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Prayer

Where Do You Find Yourself In Meditation To God?

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With life increasing its pace and decreasing the amount of time we have to accomplish all of our goals, there has never been a more dramatic attempt to work tirelessly to meet every expectation. And as we all know, finding this sort of situation for all of us is pretty easy to find: falling asleep at your laptop close to midnight pushing a deadline, hearing the alarm go off and getting up when you know you only slept a couple hours, continuing to perform hard labor even though you are in dire straits of pain, etc. These sorts of visual descriptions should indicate the extremes that you can find yourself in most of the time.

My question for you to think about today: Where Do You Find Yourself In Meditation To God?

My answer? I heard a person a while back preach about finding a secret place early in the day, so I thought I would try it out and dedicate more time for God. The Results? For my own personal life today, one of the few moments I have now to be in silence and open up my mind for God is when I am driving to work in the morning. It is truly a perfect setting for me; for it’s early and light is just breaking on the day. I have no distractions and have not had the weight of an entire day attempting to hinder me. For me there is definitely something special about seeking God early.

The word of God makes reference to being separate and stealing away to a secret place (aka like a closet) to accomplish 2 goals: producing a calming environment for your mind and creating a place where you will not be pulled by temptation or distraction. These factors create an opportunity for you to not only be comfortable in prayer but to present a chance to hear God without all the noise of life!

So where do you find yourself? Where is a place you have dedicated to steal away?

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

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Philippians 4:4-9

[4] Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
[5] Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
[6] Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
[7] And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
[8] Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
[9] Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

For this part I would like to break down key verses into points:

Verse 4

This verse is directing towards having thankfulness for anything. Another good way to say that is to be thankful and satisfied with all of the good things that come in our lives.

Verse 6

The verse here calls for us to be the devoted Christians that we know we can be and to have prayerfulness for anything!

Verse 7

This has two important key pieces to note:

1)    A sense of carefulness for anything

and

2)    Knowing in great depth the peace of God

The good way to think about this would be to have a mindset that is less worrisome over everything. This will allow the peace of God to do its wonderful work.

Verse 9

Reading this should let us know that as we are ready to give ourselves to God that His presence pours out upon ours! How do we know? By the experiences and lessons that we learn over the course of our lives!

The Word Of The Hour Is: Press On My Friends, Press On

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I send a word of encouragement and power to our everyday readers and new visitors today: Press on!

Press on when others are telling you just to “hang on”. It is easy to just grab your seat on the ride of life and just coast, but God wants you to propel into forward motion! Coasting eventually comes to a halt when you reach the hills, right? When it becomes tough around you is when God is looking for you to be propelled by His presence!

Press on when others would discourage you. One of the greatest blessings that I have personally experienced in my entire life was when I could not have felt more alone. In the poor state that I was in I had no vision of holding on, let alone pressing forward. I was just trying to “exist”. However, the sweetest move of the spirit of God came for me and let me know just how real the word that we read about the promise of the comforter is. Now? Whether I am discouraged, rejected, or even to the magnitude of persecuted I NEVER have to fall that low ever again. I can stand confident in the comfort in the spirit of God!

Press on in your obedience. If I could emphasize one act more than the rest, I would say that this emphasis needs to be on prayer. We simply are not praying enough (none of us). There might be a few of you out there that are on the Daniel plan (3 times a day), and I commend you for it! But I hope that we know that it is not so much in the number as much as it is what you pour out and dedicate during the times that you do. Remember this: 5 minutes of heartfelt humble surrender to God goes so much further than 2 hours of requests for “stuff”.

Most of all, press on for the mark. There is a place that God wants us to aim for. It is a place that in more depths of study reveals the perfect love of God within us. It shows the like-mindedness of Christ within our thoughts. It shows through our acts the charity that came out on its own that no one had to beg out of you. It’s a mark that once someone strives for that others begin to be drawn by. In other words, press on to put down our doubts and fears that lead us not to believe in the living spirit of God within us! Live and let live the word of God within you!

Uh Oh, The Excuse Cookie Jar Just Ran Out Of Cookies….What Now?

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I like to visualize things to food as much as possible because…well I like food of course. It is easy for me to relate things to something I like or understand, as it is for anyone right? For now, I would like to visualize our ‘cookie jar’ and relate the contents of this jar to excuses….good ol’ excuses. You know what I am talking about right? We all probably have had a jar heaped full of cookies full of sweet excuses like “I am too tired”, “I am not good enough”, or even my personal favorite “they do not like me so I do not have to”. We’ll consume all of them (as we tend to do with good cookies) until we get so slothful and junked up on it that we are not active about anything and every excuse that we have consume becomes what we are.

