Progression of Prayer

Matthew 6:5-13 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

In verse 6 it says, “when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father… “This is speaking of the secret place. You can be in public and enter the secret place. But to enter that secret place in public you’re going to have to develop it privately. In other words, when you develop this in your life, you’ll be able to close your eyes in any atmosphere and you can go to that place with Him and you can get things from Him. It is not just going to fall on you, you have to develop it. The rest of this verse says, “pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”  In other words, it will be obvious to you and everyone around you that God is in your life. “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”  The heathen mentioned here is more or less begging because they repeat the same prayers over and over hoping that God will hear them and do something. That is not the kind of God we serve. We ask, we receive. We seek, we find. We knock, it is opened. We have a good Father! “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”  You better know that His eye is watchful. He knows everything about you and your life. He knows what you need before you even pray. If God knows what you need before you ask, why do you have to pray? One of the reasons is because God can do nothing in the earth unless someone asks Him. 

In verse 11, “Give us this day our daily bread.” You have to know how to get your daily bread. You lift your hands to heaven and ask God to give you your bread for the day!  He knows what you need! Ask Him to give you all that you need for the day. He knows everything you’ll face before you face it.  When you have your bread, you’ll have everything you need to face that day. It’s like in the morning before you go to work, you eat! It sustains you to do what you need to do. It gives you the strength to do your day! The spiritual side is the same way. You must have your DAILY bread. You’re going to face things each day that you don’t have answers for. If you don’t have it, you must at least know where to go get it!  Go to God! He’s the one with the bread you need. 

We live in a different day! Everything is busy and extravagant. We spend our days running to and from in a hurry. People get caught up in the going and coming and do not still ourselves to spend time with God. It becomes a way of life and you don’t even recognize it. It is not hard to get caught up in hobbies, culture, or duties, it does not make you a bad person. But we must recognize where we truly are and get honest with our selves. The devil knows what works with you. He will send things to you to distract you. He steals your life by stealing your time. Time is the most valuable thing you have. You can’t replace it, you can’t control it, and you only have so much of it. You must plan and order your life, or he will do it for you. You’ll look around and a year will be gone, and nothing has really changed in your life. 

God designed prayer in a way that it would work. People don’t pray because they don’t think it works. If you really believed that you could go to God and receive, no one could stop you from asking. Nothing could stop you from going. But prayer seems to be one of the most difficult things for people. This is because of the culture, the times we are in. People are so busy! And you have all the things that minister to the mind/soul of man. If you knew how to pray and would pray, nothing could stop you. There’s nothing you can’t come out of. There is nothing in your life, or your family’s life that can’t be changed through prayer.  When you get this developed and established in your own life, you will step over into another facet of it where you start genuinely caring about other people and start bringing them to the throne of God, that is where things really start to expand.  When you lift someone else up to the throne, and put yourself and your own problems aside, God gets involved in that in a bigger way because it is so selfless. Jesus said “Greater love has no man than this, that He would lay down His life for His friends.” Without a prayer life you will never know God nor have the ability to live the Christian life. The Christian life is an impossibility without God. You have to have him to help you live that life. How God works in your life is through prayer. That is how He designed it. It is SO vital that you establish your daily prayer time. 

There is a protocol when you are approaching our Father God. A prerequisite. Jesus is not teaching how to pray so to speak. He is teaching what has to be working in your life before you go to pray. The way you pray and what you pray is important, but if you don’t have this, it wont work. There is a prerequisite! There is a proper way to approach God and things you must have working in your life before He will even listen and answer the prayer. Jesus is teaching us HOW to pray! 

There is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When you got born again after God the Son sacrificed His life for you, you were turned over to God the Holy Spirit. From that moment, the Holy Spirit is personally in charge of taking you and developing/maturing you into a person that He can present to God the Son. The ultimate goal is to get into the presence of God the Father and present your petition or prayer. What we don’t realize when we bypass the Holy Ghost and Jesus, lots of times, things don’t work. The Holy Ghost is going to carve you and deal with things in your life. He is going to work down inside your broken-down character and the person that you are. In the Word, this is called sanctification. He will set you apart from the worldly system so that He can present you to God the Son. He wants to present you as Holy and blameless.  His job is to conform you to the image of Christ. He is God! He can do it! But he has a problem. You! He can’t do it unless you cooperate. All things are possible with God! It is the Holy spirit who prepares you for going in to see the Lord Jesus. And it is the Lord Jesus who prepares you to take you into the presence of the Father. It is a progressive thing! It’s not something you can rush. There is a proper attitude and respect that you must bring to God. 

