Pastor’s Blog 11.28.18

 

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary . His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary , And the young men shall utterly fall,

31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary , They shall walk and not faint. NKJV

 

This past Sunday morning, as I was sharing about waiting on the Lord, I know the Holy Spirit was revealing this truth in a powerful way.  I could sense the anointing very strong while I was speaking and sharing on this.   It does seem we spend so much of our time serving the Lord, just waiting on Him doesn’t it? I know sometimes, I have a tendency to “help God along” as we say. This week, someone mentioned to me  something that goes along with this, and that is “ministering to the Lord” while we wait….. great idea!

 

Luke 10:38-42

38 Mary and Martha Worship and Serve Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha  welcomed Him into her house.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.

40 But Martha  was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha , Martha , you are worried and troubled about many things. 

42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”  NKJV

 

It seems we as humans, have a tendency toward getting too far one way or the other in life. I know believers that can spend their lives with Jesus and never serve a person, and others who can serve people constantly and not minister to the Lord. Like everything else we do, we need to walk in the balance of service to the Lord and service to people. The monks who became hermit cave dwellers did little to “preach the Gospel to every creature”, and the folks who run around the world to feed the poor, but barely speak the name of Jesus, are missing it too.

 

We really need to measure our lives against the pattern of God’s Son, and remember Jesus spent His time with the Father and the people He was called to lead. The truths of 1 Corinthians 13 could also be applied here.

 

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.  NKJV

 

Many times spiritual burnout occurs when we spend too much time ministering to people and not enough time with the Lord.  Time with the Lord is how we get filled back up. He is the source of our strength. We have to make the call in our lives as to when to say no to serving people and yes to more time with God, and vice versa. The longer I live the more I appreciate the word “balance”. To be successful in our walk, it truly takes both!

Until next week!

Pastor Dave

Pastor’s Blog 11.14.18

Last week I mentioned taking  the Lord’s prayer and making it personal.  I like to pray this way, “Father Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in my life, my family’s lives, our church staff, our local, state and federal governments and so on.

1 John 5:13-15 TPT

“I’ve written this letter to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you will be assured and know without a doubt that you have eternal life.

Since we have this confidence, we can also have great boldness before him, for if we present any request agreeable to his will, he will hear us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we also know that we have obtained the requests we ask of him.”

This passage has had a major effect on me over the years. What an incredible insight to understanding the way of our Father in prayer. If we ask anything agreeable to His will He hears us! The condition  for prayer to be received is that it passes the test of the will of God! We learn His will by His word.

Praying for God’s will is the most effective way we can pray. I listen to a lot of prayers that are really people telling God to do their will. It is pretty presumptuous to assume your will is His will unless your mind has been renewed and your spirit is hearing from His.

We can declare the word of God and presume it is His will when it is specific to the context in which it was given, but sometimes people pull promises out of context and try to force the hand of God to move, and He doesn’t. I always like to remind others, and myself, that many times we think He didn’t answer, when in fact, He did, and the answer was no.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” NKJV

 

After seeing the effects on a person from “getting what they want” and what it  often does to them, I understand the grace of God is sometimes at work in protecting us from the pride of life, lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye.

I pray with the Psalmist:

 

Proverbs 30:7-9

“Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die):

8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches —  Feed me with the food allotted to me;

9 Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the LORD?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.”  NKJV

AMEN!

 

Be blessed!

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

Create A product first!

Create a product first please!