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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Obedience…Must I?

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When it comes to expanding our horizons with God, we mostly feel uncomfortable. We as humans are of a settling nature. It made me realize that not everyone is compelled to be an explorer or the person who draws out the maps of the earth. Everyone is called to do different things in different ways but all (SHOULD) have one connector: the Love of Christ.

If you have been going to a church for a while and are wondering why God does not move in people the same, it is definitely for a multitude of reasons. Do not blame yourself for growth you are unable to see at the time of your obedience; it simply means that people only grow at the rate that they allow God to flow in their lives. Some love God so much that correction is welcome and grow quickly, while others reject it and are not able to enjoy God the way they could.

I have had to learn something quickly along the way, and that is that you must get used to people saying no before you can enjoy them saying yes. You need to first come to the acceptance of your obedience and realize that it is of worth regardless of response! Your obedience is to God, and what flows from you is God to people! How that happens is the wonderful and unique way  that God has called you to present it.

Stay encouraged in obedience! Do not let one rough go of it get you down. The price paid by Jesus for your ministry to be performed was worth far more than giving up on the attitudes of others! Fight the enemy through your obedience!

Love Is The Root

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THE WORD

1 Corinthians 13:4-7  – Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The passage above is one of my more favorite messages of Paul’s ministry. I realize that when it comes to what he stood for, Paul was a person that was probably rejected all the time; for it was not just in what he believed but how he battled for the equality of man through the love of God. It makes me consider why people are giving Christians bad attitudes: is it us or the gospel? People never knew you before you started letting the word of God lead you. I am sure you may have been well liked and highly favored among people.

Now? As we carry the word of God in us and deliver it to the lost rejection is abundant. We are not liked as we once were, and can now understand what it means to be persecuted for the gospels sake. Bees do not like it when you stir the hive, and people especially do not like feeling uncomfortable hearing the word of God! For those of you who fit into this example, read on with me! Paul said you could speak in the tongues of men and angels, have prophetic words, and know all the mysteries of the word. Most of us have an amazing talent, but need to work on what was addressed next; for he said without love it brings no profit for the kingdom of Heaven! If you let your obedience always be done in Godly love, rejection and persecution will be endured!

PUT INTO PRACTICE

Think about the top 10 people or things that you are praying for. Are they in relevance to personal blessings? Are the prayers only for those you love and not your enemies? Do you withhold prayers for people just because they upset you? Paul’s teaching was groundbreaking because it took religion out of the gifts and callings of God. Through the love of Christ we must learn to love, serve and forgive everyone equally. If you serve God without love you will be leading a very empty spiritual life. Learn to do all things with love, and with this kind of effort God moves mountains and leads us through the dark valleys!

Keep Your Head Up

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Today I am very thankful to the Lord above for everything that he is performing in my life. I am thankful for the great works in the lives of those that I see around me. At times the enemy would want all of us to feel discouraged and without a use or a place in this world.

I speak a word of encouragement to everyone to remind you that no matter how much rejection and persecution you face, that the rewards will far outweigh the costs of a few hindrances! Keep your head up and do not faint from the pressure!

Learn to simply endure where you are and God will eventually allow you to move from circumstances that are not promoting the best of a situation that promotes God’s will! Greener pastures will be ahead, joy will be ahead, and a more fruitful life is coming!

We speak it in faith to you in the name of Jesus Christ! Be blessed this day!

A Prayer Request

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I would like to thank everyone for their continual support in the work and ministry that God has performed through us over the past few months. The radio ministry has grown leaps and bounds. The online ministry has expanded far greater than we ever thought. The CD distribution ministry came out of nowhere to shock us too! It has been such a blessing, and we feel like that we have grown so much and have learned so many lessons along the way. I am speaking for just me, but I know that I could say that for everyone involved in the ministry of Heart of Grace.

As we start to seek God and prepare for the next chapter in the ministry, I ask for your prayers. Help us pray that God would send us where we need to be, and to be sent places where we can be of help. I for one am so excited, and I cannot wait to see what God has in store! Keep us in prayer!

Out Of The Abundance Of The Heart

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THE WORD

Matthew 12:34-35 – O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

When I consider my everyday worship to God it is easy for me to see the great things that begin to come forth from my spirit as I do it. You will find people who dwell in the love of God to be friendly, open and forgiving. In short, the attributes you will display in your personal life come from what is living within your spirit. It is easy to agree and feel that God lives in your heart, right? If you know that God is in there then doubt cannot ever overcome again! However, there will come a point where just having the knowledge of it in your heart may not be enough to keep you in more difficult times. I see people each and every day that know God in their heart but have little or no abundance. Their joy could be far above what they possess but because they think they survive by what they have in knowledge it causes decline in their spirit. I encourage you to start living in your potential abundance. That abundance is when you push past all the times you feel bad, all the times you do not want to worship, and especially all the times that we could say that we feel lazy or idle.