When you have spent some time thanking and praying to/in the Holy Spirit, you will know when you are ready to go to the Lord Jesus. Ask him, “Help me offer my soul in worship to my King.” Then you will spend time with the Lord Jesus thanking Him for dying for you! He left heaven, humbled Himself, and came to earth. For us! He became guilty before God for us. He had to pay the penalty for that. He went to hell in our place. He didn’t just suffer on the cross and mistreatment, He suffered in Hell for three days. We have no idea what He went through. He did it so that you and I can be free from anything that Satan brought in through death. When you begin to see some of that, when you get in the presence of the Lord Jesus you stay there a while and you cannot help yourself but to be thankful. These are things you must have working in your life. Everything He did, He did so that we can be free. And if you will worship Him, you can get free from anything and everything. Then, you’ll know you are ready for the Father. See the progression? 

When you get in to be with The Father, you forget all those things you wanted because He is in there. You’ll start taking on things that money cannot buy. The world nor any person can give you! It gets in you in such a way that nobody can hurt you no matter what they do. When you get in there, you just breathe a need and it is met. Faith is easy in His presence. 

You have to take time with each person of the Godhead. This is what Jesus is trying to teach us in this passage. You have to get through the veil of the flesh. He does not want to be spending time with you and your mind is off somewhere else! He wants ALL of you! It takes time and consistency to discipline your mind! But, when you do, it is an easy process! It is a good thing that we have a Helper! The Holy Spirit! He is with you all the time! Take time to develop this relationship! He will bring you supernatural strength! What if the supernatural was natural in your life? 

People are in the mess they are in because they won’t worship. It is why we are created, and it is why we are breathing air! When you taste the presence of God, you won’t be able to get enough. 

Insecurities

February 3, 2021

Wednesday PM

Mrs. Lisa Roberts

Everyone on earth has insecurities. No one likes to talk about it. The root of insecurities is fear. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of vulnerability. We all have a calling in the kingdom of God. Are you letting your insecurities keep you from what you are called to do? Have you accepted your insecurities as truths and are you letting that hold you back?  God likes to gently push us out of our comfort zone and into the trust zone. 

The enemy uses people and circumstances to plant insecurities when we are young. The root is always fear. If he can get a stronghold in you that makes you so insecure about who you are, you will not step out and try to become who God wants you to be. That insecurity will hold you for your whole life! We have to recognize where our security comes from. 

Insecurities do not just affect our relationship with God. It affects our relationships with each other! It is so important how we see ourselves. That is the filter that we run everything through. We all let this inner voice talk to us about who we are, and it is mostly lies telling us what we cannot do. When we were born again, we received a new nature. His DNA is inside of us. He knows who we really are. There is nothing bad, or warped, or weak that comes out of Him. Because He is not any of those things. He couldn’t make you anything except a very beautiful portion of who He is. And when He looks at us, He can see our new nature. We see each other and look on the outer man. God looks on the inside. The enemy knows that if he can get us to believe these lies about ourselves that we will never really become who God designed us to be. A lot of people need deliverance! If those lies are thought on long enough, they can become a demonic stronghold. 

Besides our relationship with God, our insecurities affect our relationships with others. God’s love is supposed to shine through us on to each other. We are designed to be loved and to give love.  When we get bound up with our insecurities it really affects our ability to fellowship and relate with others. And how you deal with that can affect everything about your life. Because we didn’t get rooted in our insecurities overnight, you don’t get rid of them overnight either. 

Psalm 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!

God wants us to dwell together in unity. Insecurities stop this from happening. Unity means there’s agreement, or common ground. Insecurities is meant to cut that flow off. If he can stop the flow of love, he can stop the work that God is trying to do among us. Insecurities cause people to build walls around them. It directly affects how we relate/interact with each other. We build these walls and stop the anointing. God can flow through unity! It makes it pleasant for everyone! If we get what we need, and get our security from God, those walls begin to fall. 

2 It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.

This is a sacred oil. It is holy. It is only to be used to anoint. God designed strict punishment for any man who tried to replicate this recipe. It is representative of the Holy spirit. He is the one that anoints. The picture is of Aaron being anointed with this oil and it dripping off of his beard and down his garments even to the floor. For this to happen, it had to be more than just a little dab of oil. It was poured out on him lavishly. This is how the Holy Spirit wants to flow! He wants to pour Himself out on the whole body of Christ until it soaks in. If you think about oil, one of the things it does is soaks in what it touches. It becomes a part of whatever it touches. If you get oil on the fabric of your clothes, it makes a stain forever! It is permanently marked. If you put it on leather, it will mark the leather! You can tell where it has been and where it hasn’t been. This is a picture of the Holy Spirit that when He flows through us the way He was designed to, He marks a life in such a way that it is never the same! It washes away the insecurities and the things that have hindered the forward moving of the plan of God for your life! The holy spirit is not something you should contain. He flows, moves and works. If a person puts up  a wall and they are hiding in their little box of insecurities, the Holy spirit is very contained! Shallow relationships contain the Holy spirit! He can only flow so much if there are walls up. The only reason for walls is because of insecurities.

3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.