I have read in the bible time and time again about the conversation that was being made about what defiled us. When you defile something you are saying that you are polluting or spoiling it. So when we put this all together it is pretty easy to realize: living in our excuses every day and consuming them as how we are expected to live will spoil and pollute the very life source that is supposed to be so much more than that. As we know, doctors, nutritionists, and even my wife tells me to consume things that promote life unto me! Put this with the word of God! The word of God is life unto you! And as I hear through God in service and prayer so often that bread of life when consumed is life and promotes life everlasting!

So the moral of the day is this: get out of the cookie jar, stop making excuses about your walk with God and get busy with all you have and all you know! It is your life and God is life unto you! Be a willing obedient vessel and see your life begin to flourish! Trust me, it WILL come!

Attention: Now Accepting Applications For Spiritual Leaders

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I first would like to clarify in a very silly way that this is in no way directed towards Heart of Grace Ministries actually taking applications. I am writing this today for what I feel God is leading me to give some direction on about spiritual leadership.

When it comes to the everyday hometown spiritual leaders, most of them have put in many wonderful years of service. The examples of people that I have had the privilege to meet and know has blessed me and helped me beyond words I could explain today. The part that alarms me is that how we are starting to not match up or miss with the word of God. All through the times you read in the scriptures the anointing and wisdom of the older generations was written and passed down, purposed for the up and coming seed that was growing to be the new leaders after them. There were multiple cases of this you can study to, and how the ministries and works only multiplied!

Today I am striving with all that is within me to be a spiritual leader and to use what had been passed down to me. I cannot say that when I received all of the wisdom that I saw myself as ‘ready’, but God sure did! Even at a younger age God has already given me a work and a purpose. If I were to waiver or give up on this purpose, I would not only be hindering the work God had intended for me but the works that were passed down to me!

So as God leads you each and every day, learn to take in each and every good work and wisdom from your elders. Give respect and honor and understand their purpose to better help you find yours! God is surely looking for those of us in the current generation to begin to rise as the new and next leaders of God! How do we apply? Prayer and continual seeking before Him! Finding your calling is the easy part (just like your dream job), but sticking with it with dedicated passion and purpose will prove you as a leader to others and a follower of Christ!

Repenting To God: Outdated And Replaced? No Way!

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If there was anything that I could ever be sure of that I know, it is to recognize God’s voice when it begins to speak into my life. There are going to be so many moments when it will speak words of encouragement when we are down. And as I am sure that when the time calls for it that we are all so thankful for the moments that God comes through. The moments that I want to talk about today though are the ones that seem to be the times that we sweep under the rug, never talk about, or stay in denial over. So go ahead and brace yourself for it, because here comes our old friend reality, which says: there are also other moments when God will direct us to repent or turn from what it is that is trying to pull us away from God.

I know this seems silly when you read me writing this, but consider the illustration of praise and worship. Praise and worship is assuming we are in a place of thankfulness and are able to get past everything in our heart and are light enough to be in a spirit of praise, right? In church services you can get millions to operate in praise and worship because we are sometimes praising God for things to come, right? The funny thing to me as a minister is when it comes to the art of repenting and being humble that you seldom find roughly 1-5 percent of your participants willing to do praise and worship AND be driven to repent.

What is up with that? It has been observed from my point of view that lately repenting to God has become somewhat unnecessary and outdated. Friends, asking God for the forgiveness of the mistakes you made is not only in style but necessary for the keeping of your mind and life each and every day! Please do not misplace this with the ideal that we can just replace asking forgiveness with just only being thankful. We must remember to have moments where we are humbled and acknowledge that we are human and that God is God! Stay in style and sanctify yourself through prayer today!

Helping To Heal And Healing To Help

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I come in a very open point of view with the word I share today. I have been in prayer as of late and my heart has come to a word of encouragement for each one who is so wonderful to read this. When it comes to the discussion of healing for your life it can oftentimes be confusing as to how we should begin to allow God to let change come into motion. For example, I know when I have a head-cold and could probably see a quicker move if I changed my behavior to reduce my chances of it coming around again. Yet without any reaction or change to know is better direction for healing in my life, I prolong a sickness that could otherwise be moved quicker.