We read in the word of God in Luke 6:45 that we essentially bring out of us whatever lives within us. If God is in your life then the result of what is in your heart will flow out of you. Worship will become natural to you and there will not be a battle or debate about it! Do not let others around you that would try to choke out your spirit life succeed in doing so. Step out for God and do not look back. Fulfill your vision and do not be moved in the will of God for your life! Clap your hands, raise them, jump up and down, shout, teach, preach, exhort, prophesy, intervene, go the extra mile! Move and worship as God lead!

PUT INTO PRACTICE

After a stressful day you experience I encourage you to examine what came forth from your spirit to help or hurt you. If you examine with honesty you will find room for change!

Looking At The Watch? Time For A Test Of Patience!

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We can often compare our prayers to God sometimes like a person waiting on another standing there looking at their watch. They are impatiently waiting upon that person to do their part so they can do nothing and be satisfied. Does that speak to you?

Sometimes I could categorize prayers in the past times in my life to be complaint prayers, piety prayers, confusion prayers; the list goes on and on. I know more than anyone about having to stand and wait upon the Lord. In times when your back is against the wall, it’s hard to pray from the depths of your heart and truly mean “Lord I’m waiting and trusting in You that You are going to perform Your perfect will in this situation”.

When we begin to get in these situations, I have found that I can refresh my patience with my testimonies. Sure, I am waiting on God for 500 things. However, God has blessed me millions of times. Millions! More than I could ever say in a lifetime. If I wrote a post every minute for the rest of my life of the good things, I could not accomplish getting out every good thing God has done. I have to remind myself that “If God has helped me before, He’ll do it again”.

If God has performed His will before in your life, God will do it again. Continually seek God for peace and do not let impatience rule steal your joy. Do not let your situations steal away your prayer life. Let your prayers be led by faith, and let your walk with God and your witness to others be driven by the glory that will be revealed in you.

A final word of encouragement this day (you could even say it out loud): I have been blessed by God before, I am blessed by God now, and I will continue to be blessed by God in my future!

The Inner Well

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The Well – close and local in its refreshment

Isaiah 12:1-6

[1] And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
[2] Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
[3] Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
[4] And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
[5] Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
[6] Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

We draw our Joy of life when we draw from the living waters of the spirit through our obedience and praise! If we have any willpower and desire whatsoever, we have to remember to push with all that we have, for God is always worthy through what we receive and through our salvation that we received through Jesus Christ! We can continually draw from our prior experiences, but how your spiritual waters are refreshed as you create new experiences by trusting God for new things and seeing them come through faith!

The Brook – for the one who is lost (as a pilgrim) and intermittent in its flow

Psalms 110:7

[7] He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

We can come to the brook to be lifted up, encouraged, and strengthened when we are weak! You can always draw from the brook! I found myself once as a pilgrim and a stranger that came to the river without understanding of the spirit of God. Now that I know, I know that it is something that will NEVER run dry and something that I can always draw from and as God pours into me equips me to be able to give to others!

The Inward Well – of spiritual experience

John 4:7-15

[7] There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
[8] (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
[9] Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
[10] Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
[11] The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
[12] Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
[13] Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
[14] But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
[15] The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Everlasting life, salvation, the waters of the spirit are always freely available and ready for you! There are many things that always come with a cost, but all of the previously listed qualities are there for whosoever will that would be willing to come! That excites me! I’m glad that the way was made for each and every one of us!

The Inward Well – becomes a flowing river of blessings (after the baptism of the Holy Spirit)

John 7:36-39

[36] What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
[37] In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
[38] He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
[39] (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

This reiterates what was spoken to the woman at the well. And as we apply it to us in the day that we live in, we have to remember to distinguish the difference between the inward and outward well. Leaning on the outward well (our flesh) is a formula for failure. Putting our faith and trust on the inward well (the spiritual person) is the only thing that will hold strong in times when we are required to endure through trials and temptations!

The River – Gives life wherever it flows

Ezekiel 47:9

[9] Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

Wherever there are obedient vessels and boldness to be what God wants us to be, there is life and abundance of life. As we see churches in our modern day, obedience is becoming frowned upon and discouraged. We need to come back to the place where we have churches that welcome free obedience, and to take the time to allow people to participate in free worship to Christ. This way was not made just for us to try and close it back up! Do not allow forms, fashions and traditions stand in the way of the living waters of the spirit of God!

The River – Unaffected by time or season

Zechariah 14:8-9

[8] And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
[9] And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

The waters of the spirit are always freely available and are always in season! There should not be a non-spiritual service. It’s always there! We often wait on this and that, but the rivers are continual, and are always ready for those that will draw. If you could ever see now more than ever we need to be more than just existing; we need to be living from the waters of God!

The River – Never runs out, it is inexhaustible

Revelation 7:16-17

[16] They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
[17] For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

We draw from something here on earth that keeps us in peace! We do not hunger or thirst for the world any longer!

