Pastor’s Blog 11.6.18
Mark 11:20-26 TPT
In the morning, they passed by the fig tree that Jesus spoke to and it was completely withered from the roots up. Peter remembered and said to him, “Teacher, look! That’s the fig tree you cursed. It’s now all shriveled up and dead.”
Jesus replied, “Let the faith of God be in you! Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
How is it that in the Body of Christ we seem so easily defeated in the area of bold consistent prayer? I find a clue in the book of James:
James 4:1-6 TPT
What is the cause of your conflicts and quarrels with each other? Doesn’t the battle begin inside of you as you fight to have your own way and fulfill your own desires? You jealously want what others have so you begin to see yourself as better than others. You scheme with envy and harm others to selfishly obtain what you crave—that’s why you quarrel and fight. And all the time you don’t obtain what you want because you won’t ask God for it! And if you ask, you won’t receive it for you’re asking with corrupt motives, seeking only to fulfill your own selfish desires. You have become spiritual adulterers who are having an affair, an unholy relationship with the world. Don’t you know that flirting with the world’s values places you at odds with God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy!
Does the Scripture mean nothing to you that says, “The Spirit that God breathed into our hearts is a jealous Lover who intensely desires to have more and more of us”?
But he continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says,
God resists you when you are proud
but continually pours out grace when you are humble.”
I began testing my prayer motives years ago. Many believers pray prayers that are as carnal as the lives they live. The most powerful prayer we can pray is “Father your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” The Lord’s prayer really gives us the framework of praying the will of God. I like to pray the Lord’s prayer as an outline that I fill in the subplots to. His prayer is the plot, my life is the subplot. It’s how I make it personal without violating the will of God or praying from a selfish motive.
When I pray “Your will be done,” I pray for the Lord’s will to be done in my life, family and ministry. I pray for His will to be done in those I am influencing or are influencing me. I pray His will be done in our Church, local, state, and Federal Governments. The list can be infinite and I encourage you to be listening to the Holy Spirit’s promptings as you pray. I will also pray in the spirit or pray in tongues to intercede for the unknown things. The Lord has sanctioned us to be His heart cry from the earth for the earth.
Our prayer life now is actually developing and maturing us to rule and reign with Him for Eternity! Your prayers are as powerful or weak as you believe them to be! The Lord gave us a blank check to write on Heaven’s account and we fill in the amount by our faith!
As I was preaching this past Wednesday night, I said “don’t let the time of earth interfere with your faith.” God operates from eternity and is working things out for us according to His will and divine purpose. Keep praying, keep believing, keep confessing and keep receiving! Don’t quit and don’t grow weary in well doing! You will reap if you don’t faint! The longer I live the more I experience the longevity of faith and the more patient I become with events and people. So pray and wait on the Lord!
Be Blessed – til next time!
Pastor Dave
- Date - November 6, 2018
- Author - David Chisholm