When dew comes in the morning, it is on everything outside. It is on the grass, the vehicle, the leaves. It is not particular about where it comes, it will cover everything. If you get outside in the dew, you’re going to be wet. That dew will soak into you. If you get out and walk in the yard, that will begin to soak your socks and shoes and even up your pant leg. This is another picture of the Holy spirit. When we live and walk and work with Him, He will soak into our lives and help us deal with these insecurities that keep Him from flowing like He wants to flow. The Holy Spirit wants us to know how secure you are so that we can flow to each other. There are things in others that you will never have unless they share them with you. And vice versa! There are things that you bring to the body of Christ that no one else can bring. Only you! But if you sit back in silence, convinced that you don’t have a part and you don’t really fit, the rest of us will never get to partake in your particular anointing.  You have an anointing that is to be shared. It is vital. God didn’t give you a lesser part than anyone else. He gave us all a measure that is for you and then for you to give away.  The most wonderful thing about the Holy Spirit is that when you give away, He gives you more. It is an endless supply. Notice in verse 3 where it  says, “…For THERE the Lord commanded the blessing- Life forevermore.” The “there” that He is speaking of is where we are all dwelling together in unity and flowing with each other in our relationships. Where there is trust and commitment and the insecurities have faded away. 

We were all designed to be loved. We were created because God wanted a family that He could lavish His love upon. We are designed to be a recipient of the love of God. A lot of people walk through life and don’t feel that love and it creates even more insecurities. But, God has given us anointed words to help us. To make us feel secure. As a whole, we need to know who we are, what belongs to us, and how loved we are! You don’t just decide to not have insecurities any more. We need help from The Father. He can help you change the way you see yourself! 

Ephesians 1:1-4  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love

In the first verse, Paul is letting us know who he is. He is secure in who he is. Paul knew that he was chosen specifically for this purpose and it made him secure. He is secure in what he is about to say and he is secure in the message. He don’t beat around the bush. He tells plainly that he is a special messenger from God and he is ready to share it. God wants to help us!

“Grace be to you…” This is the first thing he says. Here is the Almighty God that wants to have a relationship with you, and the first thing He says is, “Grace be to you.” Favor is coming from Me towards you. Grace means the unmerited favor of God. It is grace that you could not ever deserve. Grace is everything God is. It is Him coming towards you. He says it because He wants you to feel secure. “… and peace.” Insecurities take our peace! He is saying, if you have a faithful relationship with me, I will give you My grace and peace. He wants us to feel so secure in our relationship with Him that we are willing to let the walls down and let the insecurities go. If you believe it you can have it! You cannot spend much time with Him before He starts trying to give Himself to you! It shows up looking like favor! It starts looking like peace! It will show up in your daily life! These are things that money cannot buy! Everything we get from God, He gave to us through Christ. He is the center and the anointed one.  

God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. The way you receive it is by thanking Him for it! Say it out loud! The process is taking place as you say it and as you fellowship with Him! God cherishes the fact that you believe it enough to say it back to Him! He knows that when you get to the place where it becomes who you are, those spiritual blessings are going to flood your life. He is waiting for you to get to the place where you can believe it! That’s all that is stopping it. Bowing your life before Him and worshiping Him for the things He has already done in your life is what will change you on the inside! 

In verse four, Paul explains that we are chosen. If you truly believe that, how could you still be insecure? If you are still dealing with it, you have not yet let that verse sink in and become who you are. He chose you! Before you even existed! Before anything or anyone existed! He chose you. The amplified says it like this: He picked you out and chose you to belong to Him. He wants you! You belong to Him! Worship Him over that! It will make you feel secure! It ministers to you when you worship Him because He chose you. When you are doing that, your words are anointed, the time and fellowship is also anointed! He will deal with your insecurities in that time of fellowship with Him! He is so gentle about it too! He knows the best way! 

When you start blaming other people for where you are in life, the anointing can’t help you! Bad things happen to all of us. It is not about what happens to you. It is about how you deal with what happens to you. You can dwell on it, or you can forgive and be secure in your identity in God! 

The Father

Luke 11:1-13  And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The disciples wanted to know how Jesus got results when He prayed. When we pray, we should see things with our eyes, the results of our prayers. If there are no results, you aren’t making the connection. You have to rid yourself of thinking it may not be the Fathers will.  Put that completely out of your mind and life. The Fathers will is His word. The Fathers will is every sick person be healed. Every person who is bound in any fashion, be set completely free.  Because He sent Jesus to the cross, and Jesus bore those things.  The word salvation is total deliverance. Spirit, soul, and body. “If it be thy will” is false! It will hinder your prayer life. The enemy will minister to you and your mind and tell you it is not His will. That is a lie!  The disciples were saying, “teach us to talk to God like you do!” That’s what prayer is! It is talking to God! Your success in life will be determined by your prayer life! God can’t do anything in your life until you pray! He followed you around since the day you were born waiting for you to pray and ask Him to come into your life! And when you prayed, it gave Him entrance! 