The River – It will make you fruitful

Revelation 22:1,2,17

[1] And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
[2] In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

[17] And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

We can become free and we can be fruitful in this life! We can draw from the waters of Christ and Christ will flow out of the depths of us!

The Power Of Life And Death

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THE WORD

Proverbs 18:21 – Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

We know through the classic passage in the bible that there is the power of life and death within our tongues. If you have gone to church any time in your life, I am sure that you have heard a message related to this subject. It was probably delivered in the context that we need to watch what we say about others, watch our words, etc. Let us discuss!

First off, we know that the passage begins with our tongue because it is one of the first outlets that our thoughts can begin to become amplified. If I am not happy about something and want to take it out on someone else, then I can use my voice to cut down someone else simply from my thoughts coming forth through my voice. We know this example, but as we know enhancements of mediums (Facebook, Twitter, Texting, etc.) to communicate have brought this to a whole new level.

The reason I talk about this is now is that our voices are becoming one of the lesser mediums used. There is more trouble caused from the outing of our thoughts through the internet because we have not learned to control ourselves and to understand just how far those words travel. As the leaders and believers of Christ we must choose to use the power of life, especially in the new avenues personal expression! A person’s thoughts and words are expressed in greatest effect by their actions. How you carry yourself and let others see you lead your walk with God makes or breaks the witness you display. Sometimes it could be very easy for me to step out and do something irrational through my words and actions, but I know it would not solve anything for anyone (not even me)! Learn to perform your actions that it promotes the power of life in yourself and those around you! Choose life!

PUT INTO PRACTICE

Take a single day to make a list and write something positive for every negative thing you say or write about someone or something. You may be surprised how much you hear or read from yourself without realizing the amount of times that it happens! Try it!

Feeling Frustrated? Find The Peace Of God!

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THE WORD

Philippians 4:7 – And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

It is an unfortunate truth to accept but we all have learned through experience that it is impossible to avoid all the situations that will bring out the worst in us. Sometimes we will want to get upset because of the circumstance when trying to understand why it happened. Other times we get upset with ourselves because we could have made a better decision and yet chose differently. I think about when Jesus was out on the boat with the disciples. They all began to panic greatly and fear was present. I can imagine hearing “I cannot believe we came out here in this weather” or “we came out all this way for this?!?” There will be countless times where it will be hard to find clarity about the why or what of an event. We become frustrated, angry with life, and needing answers from our state of panic.

And as we read on the disciples went to rouse Jesus out of His slumber but only to hear Him speak to the storm, “Peace, be still” That stirs my heart and soul to not only recognize the power of the peace of God, but the awesome power of God. To be able to speak to the tempests of our lives and have dominion over it all is so amazing. It is wonderful to know that through our faith as we believe we can overcome the raging seas by speaking peace over our circumstances! Find the peace of God in your life today!

PUT INTO PRACTICE

To fully understand the peace of God you must allow it to be fulfilled in your life. This is done best in prayer. For practice I encourage you to take the issue that you are dealing with and enter into surrender by starting out your prayer with the following:

“God, you see this situation in my life. I accept that I may not understand the plan behind that which I am suffering. I put my trust in your will for my life and pray that peace will help me to get through everything that attempts to rise within my human nature. Help me to forgive those who have harmed me and to release bitterness that has come from my confusion. I will obey your holy word and make my best efforts to be a loving example.”

Send A Message: We Miss You

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I want to write a message today that reaches out to many that might think that they are so often missed. This one is for you.

There have been many times in my life where I was looking for others to encourage me and it was not there. Either I was looking for advice or some kind of positive outreach to give me that breath of life that lets you know you still exist. I couldn’t tell you how many times, especially in the earlier years of my youth, that I longed to feel like there was someone that was truly there. No matter how old you are today, people continually still want to fill this void in their life; and over time we find some way to occupy it with persons, objects, or by some kind of abstract thinking to just “get us by”.

The fact of the matter is that people are living in depression each and every day and are finding better ways to mask what they feel inside. People long to feel like they have someone that loves them, cares about them. We as Christians DO know of something that we could give unto others that could help them begin to live, but yet, we get weary from fears and worries of rejection. I once had these same struggles, and believe me, living in this for too long will lead you down the wrong road.

So let me get real and stress this clearly and with joy! I’m glad people were not afraid to lead me to a better life. I’m glad I got out of the lifestyle that I was living in. I’m glad that I finally found happiness. I’m glad that I finally got saved through Jesus Christ! I’m glad that I got filled with His spirit to the greatest abundance! I feel like I can finally see the light in the midst of all the darkness that we live in! Praise God! I’m free today!

I want to remind us all to reach out to people that are in need to say that we miss them being at church, miss them being in our lives, and that when they are in need that there is a solution, Jesus Christ!