Let me begin this week with a question? Do you believe you have reached your total potential?

I am guessing the answer is no.

I am guessing that like myself, you have a knowing inside that the Lord has more for you to do, more for you to see, others for you to touch, and others who have a touch for you. We need to live in a constant state of expectation, don’t we? That’s what faith is, right?

Hebrews 11:1-7 TPT

Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. This testimony of faith is what previous generations were commended for. Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God’s words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen.

Faith moved Abel to choose a more acceptable sacrifice to offer God than his brother Cain, and God declared him righteous because of his offering of faith. By his faith, Abel still speaks instruction to us today, even though he is long dead.

Faith lifted Enoch from this life and he was taken up into heaven! He never had to experience death; he just disappeared from this world because God promoted him. For before he was translated to the heavenly realm his life had become a pleasure to God.

And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith knowing that he is real and that he rewards the faith of those who give all their passion and strength into seeking him.

Faith opened Noah’s heart to receive revelation and warnings from God about what was coming, even things that had never been seen. But he stepped out in reverent obedience to God and built an ark that would save him and his family. By his faith the world was condemned, but Noah received God’s gift of righteousness that comes by believing.

I wanted to use a different translation to stimulate our thinking about how we get to there from here. If something isn’t practical, then we are not profited by it are we? Many times you may wonder how do I make faith practical?

1. Faith brings our hopes into reality. Your car takes you to church doesn’t it? It is the vehicle necessary to bring you from one place to another. Likewise, your faith is the vehicle God uses to bring the manifestation from the invisible realm to the visible. So practically, we need to believe and begin to confess that we have what we long for.

2. Faith becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we hope for. If you are going to build a house, the first step before anything else happens is the foundation must be laid. The key to a strong foundation is it can’t be impacted or moved by weather. The key to strong faith is it can’t be moved by circumstances that seem contrary to it. I know how hard that can be. The hardest time to believe you are healed is when you’re sick right? The hardest time to believe you prosperous is when you don’t have enough to do what you need to do right?

3. Faith becomes the evidence required- think about that a moment… We need a way to believe what we cannot see, and faith is that way. I have no problem exercising my faith for salvation (daily) against the fear of death, the grave and hell. I am able to cope with death because I believe Jesus has saved me. What evidence do I have of that right now? Faith in the promise. So,in the same manner, we need to stand on the evidence of faith to deal with all our adversities in life. We give God something to work with when we believe, but there is usually a time lapse between believing and seeing! (Isn’t there??)

4. Faith empowers us to see the unseen. Faith is a real power, I live in it every day and in some areas of life I have a strong faith, and in other areas it seems circumstances have a louder voice. This is where I have to grow and develop.

Let’s continue to press into the promises and take hold of the promised blessings! Will anything be different tomorrow if we don’t do anything different from today?

Pastor Dave

• Date - January 16, 2019
• Author - David Chisholm

2 Timothy 1:6-8 TPT:
“I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you. For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control. So never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be embarrassed over my imprisonment, but overcome every evil by the revelation of the power of God!”

There is a mindset in some believers that puts all responsibility for spiritual realities on God. I for one, have learned over a lifetime of working with the Holy Spirit, that His gifts and endowments are working in response to our faith and works in love. When we move in faith, He will move in us; likewise, if I take no step of faith He will do little through me. The church is not supposed to be the weekend sports arena where you come to “watch the stars perform”, there has been too much spectating and too little participating in the church as a whole.

I have had so many people say to me over the years, “well if God wanted me to have something, He would just give it to me.” He probably does and He probably did. I have a gift of prophesy, but I can just not do it and the gift will go dormant. I have to stir up my gifts just like you do. I had to stir my gift to write this blog right now. God didn’t take control of my faculties and computer and do this, I had to stir it up! Until I purposed to write this today and actually begin, I didn’t have a thing to say!

It’s simple really. I sat down and prayed for a few minutes at my desk and asked for inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Then I began to hear in my inner being, “Stir up the gifts within the body”. So I pulled up the scripture and started a monologue with you, “which is a dialogue with the gift inside me”, to teach the practical way to stir up your gifts!