Will you choose to live your life selfishly? That’s human nature. You have to make a conscious decision that you are not going to live selfishly. God can and will help you change in that area! Then you can truly live. Jesus was an example of this. He lived the most selfless life that has ever been lived. Nothing that Jesus did while He was on earth was for Himself.  What compelled Jesus to do everything He did was the love of The Father! It was His Fathers will to do those things, and out of His love for His Father, He did them. He knew what it would do to the heart of the Father. That’s the ultimate goal. 

Notice in verse 2, Jesus says, “when you pray, say….” Unspoken prayer requests do not work! You can’t pray if you don’t say!  You won’t get results without using your tongue! 

“Our Father” He is not just your Father; He is Father to all of us! He is the source of all living! Your breathing right now, because of the heart of the Father! He wanted a family. 

We have to have the Holy Ghost to help us understand all that Jesus was saying in this passage. 

In verse 2 Jesus says, “hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. “He was saying, who You are and what You want is far more important, than who I am and anything I could ever want.  Because God is holy! You keep Him in His proper place! He is our Father and what He wants is better for you than ANYTHING you can come up with on your own. If you know this, it is easy to pray the prayer. If you know that, it’s easy to give up your will. We don’t know it because we don’t want to give up our own will. If we knew Him, we would know better. 

The small example from verses 5-8 is a picture of a dear friend giving you what you need because you put them on the spot. How much more would a Father want to do for their child? His very nature is to give! 

Prayer was God’s idea; His design. He designed it so that when you pray you get an answer. Not hit or miss prayers. We are to see results, every time! His word says that EVERYONE who asks, receives. You have to settle this is your life! God does not answer prayers because of who you are, He answers because of who He is.  Any father will do anything in the world for their children.  

To get the results that Jesus got, you have to get to know the Father better than you do now! There are people out there who don’t know how to get to God. They have need. Why do you think He used the example of 3 loaves of bread? Because if they’ve got a need, spirit, soul, or body, God wants to meet all the need. If they need physical healing, God wants to deliver that bread. If they need emotional healing, God want that to be healed. Whatever you need, spirit, soul, or body, God has the bread for it. 

Too often we are standing outside the house (like in verses 5-8) asking God for bread. We know He’s got it, but question whether He will give it or not? See you are standing outside, when you should be inside! You should be in there with the rest of His children. You are one of His kids! When you were born again, it was planned. You were conceived in love. God already had every second of your life planned out. That’s the kind of God he is. We have to see Him as He is! He is not like your natural father. Many times, our natural father fails to show us the true love of a father. It makes it hard for us to trust our true Father. God loves you! He would stop the whole world, FOR YOU! God put His nature and life inside of you. You have the capacity to love and know Him! Know this, if you ask, He will do it. If you seek, you’ll find. If you knock, it’ll be opened.  It’s not hit or miss, it is guaranteed! Read it in YOUR Bible! Stop standing on the outside asking God to send it your way! Go in to the Father and get it! Whatever you need! He yearns to do it! How are you going to get to know Him, if you aren’t interested in getting intimate with Him? Not in a sensual way, but in a vulnerable way. God’s love can change anything about you.  You can please God, and you can displease God. His acceptance is not His approval.  He accepts you because you’re His, that don’t mean He approves of your behavior. But, when your behavior is wrong, He don’t love you any less. His love was maxed out at the cross! He cannot love you any more, or any less, than He does right now. We have to get to know Him as He is! If you’ll approach Him with whatever problem you have, He wants to meet with you and help you! He will do whatever He has to do to rescue you! You can go right in to His presence, any time you want to, for any reason. You can seek Him whenever you want! Because He is your Father! You know you are growing when you go in to His presence and its not something for you, You are asking for bread for someone else.

“Give us day by day our daily bread.” Have you gone in to get your bread today? If you haven’t, you don’t have any for you, and you sure don’t have any for others! Go in the house where He is at and get what you need. He will give you anything you need, and enough for anyone that comes around you! Anything, spirit, soul, or body. You’ve got the bread, because you went in and got it! You can do nothing without Him. You won’t get the bread just because you are born again, you get it because you go into the house with the Father, DAILY, and you get it. All the trouble in your life is self-caused. You need God! We all do! 

“I prepared a table for you in the presence of your enemies.”  He knows what the devil has planned for you, days and months ahead of time. And He has prepared everything you need for that time in your life when you get there. If you’ll learn to come in and eat every day, when you leave the house, whatever the devil comes at you with, you have what you need to deal with it.  He has already prepared the table. He will not take it out to you and stick it down your neck. You must meet Him at the table and eat. If you don’t eat, it is because of you, not anyone else. God wants a relationship with you! He wants you to know Him, and how He really is.  He wants you to know how much He loves you and how much He wants to stop any pain or suffering.  This is the God we serve. He knows everything, sees everything and can do anything.  

