have heard before? Do you remember the story of Abraham when he’s climbing the mountain to sacrifice Isaac? He had the faith to say, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8). God does indeed provide a sacrifice, “So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’” (Genesis 22:14). This was the same place where Solomon would build the temple of the Lord, where God provided a place for his people to meet with him. The Israelites throughout the Old Testament would try to meet with God in other places, try to find other ways to escape their troubles, but it never worked for them. When we finally say, “My sacrifice is not sufficient. My way is not the right one,” and follow God’s way, we will have his provision working in us. No man can be cleansed of sin without Jesus. No woman can live a righteous life without the imputed righteousness of Christ. You can overcome any temptation in your life right now. You can overcome it because God has provided the way. Our Savior gives us the life we need to live the kind of righteousness that the law of God calls forth. |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Good day Tarfoot, thought I would share this story of how this incredible mans' faith kept him sane and alive, when he was wrongfully imprisoned for 26 years.
He prayed and read the bible every day... Dontae Sharpe |
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When We Limit God’s Power
Scripture says of Israel, “Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power: The day when he redeemed them from the enemy” (Psalm 78:41-42, NKJV). Israel turned away from God in unbelief. Likewise, I believe we limit God today with our doubt and unbelief. I limit God most in the area of healing. I have prayed for physical healing for many, and I have seen God perform miracle after miracle. When it comes to my own body, though, I limit God. I am afraid to let him be God to me. I douse myself with medicine or run to a doctor before I ever pray for myself. I’m not saying it’s wrong to go to the doctor, but sometimes I fit the description of those who “did not seek the Lord, but the physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12). Jesus says that God does not hear our prayers and praises simply because we utter them over and over for hours at a time. It is possible to pray, fast and do righteous things and still not reach the place where we hunger to know him and begin to understand his ways. This was demonstrated during Christ’s ministry with the very people he grew up around. “When he had come to his own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary?...’ So they were offended at him. “But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.’ Now he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:54-58). We do not learn his ways in the prayer closet alone, although everyone who truly knows the Lord is very intimate with him. You cannot know God’s ways without quality time in which we let God be God to us, laying every need and request in his hands and then walking forward in faith that he will answer. |
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Finding Joy in Our Testing
When the children of Israel were going through testing, were they really supposed to express gratitude and thanksgiving in the midst of it? When they were surrounded and in a hopeless situation, did God really expect them to have a joyful reaction? Absolutely! That was the secret to getting out of their difficulty. You see, God wants something from all of us in our times of overwhelming troubles and testings. He wants us to offer him a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the midst of it all! I believe James had discovered this secret when he admonished, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3, NKJV). He was saying, “Don’t give up! Make an altar in your heart, and offer up joyous thanksgiving in the midst of your trials.” Of course, the children of Israel did offer the Lord praise and thanksgiving, but they did it on the wrong side of the Red Sea. The people rejoiced all night, but God had no pleasure in it. Anybody can shout in gratitude after the victory comes. The question God was putting to Israel was “Will you praise me before I send help, while you’re still in the midst of the battle?” I believe if Israel had rejoiced on the “trial side” of the Red Sea, they wouldn’t have had to be tested again at the waters of Marah. Had they passed the Red Sea test, the waters at Marah wouldn’t have tasted bitter but sweet. Israel would have seen water springing up everywhere in the desert, rather than having to go thirsty. God help us to sing the right song on the testing side of trials. This brings the highest delight to our heavenly Father. Are you going through a most difficult time right now? Then sing! Praise God! Say to the Lord, “You can do it. You delivered me before, you can deliver me now. I rest in joy.” |
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God’s Glory Revealed to Us
In Exodus 33, Moses didn’t know it, but God was about to bring him into a greater revelation of his glory and nature. This revelation would go far beyond friendship, far beyond intimacy. It’s a revelation God wants all his hurting people to know. The Lord told Moses he was going to show him his glory. “’I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you...’ But he said, ‘You cannot see my face; for no man shall see me, and live…. So it shall be, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.’” (Exodus 33:19-22, NKJV). The Hebrew word for glory in this passage means “my own self.” God was telling Moses, “I myself will pass by near you.” One translation says it this way: “I will hide you in a cavity of the rock, and I will defend you with the protectiveness of my power until I have passed by.” What was the great revelation that God gave to Moses about himself? What is the truth about him that we’re to sanctify in our hearts? It is this: “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7). Here was the greater revelation, the full picture of who God is. The Lord told Moses, “Come up to this rock in the morning. I’ll give you a hope that will keep you. I’ll show you my heart as you’ve never seen it before.” Christ is the full expression of that glory. Indeed, all that is in the Father is embodied in the Son, and Jesus was sent to earth to bring that glory to all of us. |