Tonight we will be teaching and practicing this in the service, so if you can’t be in service, watch online.

Hebrews 10:23-25
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. NKJV

To be spiritual isn’t always that mystical, it’s really very practical. Many times we miss the spiritual looking for the mystical. A word of knowledge isn’t mystical, neither is a word of wisdom. It’s practical, it’s spiritual insight for practical application. Learning to hear the voice of God is more than just experiencing open visions and visits from angels and the like. It’s learning when that inner knowing is the voice of God or not and that comes from knowing His ways. As we study the history of God’s ways, we then have something with which to judge what we are hearing.

I judge all I hear by God’s word and ways. He has given us His will by His word and we judge all by that word. Here is the scriptural principle for what I am saying:

2 Peter 1:19-21
19 And we have the prophetic word [made] firmer still. You will do well to pay close attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dismal (squalid and dark) place, until the day breaks through [the gloom] and the Morning Star rises ( comes into being) in your hearts.
20[Yet] first [you must] understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of any personal or private or special interpretation (loosening, solving).
21 For no prophecy ever originated because some man willed it [to do so — it never came by human impulse], but men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit. AMP

The KJV says, “We have a more sure word of prophecy”. We test all voices by the voice of the word of God and nothing should be in conflict with the Bible we have. Even the word must be taken in context with the original intent of the writer.

2 Timothy 2:15-19
15 Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
16 But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.
17 And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18 Who have missed the mark and swerved from the truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some.
19 But the firm foundation of (laid by) God stands, sure and unshaken, bearing this seal (inscription): The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names [himself by] the name of the Lord give up all iniquity and stand aloof from it. [Numbers 16:5; Isaiah 26:13.] AMP

Remember, everything in our lives as a believer goes by the pattern of the word of God!
Be blessed!

• Date - January 9, 2019
• Author - David Chisholm

This past Sunday Morning I was teaching on “Living from your new heart”. There are so many New Year’s resolutions that are focused around the physical body, I think we need some that focus on the really important part of our being – our spirit or our heart. Don’t get me wrong it is important to deal with our natural health, however, we don’t need to forsake one for the other.

Most January diets and gym memberships are really an answer to the indulgence of food from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. I am no exception to this for sure. It has been said that “a diet is a temporary interruption in a glutenous lifestyle”. LOL How sad but true! I am always drawn to the fact that the first three letters of the word diet are die! Interestingly enough, we have to die to some things to live to others. So I do encourage some lifestyle changes for the better when it comes to your health, but that is not my focus today!

What about your heart (spirit)? 2018 may have had some serious letdowns for you, or maybe you just let down on your spiritual disciplines a bit. The word revival means in its purest form, “to cause to breathe again”. I liken it to CPR, or jumping a dead car battery. In one sense, the life of a Christian could be categorized in one of two realities… experiencing the presence or not. Many believers never press through to the point of experiencing the presence of God, they just live in the principles, and look to experiencing God after they die. I for one do not want to live like that.

Tonight, I am starting a new series in our mid-week services entitled, “The power of the Presence”. I want to focus on reviving the presence in our daily lives and walk with God. I know for me personally, and for others, I am convinced that we all will serve the Lord with a greater zeal when we have experiences in His presence.

This past Sunday we looked at Psalm 51 as steps or a process to renewed presence….Confess, cleanse and consecrate. I am expecting more of God’s presence, how about you?

What are the benefits of the presence?

Rest:

Exodus 33:14-15
14 And He said,”My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then he said to Him,”If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. NKJV

Deliverance, Prosperity and Peace:

Deuteronomy 4:37-38
37 And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence , with His mighty power, 38 driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. NKJV

Fullness of Joy :

Psalm 16:11
11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. NKJV

There are actually too many to list!

Like the Psalmist said, let’s bless the Lord and not forget all His benefits and it starts with His presence!

Blessings,

• Date - January 2, 2019
• Author - David Chisholm