All posts tagged: prayer

A passionate Tozer Prayer

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O Lord, I have heard Thy voice and was afraid. Thou hast called me to an awesome task in a grave and perilous hour. Thou are about to shake all nations and the earth and also heaven, that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. O Lord, our Lord, Thou has stopped to honor me to be Thy servant. No man takes this honor upon himself save he that is called of God as was Aaron. Thou has ordained me Thy messenger to them that are stubborn of heart and hard of hearing. They have rejected Thee, the Master, and it is not to be expected that they will receive me, the servant. My God, I shall not waste time deploring my weakness nor my unfittedness for the work. The responsibility is not mine but Thine. Thou hast said, “I knew thee—I ordained thee—I sanctified thee,” and Thou has also said, “Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” Who am I to argue …

Selah: Pause and think about it!

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I love to hear the word “advantage” in a tennis match. At this time the server has the advantage to win the match after deuce. I get excited, especially if the one I am rooting for has the advantage. Advantage means everything is in your favor. It means you have the edge over the other player. It means you have the power now to win a set or win the match. Psalm 84 give me that same feeling. The psalm is a description of the advantages we have with the Lord being there with us. The psalm divides very simply into three parts and marked off by the little word Selah. Selah means to pause and think of what has just been said. Let me simply share these verses and have you pause and think about what you just read: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout …

You Inherited your freedom; now it is time to fight for it

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Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. Galatian 5:1-7 (The Message Translation) ___________________________ Photo Via _ Boxing WallPaper

Let the Bishop Speak: Longevity as a Christian and a minister

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My 12 year old daughter has been at youth camp for the past five (5) day at my spiritual Father’s church. Well, yesterday was the last day so I went to the church to pick her up. Before I did, I spend a few minutes with my spiritual father. I call him bishop, but his real name is Forrest. He told me a few awesome things that happened in my daughter’s life during the five days she spent there. How the Lord touched her the night before and watched streams of tears flow down her cheeks. He reminded me of the very same picture of me in 1992, a picture he kept in his mind and will never forget. A picture of me at an all night prayer meeting, just like my little girl, with streams of tears flowing down my cheeks. I thought about for a while and have not been able to shake the thought of the impact he has had on my life and now my daughter’s. Talk about affecting generations! What if …

Top five (5) Things that Paralyze a Leader

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Lack of prayer power… Allen Vartlette once said that “seven days without prayer makes one weak.” A prayerless leader is a paralyzed leader. He has no power to lead. He has no inspiration to lead. He has nothing to move him forward. I don’t know where we got this prideful thinking that we are more creative than God himself is. We go about doing things without him. Prayer makes a world of difference in our decision making process. It makes a world of difference in our leadership abilities. I wish that we could take it a bit more seriously. Because prayer avails much… James 5:16 Lack of courage… “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Edmund Burke Doing nothing express no risk, exerts no initiative, and experiences no reward or truimph. Doing nothing is the natural bent of most men. Nothing is the fruit of passivity. Nothing is the consequence of a lack of conviction. It’s the by-product of lazy leadership at home, at church and in …

Baptism: The triple portion

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I heard the story about a bunch of guys who used to gather together to read their bible every day on their lunch break. They were all from different denominations, so they agreed that they will not make it the goal to change each other’s theological point of view, but will allow the Word of God to do the speaking. One day while reading, they stumbled across a very controversial subject and each man found himself drawn into a deep discussion. But there was one guy in the group who was not an active participant in the discussions. So, he was asked to share his opinion. He sat up , cleared his thought and said, “I really don’t care about what is written in there, I am going to stick with what I’ve been told.” Could it be, that what you have been told about the Holy Spirit does not measure up with what is written about Him in God’s book? In this study post, I encourage you open the book for yourself and explore. …

That which looks, sounds, smell, Spirit filled is not necessarily Spirit Filled

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As a pastor and spiritual head of both my church and my family, I usually get the following questions either by leaders in my congregation or most certainly by my wife: “Is the Holy Spirit leading you? Did you hear from God for the direction you are taking this church or family? Did you get a word from God about this project, plan or path you are taking us on?” I must confess that sometimes I am tempted to clothe my speech, my plan, and projects with an emphatic yes , “the Lord told me, the Spirit has spoken, the Lord is leading.” But anointing our plans as God’s will, or the Spirit’s leading doesn’t mean that they actually are Spirit led. In the the same way, claiming to be filled with the Spirit, sounding like we are Spirit filled or acting like we are spirit filled does not mean we actually are. It is crystal clear in the the Bible that we should be Spirit Filled. Ephesians 5:18 commands, And do not get drunk …

I Open My Heart

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Do you feel so lost because you don’t know what to do?  Are you afraid that you are going to choose the wrong thing to do? Afraid of disappointing the Lord? Are your hopes and dreams fading fast? Are you burned out? Do you think your strength is depleting? Have you considered crying out to you Lord? Do you know that He’s the only one Who is able to pull me through? If your life is so cloudy… consider praying this today: Lord show me how To do things your way. Don’t let me make the same mistakes Over and over again. Your will be done And I’ll be the one To make sure the it’s carried out And in me, I don’t want any doubt That’s why… All I need to do Is hear a single word from you I open up my heart Just one word could make A difference in what I do Lord I open my heart to you… You’re the lover of my soul Captain of my sea I need a word from you That’s why I open up …

Defenestration

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Webster-Merriam People’s Top Ten Favorite Words and how the Bible might have something to say about it. Part 1 Defenestration:  a throwing of a person or a thing out of a window; or a usually swift expulsion or dismissal. Defenestration comes from Latin (de- means “from; down, away;” and fenestra means “window”). The word first appeared in English in 1620. Have you ever been kicked out of a church? Have you ever been kicked out of your job? Maybe you know how it feels  to be kicked out of school or dumped by a girlfriend or a boyfriend. How do you model genuine faith in those times. There is a young woman in my church going through the feeling of being dumped. She now sits on the other side from where she used to in church and the guy is claiming that she should not come to church because this is his home church. But she says he is the one who needs  to find another church because this is her home church as well. They are mean and …

A Father’s Prayer

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If you have a son this a great prayer to begin praying over him. A great way to reflect on how you can impact his life. If You are a son, than this is a great way to reflect on what it means to be one. If mom and dad are still around email this to them, who knows what life lesson you can gain from not only discussing this prayer, but actually praying through it  with them. Take a step of faith even if they do not yet follow Jesus or even if there is tension in your relationship. Who knows what could happen in your relationship! Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know …