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The Lord Raises Up His People
One of God’s names in scripture is Jehovah-Nissi. It means the God who provides, who is a banner, who lifts ups, who exalts. It’s an interesting combination of meanings all together in one word. This Hebrew word nissi was used in Jewish weddings. When the bride and groom were at the wedding party, all of the guests would make the couple sit in two chairs; then they would lift the chairs up and walk around the room, carrying the bride and groom. That action of lifting up was called nissi. I think it’s a powerful picture because marriage is a kind of lifting up and great exaltation. I’ve been married 25 years, and it’s a wonderful blessing, but it’s also a test. We don’t really want God to test us; we don’t want to go through dry seasons where we feel alone and away from his presence. We don’t want to go through the test of having to move to difficult places, the test of friends hurting our hearts, the test of family difficulties, the test of financial difficulties, the tests in church or ministry. When Paul was talking about some of the tests in his life, he said, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles…danger from false brothers. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:24-26,28, ESV). Why is he saying this? What’s the point of this? Paul provides the answer in very next chapter. “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). There’s a reason for God’s tests. He tests us in the area we love most. Every test you’re going through is not God’s desire to push you back or keep you in your place; it’s God’s desire to bring you nissi, to bring you to a new place, to elevate your faith and have you worship him as the Lord who lifts us up. |
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The Father’s Willing Embrace
Have you ever had a friend or loved one say to you, out of the blue: “Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?” You may simply be quiet, deep in thought, so you answer, “No, I’m not mad. You didn’t do anything to hurt me. I’m just quiet right now.” They press you, saying, “Was it something I said?” “No, you didn’t say anything. Everything is all right.” Finally, to convince that person, you have to hug them. “Look, I love you! I’m not upset. But if you keep this up, you’re going to get me upset!” Beloved, this is often how we treat our heavenly Father. At the end of the day, we go to our secret closet and say, “Let’s see now, how did I grieve Jesus today? What did I do wrong? What did I forget to do? I’m such a mess that I don’t know how he can love me. Lord, forgive me one more time. Someday I’ll be so obedient that you’ll find it easy to love me.” God is there all the time, waiting to embrace you. He wants to show you how much he loves you, and he wants you to lie back and rest in his love. When the prodigal son came home, he was welcomed back into his father’s house. He received a new robe, ate at his father’s table and had full forgiveness. The one thing this son knew was that he was secure in his father’s love. He knew his father would bear with him, work with him, love him. That’s how our heavenly Father is with us. No matter how far we may stray from our Father, we continually have the ability to return. We must believe these words: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6, NKJV). God waits with outstretched arms to embrace all who accept his love and return to his presence. |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
We Are God’s in Life or Death
Because God loves you, he will work to cleanse you, but it is a loving chastening upon those who repent and return to him. You may feel God’s arrows in your soul because of your past and present sins, but if you have a repentant heart and want to turn from error, you can call upon his chastening love. You will not feel his wrath as the heathens do but rather the rod of his discipline, applied by his loving hand. When you know you have arrived at your lowest point, it is time to seek the Lord in brokenness, repentance and faith. When you cry out to God, he pours his strength into you. “In the day when I cried out, you answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul…. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me; you will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; do not forsake the works of your hands” (Psalm 138:3, 7–8, NKJV). One of the most difficult things for Christians to accept is the suffering of the righteous. There is an erroneous doctrine that says if you are in agreement with God, you will never suffer. It claims, “Just call out to God, and he will come running and solve everything immediately.” This is not the gospel! The heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 all had close relationships with God, and they suffered mocking, torture and violent deaths (see Hebrews 11:36–38). Paul himself, who walked closely with God, was shipwrecked, stoned, whipped, left for dead, robbed, jailed and persecuted. He suffered the loss of all things. God wants to plant something in our hearts through our trials. He wants us to be able to say, “Lord Jesus, I believe you rule over the events of my life. If anything happens to me, it’s only because you allowed it, and I trust your purpose in doing it. Help me understand the lesson you want me to learn from it. If I walk in righteousness and have your joy in my heart, my living and dying will bring glory to you. I will say, ‘Jesus, whether I live or die, I am yours!’” |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Walking as Servants in Life