When you get consistent about going to get your daily bread, you will start to feel invincible.  You will feel free. He doesn’t bring this feeling to you just for you, but so that you can help other people too. We have friends that need bread. We have family that need bread. When you get on the inside, face to face, you will find what you ask, seek, and knock for. You’ll walk out with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the bread! When you walk out, the bread you’re carrying is the Holy Ghost! He takes the authority of your spirit and anoints it with His dominion. Then, you speak, and He does it. But He can’t do it if you don’t speak.  God yearns to end all suffering and undo the works of Satan. He wants to restore better than it ever was before. He has the ability to do it! You want the results that Jesus got, you have to fix your perspective of the Father. 

Perilous Times Ahead

2 Chronicles 20:20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

Believe IN the Lord your God. You don’t believe IN his prophets, but you do believe them. HIS prophets. There are many “prophets” in our present day. A prophet is a spokesperson. They speak on behalf of another. There are prophets of the world, and there are God’s prophets. You will end up believing whoever you listen to the most.  Believe firmly in the Lord and you will have success. Believe in His prophets and everything will be alright.  It is highly important who you are connected to. It is a matter of life and death! 

The church is the only entity that has any authority over the powers of darkness. Our fight is not with flesh + blood. He is only in control to the degree that His people are in control. He can’t do anything until we do!

Matthew 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

The word of God says that perilous times are on their way. Even more so than we have already experienced. But it does not have to be that way for God’s people. Believe in the Lord your God, and what HIS prophets tell you. Exceeding fierce times may be in the earth. Do not fear! God is covering us, if we are connected to Him. We are going to fight some battles in the natural. We NEED the wisdom of God. We walk by faith and not by sight! We don’t live by the words of media, we live by the word of God! 

1 John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

It is important how you live! We are to be in this world, not of this world. Present your body as a living sacrifice. May your life be Holy! Keep yourself and the wicked one will not touch you. Jesus sets you are free from it all! 

People in the world are going to do what people in the world do.  When you see these people in our government doing wildly stupid things, it is because they are under the power of the devil! We are not to look down on them. If God can turn things around for you, He can turn things around for them too. 

Tribulation vs. peace

1 - 6 - 2021

Wednesday PM

John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. 

 God = Peace         World = Tribulation

 Tribulation – pressure, oppression, stress, anguish, adversity, affliction, crushing, distress.

When tribulation is happening around you, you will find peace in God, and only God. There are no neutral positions. You are either in or out. Light or darkness. Heaven or Hell. Life is short and the choices you make affect your eternity. You have this choice to make every single day. 

Mark 1:35 Now in the morning having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. 

Why early in the morning? BECAUSE IT IS PRIORITY! 

We are all built for connection. We are all hooked up to something whether we realize it or not.  Whatever you are connected to is what is clothing/ covering you. If God is not covering you, you will seek to cover yourself. And we always seek that covering in the world system. Connecting to the world system only pushes you further away from God’s covering!  The devil is all about disconnecting you from what you NEED to be connected to. When you wake up and the first thing you do is grab your phone and start scrolling social media or email, etc. your soul becomes engaged. It becomes active. Then you’ll start thinking about your day and planning your day, and God is nowhere in your mind. When you wake up early and connect with God FIRST, He will clothe and cover you so that when you face your day, you are the over comer!  If you do it the other way around, it will take much longer! Don’t engage your soul before you engage your spirit! The highest importance in your life is your engagement and connection with God!Hook up with Him every single morning and let Him feed you! 

God connects to us Spirit to spirit. The only way the enemy can get to you is through the soul. The devil is fighting to engage your soul before you can engage your spirit with God! This is why it is important to connect with God FIRST THING IN THE MORNING! 

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

It is easy to love God with your spirit. It is another thing to love God with all your soul + mind. God does not want just one part of you. He wants ALL of you! He is a jealous God and He will tolerate no rivals! 

Deuteronomy 4:4-7 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.5 “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. 6 Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’7 “For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? 

If you want God to be near you, you must draw near to Him! Discipline your mind to draw near. Your soul has most likely controlled you for your whole life. It is like an unruly child that needs to be disciplined!  He has redeemed us spirit, soul, and body! You can control your mind, It only takes development. 

Deuteronomy 4:7-9 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

“ Keep your soul diligently!” The war is in the mind. 

Ecclesiastes 10:5-7  There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler:6 Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

This is backwards! Servants are not to ride the horses. That is reserved for the prince! Here is the picture: your body is the horse. Your soul/mind is the servant. Your spirit is the prince. Your spirit is supposed to be the one on the throne of your life, calling the shots and making the decisions. Because your spirit is hooked up to the Almighty God, the correct paths will be chosen.

When your soul reaches submission, you will experience something that MOST human beings never do. It is supernatural! 

John 15:5  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Why would He clarify that He is the “true” vine? Because there are many other vines that you can connect your life to.  The world system is a false vine. And any vine will feed you the life that is in it. You plug in to the world system, and you will be filled with tribulation, anxieties, fears, doubts. He is showing us that He is the Genuine Vine and He wants to feed us His life. We only need to plug in to Him and let Him! He will feed you peace, joy, wisdom, answers, love, or whatever you need! Turn on the tv and watch the news, they will feed you with fear, negativity and worry! See the comparison? If you want to bring forth much fruit, plug in to the True Vine. You can’t have that supernatural peace that passes human understanding without God. It’s available to all of us! 