God is looking for us to be more proactive to react and change when we hear the word of the Lord to help heal each and every one of our troubles and trials. If I learned to not just be a hearer but a diligent doer of it then I am reducing the likelihood of the same thing occurring again of the same magnitude. This could be a test of patience, anger, moving you from depression, helping you through finances, etc. that list could go on forever. My point to you is that the healing of the Lord is for way more than just our bodies! It is for our minds as well!

So remember this: using the healing that God performs in you to allow you to be changed once and forever. After your wonderful change, use that experience as part of your witness to draw others! That is how others can begin to be drawn for their own change and the beginnings of that brand new life in Christ!

What To Do When You Do Not Know What To Do

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If there is one feeling that everyone knows more than any other, it would definitely be related to being confused or unsure right before the next choice or decision (especially the bigger ones that involve more than just yourself). The anxiety alone can almost feel just as bad if not worse than the decision or even the consequences if a decision went wrong. You see, worry and uncertainty are both directly related to fear as they are types of fear when applied to certain situations. I have to win this battle before and even sometimes when the times are hard; for me or anyone to say otherwise is misleading.

So what do we do?

Well, the first thing to do is run to God with the fully established trust in your heart. God is the only presence in my life that has not let me down! The second thing is to use that established trust to lay down as much as (if not all) of the “I do not know what to do” anxiety. You must begin to pick up faith as God builds it up within you, otherwise you will be stuck in step two with the ability to know God can do it but do not trust God to! And finally, the last couple of steps is to follow through on the spiritual guidance and leadership that God will direct you in. It is also important to receive instructions for change as well! Sometimes we miss the increase because we are not willing to decrease.

I know this does not apply to EVERY situation, but it can help with a lot of the issues that we can prevent and learn to overcome before they ever begin! Trust God greater! I believe in you!

The Spiritual Experience

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I remember when I was growing up and how I used to daydream of being a spectacular musician. There were so many long days and nights of practicing and learning that I never thought that I would be able to play anything at all! After such a long time (or at least it seemed like it anyway) there began to be a steady progression and I learned to love the overall experience of working on myself to be better at music. It is still something that I have to work on each day and without the effort I would eventually be in lack or without the proficiency to play like I could.

With that said, I also remember the day the spirit of God entered into my life. I never thought my life was going to get better from where I was, but after getting saved I began to follow what the spirit would lead me to do. These sorts of things could be a thought to yourself in the moment or an audible voice when you least expect it, leading you down a path of righteousness. I assure you the only time that God is leading is when it is right and fair and in love for your neighbor.

Learn to allow God’s spirit to lead and guide you each and every day. There is something to be said about the spiritual experience, especially when we do not have it. It is your lifeline for leadership and knowledge in applying what you need to do and how to abide in the rest of God when you have no solution. In order for it to be fluent, keep in practice and work in it every day through prayer and close humble devotion to God. It is well worth the practice to succeed at life!

Learning To Adjust To Adversity With God As Your Guide

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One of lifes unpredictable pieces represents the part of it that changes it the most: the people around you. This is something that with each and every one of us at some point I’m sure have tried to fight or change the opinions or perspectives of, but never succeed. As you are reading this, please consider your own life as well as to how much you are able to adjust to others.

When I walk in the wilderness or mountains, there are so many different objects that you can interact with in many ways and with all senses. By comparison you can find unique things and people that differ all around you. I have walked through the mountains and seen some people admire the beauty of the rocks while others would throw them. I have seen others take plants as something special while others step on over it without even knowing what it is. In essence we are the same way with the way that we become preferable to some and not others. That’s how you can classify why it is easier or harder to love; for in a lot of the cases it is within how we perceive them to direct our feelings. I have also seen people destroy trees and smash rocks to try and fit them for other purposes as well. Even if you alter the original state of an object, it still does not negate from the fact that it was an object before it was changed, right? So what are we getting at today?

There are going to be plenty of people out there that you attempt to reach out to that may be totally different than what you are used to (or even prefer!), but that does not mean that God does not love them the same nor that the opportunity for salvation and deliverance isn’t just as free. We as children of God must learn to love all of God’s creation and learn to appreciate and love one another. With that said, doing this is a huge adjustment but not impossible!

Trust God to help you stay adjusted to have a love for all and and charity for those in need. Never forget that you are God’s creation regardless of all of life’s adjustments. Hang in there and cling to the promises of God today!