I’ve been around people who want the gifts of healing and prophesy and miracles so they could be famous, so they could get invited places and get nice honorariums. It wasn’t about honoring God. It wasn’t about serving other people, their growth and edification. This is why Paul says, “Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?... There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:6, 10-12, ESV). You want spiritual gifts? Pursue and excel in those gifts that build up the church because Christ died for the church. Anyone who helps the church, God will help. Anyone who’s out to make a name for themselves…God is going to withdraw from that. He’s not sharing his glory with some other name. There is only one name that is above every other name! What do we say if we’re so proud of our denomination and we’re carrying on in church, and a visitor comes in who’s smoking weed five days a week, takes one look and says, “I’m out of here”? Is that what Christ would want? “Oh no, but we’re having church! We’re worshiping in the heavenlies.” Well, come down to earth for a little while and talk to that guy smoking weed. He needs Jesus. Whatever you do — hymns, speaking in tongues, worship, sharing the gospel, prayers, odd words and phrases — pray that God will edify people because outside of church, out in the world, they’re being attacked by a thousand demons. We forget to look at life this way because we get full of ourselves. If you’re full of the devil, that can be cast out; but if you’re full of yourself, that’s a whole different problem. What we need is to see people the way God sees them and to feel what God feels. Otherwise, we’ll be judgmental and self-righteous. When we’re tired and we feel the temptation to be short or be about ourselves, we have to pray, “Holy Spirit, come. Help me see this person like God sees them. What do you feel? Help me serve them.” |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
The New Covenant Christmas
Restoring the true meaning of Christmas goes far beyond having Christian carols or manger scenes in public places. How many of you know you can have a manger in a courthouse or carols in a mall and still have a heathen nation? Something more has to change in our nation, and it’s not just the externals but the internal.We might argue that ‘the internal’ is making sure that we remember baby Jesus in the manger. That’s certainly part of it, but I want to go one step more and say that it’s not just remembering Jesus’ birthday. Jesus isn’t in heaven, pacing back and forth, kind of worried and saying, “Man, these guys are forgetting my birthday. America used to really give me a great birthday, and now it seems so diminished.” No, Christ is not worried about that, and he’s not just wanting us to gather around a Christmas tree with our families and sing carols and remember that he was born. It goes deeper than that. He wants us to acknowledge and understand the true reason for his entire life here on earth and ultimately his sacrifice. He came to set us free from sin and to put us in a right relationship with God. All of those aspects of what he came to do and to give us is what we celebrate in a ‘New Covenant’ Christmas. In the book of Isaiah, God says, “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They…shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them” (Isaiah 49:8-10, ESV). We see in this verse God the Father saying to us that he is going to send his Son, Christ Jesus. The manger, the Bethlehem story, the Luke 1-2 story is a story not just where we celebrate a baby, but that God came into human form for the purpose of the New Covenant being unveiled to us. This Christmas season, thank God for the New Covenant. Thank God for the liberty that his Son Christ Jesus brought. Thank God for grace, freedom and deliverance. AMEN |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Christmas Carols & MUSIC
St John's Voices | A Ceremony of Carols | Benjamin Britten MERRY CHRISTMAS Everybody - SLADE |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Our Savior Still Prays for Us
I don’t think any of us can comprehend the great conflict raging right now in the spiritual realm. Nor do we realize how determined Satan is to destroy all believers who have fixed their hungering hearts firmly on Christ.In our Christian walk, the moment we cross that line into a life of obedience to God’s Word and dependence on Jesus alone, we become a threat to the kingdom of darkness and a prime target of demonic principalities and powers. The testimony of every believer who turns to the Lord with all his heart includes the sudden onslaught of strange and intense troubles. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus introduces this subject of the sifting of saints. “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31-32, NKJV). In Christ’s day, grain workers used a sieve just before they sacked grain. They shoveled wheat into a square box covered with netting then shook it violently. The grit and dirt fell through the netting until only the grain kernels remained. There are trials, and then there is sifting. I see sifting as one major, all-out satanic onslaught. It is usually compressed into a short but very intense period of time. For Peter, the sifting would only last a few days, but those days would become the most faith-shaking, shocking and remorseful days of his life. It could have destroyed his witness once and for all. Thank God, Peter’s faith did not fail. As surely as Jesus prayed that his “faith fail not,” he prays for us in the same manner. The Lord gives all of us that kind of love! In our walk with God, we have yet another ‘It is written’ with which we can do battle against Satan. It is this: “I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.” You can tell the devil, “You may have gotten permission to sift me, to try to tear at my faith; but you need to know this: My Savior is praying for me!” |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