THE commandment

December 27, 2020

Matthew 22:34-40  But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Mark 12:28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is thefirst commandment of all?”29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Exodus 19:10-11  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 

Exodus 19:16-17 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 

Exodus 20:1-17 And God spoke all these words, saying:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

God made it clear to them that He was the one who brought them out of Egypt. Out of darkness into the light. He didn’t want anyone else before Him.  An idol is what you make it. Many things can be made an idol in your life.  Every time we come to church; it is to meet with God. He is a jealous God! He will tolerate no rivals! Worship is a big deal in the heart and mind of God. When you put other things before Him, He does not like it! This is serious business. Take your daily time and bow down to God. Thank Him for the air your breathe and for giving you life! You never have to go to hell! We have enough to worship Him for every day for the rest of our life! The worst day in the kingdom of God is better than the best day in the world! We have a lot to be thankful for! 

The first 4 commandments have to do with your relationship with God. The rest have to do with your relationship with others. 

We have the capacity to love God like He love us, and to love others like He loves them! All we need to do is grow and develop in that love. We shouldn’t have to be told to love and forgive! We should WANT to!  God put His love in us to shine that same love on other people! There is no situation or person who is out of reach from God’s love! Love is always the best way, because love never fails!

1-   Phileo – friendly love

2-   Storge – parental love

3-   Eros – intimate/erotic love

4-   Agape - God’s love – originates in heaven 

The first three types of love are a human love. It is selfish. They don’t appear selfish until they don’t get their way. Agape is love in action. It does not tell you it loves you. It shows you through action!

What would our world look like if it operated under this agape type of love? What about your home? Your church? Everyone who has been born again has the capacity to love like this, you only have to develop it. 

Deuteronomy 6:1-5    “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you— ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’4 “Hear, O Israel:The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

How longyou live Is determined howyou live. In the 10 commandments you see the very nature of God. He has never and will never mistreat a human being. God promised His people the promise land of Canaan. 

Egypt – never enough

Wilderness – just enough

Promise land – more than enough

God wanted to bring the people into abundance! If you have love settled and reinforced in your life, Deuteronomy 28 will be automatic! If you will get this one thing right, everything else will fall into place.  If your prayer time is lacking, you do not love God with all your, heart, soul, and mind. Your whole life is about who and what you love! Make it about the almighty God! 

Sunday PM

Part 2

Jeremiah 17:9-10“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.

When it comes to your heart, God judges on your actions, not words. Your heart will lie to you! Any person left to themselves will self-destruct. That is the heart. God wants to take us into the promise land. But He won’t if He knows it will destroy you. Prosperity will not destroy you if your heart is with God! The whole book of Deuteronomy is about loving Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. If this is solid and God is kept at the top of priorities, the promise land won’t destroy you! 

Deuteronomy 8:1-2 “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 

When we refuse to allow God to process us, we have to stay in the wilderness longer. God needed the people to establish their love for God so that the promised land would not destroy them. Deuteronomy says to love God over and over! He was calling out to them for 40 years! He knew what was in their hearts! He tried to purge the rebellion, unbelief, carnality, and murmuring! 

Deuteronomy 8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

This must forever burn in our hearts. We cannot live without the daily bread of His word. 

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. 

Who are you listening to? Who are you watching? What are you feeding your soul? Who’s voice do you value above all others? If you want to be blessed, it is your choice! Choose God and blessing will be served!

Overcomer's use their authority

December 20, 2020

Sunday AM

Mark 1:21-25  Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 

Notice how Jesus reacted. He did not ask any questions or become critical of the man. Too often we have not gotten to the root of our problems. We get wrapped up in the natural, the people, the circumstances. That is not the real issue. Deal with the CAUSE of the problem. Jesus went straight to the root! 

Ephesians 4:27 nor give place to the devil. 

This verse implies that the responsibility lies on us. The devil cannot take place in your life unless you let him. Most of the time he gets in through ignorance. The cure for ignorance is knowledge. Light vs. Darkness, Light is understanding and knowledge. Darkness is ignorance. The devil works in darkness. He likes to work so that you don’t know it is him. He gets in through your mind. That’s why it is important what you watch, listen to, and read. Light dispels darkness. When you have knowledge of how the enemy works, you have the advantage. The picture is this: water dripping upon a rock. The constant dripping will eventually make an impression and divide the rock. The enemy works the same way. He is persistent with lies and thoughts feeding into your mind in hopes that eventually an impression will be made. 

Acts 10:38  how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 

Sickness and disease are oppression of the devil. We have authority given to us from God Himself. Too many times, we deal with the symptoms and not the root of the problem! Deal with the devil first before anything else!

Jesus didn’t pray to God to do something about the devil. He knew He had the authority! He rebuked! Praying to God to do something about the devil is a waste of time! God has already defeated him! Take your stand in your God given authority and rebuke the devil. He is only defeated in your life to the degree that you take that place in authority and defeat him. If you don’t, you will stay under that oppression. You have a choice and you do not have to live with it! When you sense the least bit of oppression, deal with it.  Don’t put it off! If your thinking isn’t right, your believing won’t be right. And if your believing isn’t right, your speaking won’t be right and therefore your life won’t be right. The bible teaches to have a mind that is stayed on Him! It all starts in the mind. You must learn to control your mind. 

 1-   Authority

2-   Power

3-   Command

Authority and power do not work unless you exercise it! When you know you have the authority, you won’t fear the enemy anymore. God’s power WILL back up your authority! Jesus is our example. Anything He did, you can do as well. Know your God given right! His power is His ability!

Mark 16:14-18 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those whobelieve: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Believers:

1-   Cast out demons

2-   Speak in tongues

3-   Take authority over serpents

4-   Lay hands on the sick, and they recover

We have authority, exercise it! God will back you up. Control your thoughts! Use your words! Expose the lies! Combat thoughts with words, not thoughts! 

Personal Relationship with God

December 13, 2020

Sunday services

Exodus 33:1-3 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consumeyou on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

What do you do when knowledge is not enough? There is a difference in having knowledge of God and actually knowing Him for yourself. 

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Pain is weakness leaving the body. Just as physical exercise is painful, but produces results. Praying in the Holy Spirit is a spiritual exercise that gives you strength. God needs a people who know who they are and what belongs to them. For your knowledge of God to work, you have to know Him for yourself! God wants us to know Him! He wants to make Himself known to you! God wants a personal relationship with you! To have that you have to slow down and spend time with Him! We are busier than we should be in this present reality.  Right now, in your life, you have what you want. You have the level of relationship with God that you want. He wants more! A lot more! An unchanging God will always be making change in us. His motive in that, is this: He changes us, so that He can give us more of Himself! He only wants to add to your life! Anything He asks us to do, and anything He asks us to give up, is only to bring more of Himself into our lives! 

If the people want God, He will come! Everyone says they want God. But your words do not prove that! Not many people will do the things that prove they want God. Set apart your time with Him every morning!! You cannot spend time with the Almighty God, and not come out a changed person! Life is better with God! And having a relationship with Him, is available to every born again Christian! What will set you apart in life will be whether or not you have God with you. 

Exodus 33:16-23 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

God gave us a helper to guide us into the truth of His word! We need help to understand it! It has to be taught! So, He gave us a teacher and a book. We have to grow up to the place in life that we only run to God because we need something! Run to Him because you want to know Him! Run to him because you want more of Him! If we can do things that are pleasing to Him, He will be among us! 

Part 2

Sunday PM

Let’s split our prayer time into two parts. And discuss the benefits of installing this habit in your life.  We have a tendency as humans to lean heavily on one of these and not spend as much time on the other. If you picture it as a table, and these are the legs, you want them to be equal so that you have balance! You don’t want a long leg and a short leg! 

1-    Tongues

2-    Worship

Start where you are! 15 minutes each! If you fall short of your time, it is okay! Consistency is what’s important. You WILL get something every time you spend time with Him! Our time is our life. The enemy will do anything to steal your time from you. He wants to steal your time so that you won’t devote that time to your personal relationship with God! God isn’t looking for perfection, He is looking for you to give Him just something! 

Exodus 5:1-9  Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may [a]hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” 3 So they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 Then the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!” 6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”

When you were born again, you were delivered from darkness into light. God didn’t save you so that you can go to heaven one day. Thank God that is part of redemption, but he saved you so that you would be free from the devil and you could worship Him! When you worship Him, He comes into your life and enables you to enjoy the salvation and redemption that He bought and paid for, for you! You are going to have to deal with the things that steal your time. If you don’t purposefully schedule your time with God, the enemy will step in and make sure you don’t find the time for it.  But, when you have already made your decision that no matter what, you will spend that time, the enemy has less control.  Put yourself if a position to do what you need to do to have success in your life! You’re going to have success in your life to the degree that you have God in your life!

1 John 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

God is love.  We are all looking for love. Usually, we look in the wrong places for that love. 
More often than not, it’s in human beings. Human love will always fall short of what we are truly looking for.  We are on this planet to be love and give love. Love attracts God! 

1 John 4:17-18 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 

When you were born again, the very nature of God was placed inside you. That nature gives you a capacity to know, understand, and discern spiritual things. In that nature is the love of God and the ability to love like God loves. Let God remove the limitations in your mind and the things you believe about yourself! The more consistent you become, the faster these things will take place! You must let your teacher teach you! As you spend time with God, your capacity for love will expand and grow.