'Tis the Season of Encouragement
December 25, 2021 During this season, we see so many people, young people especially, who have lost heart and lost hope. They don’t see any reason to go on living; they don’t see a purpose for the future, and it’s really one of the modern-day tragedies of our times. If you turn to the gospel of Luke, it talks about how God came to each one of us. Angels announced Christ’s birth to shepherds, and then “Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’” (Luke 2:13-14, NKJV). Think about this for a moment! The God who created us and the universe, who could destroy it all with a thought of his mind; but what does he do with all of his might, glory and righteousness? He comes down to earth, to a little town called Bethlehem, because he was not willing to destroy his creation. Jesus himself stated this. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Who could deliver Paul from his body of death? Who could deliver Elijah from his despair and desire to die? Sometimes we rush ahead, though; we don’t just take life day-by-day and ask for the strength to face this day. God, though, walks with those who walk with him. He gives strength and provision, and we become a new creation. We don’t become religious; we become a new person. How many of you are a different person than you were even a year ago? You’re living in the miraculous now. I know I don’t stand here by any natural ability. I know I stand by something God gave to me when I chose to walk with him. There’s no limitation to what can be done or endured when God is at the very center of our lives. This is not a season to be discouraged if you know God or even if you want to know God. This is a season of joy which no man can take from us if we entrust ourselves to Christ! That’s why the angels sang ‘Joy to the world!’ We have peace with God. AMEN |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Dethroning Our Great Idol
The church as we know it today began with repentance. When Peter preached the cross at Pentecost, thousands came to Christ. This new church was made up of one body, consisting of all races, filled with love for one another. Its corporate life was marked by evangelism, a spirit of sacrifice and even martyrdom. The wonderful beginning reflects God’s words about Israel: “I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.” The rest of that verse describes what often happens to such works. “How then have you turned before me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?” (Jeremiah 2:21, NKJV). God was saying, “I planted you right. You were mine, bearing my name and nature, but now you’ve turned degenerate.” What caused this degeneration in the church? It always has been and will continue to be idolatry. God is speaking of idolatry when he says to Jeremiah, “Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit.” (Jeremiah 2:11). Most Christian teaching today identifies an idol as anything that comes between God’s people and himself, yet that’s only a partial description of idolatry. Idolatry has to do with a much deeper heart issue. The number-one idol among God’s people isn’t adultery, pornography or alcohol. It’s a much more powerful lust. What is this idol? It’s a driving ambition for success. It even has a doctrine to justify it. A man of the world once said, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Tragically, Christians are also caught up in this pursuit. How far we have strayed from the gospel of living through dying to self, ego and worldly ambition. The idolatry of being successful describes many in God’s house today. These people are upright, morally clean, full of good works; but they’ve set up an idol of ambition in their hearts, and they can’t be shaken from it. God loves to bless his people. He wants his people to succeed in all they undertake honestly, but there is now a raging spirit in the land that is overtaking multitudes: this is the spirit of love for recognition and acquiring of things. |
Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Preparation for Your Trials
It is impossible to live a holy life without spending much time on your knees, seeking God for the power and authority to lead such a life. We see this in Daniel’s life, as well as God’s response to such a seeker. “I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes…. Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering” (Daniel 9:3, 20-21, NKJV). Don’t be mistaken; faithful praying will not keep you out of a crisis. On the contrary, it will most likely bring you to a furnace of trials, but prayer will prepare you to face it all with trust, to become a living sacrifice for Jesus’ sake. Daniel’s praying led him straight to the lions’ den, and this test came when Daniel was in his old age, after years of faithful service to his king and dedication to his God. This may frighten you, especially if you wonder how long it will be before you stop having crises. Perhaps you thought you’d learned all your “important” lessons after a certain number of years in the Lord, but here God is allowing one of his greatest prayer warriors — a man of a quiet, tender spirit — to face the crisis of his life after decades of faithful intercession! This is why Paul, in his command for believers to put on their spiritual armor, ended with “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). Beloved, the testing only ends when Jesus comes or when you die in Christ! This is why prayer is so important. You can make a commitment to live an undefiled life, but that commitment is impossible to fulfill without also having a commitment to seek God. |
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