Intercession part 2

December 9, 2020

Wednesday

Luke 13:1-9  There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

Why isn’t there intercession today?  It hasn’t been taught and kept before the people. It hasn’t been modeled. Prayer used to be taken a lot more seriously. In present times we have so many amenities and it has made us soft.  People used to have to depend on God for their everyday needs. People today are selfish. We live in a day where we have so many responsibilities and so many things to do. We are wrapped up in our own lives and don’t realize the needs of others around us.  Intercession is born from compassion.  Compassion is born out of an increase in  God’s love.   Compassion is a fruit of divine love! When your love for God starts increasing, you know that your love for people is increasing too. Don’t allow yourself to become a person that loves yourself more than anybody or anything! Get before God and let His love come into your life! The Holy Spirit can hook up with compassion. If you pray through that, the need WILL be met.  All christians are called to pray for people. People have problems and needs! 

Romans 8:25-26 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Helps – He takes hold together with us against! He does not do our praying FOR us; He HELPS us pray. 

Ephesians 3:14-17  For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 

If we could get to the place in life that the love of God is the most important thing, we would be on the right track. If you can get this prioritized, it would cover everything. When you are rooted and grounded in God’s love, forgiveness is easy! “Let me show you a better way.” It is better to forgive! Always!  When you understand how loved and forgiven you are, it is easy to do that for others! Aren’t you glad God is not critical of you? We need a revelation of how much God loves us! If you knew how much God loves you, you would never fear another thing. God’s love surpasses human knowledge. It cannot be learned from a book or taught! It can only be revealed. Stay in the love of God and let it permeate your being. Let it change you! You will notice a difference; it only takes your time and dedication! He helps us in our natural limitations and only HE can produce those results! Whatever you need, there is more than enough.

Intercession

December 6, 2020

Sunday AM

 Nehemiah 1:1-3  The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

Israel have been released from captivity after being in Babylon for 70 years.  They have come back to Jerusalem and they’ve got the temple restored. But, everything around it is in shambles.  Nehemiah means comforter.  It gives a picture of worship being restored in the heart. The temple rebuilt. But all around you in your soul and your flesh, your life and circumstances are burned down. The Holy Spirit will come to a person (their temple) and live there. If you will allow Him to do His work, He will rebuild and restore the soul and every part of your life. But you have to let Him. We have God living in us, and there is nothing that God can’t do.  The stones that built up the walls of the temple, were there. But they were covered with debris. 

 Nehemiah 4:1-2   But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”

Sanballat was a type of Satan. He was the governor of Samaria. The Jews came in to rebuild the walls and he did not like it because he was losing control. When you begin to pray and the walls of your soul are built back up, the enemy will fight you because he doesn’t like losing control of you. When they began to rebuild, they wanted to use the stones that were originally a part of the wall. But they were under all the rubbish. They had to go dig the stones out and reuse them. Especially the foundation stones.  Foundation principles must be taught to every generation or they will be lost! The things that have been lost, can’t be used when they are needed. 

Everything that happens in the natural realm, is determined by what happens in the spiritual realm. We are spiritual beings. We cannot get so wrapped up in the natural that we forget the spiritual. 

1 Corinthians 14:2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.

The mysteries are your life! All of us live so far below what God has for us. We have to learn how to step into the spirit and pull God’s plan for us into the natural.  If you have a tongue and you have been filled with the Holy Ghost,  you can let the Holy Ghost pray through you. You are speaking out your life. You’re pulling it out of the Spirit, into the natural. It has to come through the channel of your tongue. This is because we have authority on this planet!  The purpose God has for us is FAR bigger than we can dream up or imagine. We must have God’s super on our natural! We cannot accomplish it without God! Pray out the mysteries! The success in your life will be determined by one thing: How much of your life is ordered by the Holy Ghost.

When you begin to pray out the mysteries, He will work on you! But as you become consistent, He will move out in front of you to remove things that need to be removed and add things that needed to be added! This will not happen if you do not pray! The Holy Spirit will minister TO you then He will minister THROUGH you.  

John 14:15-16 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.”

Wherever you go in life, you have Him with you. But you won’t walk in His plan until you develop your relationship with Him. He has and answer for every problem you will face today. Respect Him!

John 14:17-18 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

When you got born again, God gave you a new life and a Comforter forever! He has instant answers for immediate problems! 

Intercessor – one who take the place of another. We are all meant to be intercessors.

God is willing to work on your behalf! Intercession is born when the need of another is recognized. The compassion that is felt, is what the Holy Ghost can hook up to! The reason we aren’t compassionate is because we’re selfish! But, the good news is that the Holy Ghost can pray selfishness out of you! Intercessions takes laying down your own life for someone else’s! 

Luke 13:1-9  There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” 6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

Why does one man die, and another man live? The reason is because some people have a loved one to step in between him and the keeper of the vineyard and say, “leave him alone!”  Some people have an intercessor! Pray for the people around you! Entering into Intercession is taking the place for another, and saying, “leave him alone!” and the enemy must flee, because you are doing it by the Spirit of God! Every single one of us are called to be an intercessor. If you think your prayers don’t work, you’re wrong. Lay down your life for other people! It is the gospel of the Kingdom!