TODAY'S WORD 23 APRIL 2014:PRAYER CHANGES THINGS

Matthew 7:7
I read a book which tell a story of a young boy who wanted $100 very badly in USA. He prayed for a long time, but nothing happened. Undaunted by the lack of response, he wrote a letter to God presenting his request once again.

When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to “God, USA,” not knowing what else to do, they decided to deliver it to the President. Mr. President was interested in the letter enough to instruct his secretary to send the little boy $5. He thought this amount might be enough to encourage such a young boy.  And indeed, the little boy was delighted with the $5 bill. He sat down immediately to write a thank-you note to God. This too was forwarded to the President. It read: “Dear God, Thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you sent it through Washington DC and those guys deducted $95 in taxes!” While I can’t claim that this story is true, you have to give the little boy credit for persistence in putting his prayers before God, and his faithfulness in believing that it was man, and not God, who had messed up the answer.

Our prayer lives have a tendency to cycle. Sometimes we are good at praying, laying our requests at God’s throne and listening and waiting for His answers. At other times, it is more the case that our prayer lives are dead or dying. We don’t pray with the faith or persistence of that little boy, and we don’t have his faith that God will answer.

For some of us that is because we’ve never really come before God in honest prayer. For others, it is because our prayer garden needs some weeding and watering to remove the complacency and nourish our souls. If we can turn our prayer life around, I believe we will see that prayer changes things.

Whatever your current situation is, Jesus has some words of encouragement for you today. 

Peace be unto you

TODAY'S WORD 22 APRIL 2014:PRAYER

Prayer:

There is no weapon formed against prayer that can neutralize it. Some things can delay answers to prayer, but nothing can stop the full purpose of God. "Though it tarry, wait for it."

The first requirement in prayer is to believe.

-Believe that God is and that "he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

-Believe that God is alive and therefore has power-not only for Peter's deliverance, but for ours.

-Believe that God is love and that He cares for His own.

-Believe that God is power and therefore no power can stand against Him.

-Believe that God is truth and therefore cannot lie.

-Believe that God is kind and that He will never abdicate His throne or fail in His promise.

Reflecting on the story of Peter, I am rebuked, humiliated, chagrined, stung. Why? Because there are some great modern saints, Watchman Nee for one, who for years have suffered and been held captive by communists and others. Many of the saints today are shut up in prison.

Such perils to other members of the Body demand concern, concentration, and consecration to a committed plan of prayer on their behalf. I fear that prayer has not been made to God without ceasing for these suffering kinsmen.

We Christians are in captivity on many levels today personal, domestic, church, and missionary enterprise. But fetters break and dungeons fall when prayer is made by the church unto God-

-Prayer without ceasing;

-Prayer that might shatter our status quo;

-Prayer that drains us of every other interest;

-Prayer that excites us by its immense possibilities;

-Prayer that sees God as the One that rules on high, almighty to save;

-Prayer that laughs at impossibilities and cries, "It shall be done";

-Prayer that sees all things beneath His feet;

-Prayer that is motivated with desire for God's glory.

The praying of the believer can become a ritual. The place of prayer is more than a dumping ground for all our anxieties, frets, and fears. The place of prayer is not a place to drop a shopping list before the throne of a God with endless supplies and limitless power.

I believe the place of prayer is not only a place where I lose my burdens, but also a place where I get a burden. He shares my burden and I share His burden. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." To know that burden, we must hear the voice of the Spirit. To hear that voice, we must be still and know that He is God.

Happy Easter. 

TODAY'S WORD 17 APRIL 2014: I HAVE A CHANCE....

John3:16

Jesus came into the world to save the world and the things that Jesus went through were more than you and I will ever go through.

Jesus was beaten until his flesh was coming off of his body. Jesus was beaten for the sins of humankind. Jesus was nailed to the cross after he was beaten until exhaustion. He was even tested to come off the cross, but he did not. Jesus stayed on the cross to die for our sins. Before Jesus died he said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Jesus laid in the tomb 2 nights and 3 days, but early on the third day Jesus rose with all power in his hands. Jesus rose to go back to heaven to prepare a place for you and I. It is because of these selfless acts of Jesus Christ that you and I have a chance of eternal life in heaven!

You and I have a chance to finish strong. We have a chance to make heaven.

Peace be unto you

TODAY'S WORD 16 APRIL 2014: TIME TO CHANGE II

Philippians 4:12-4:14 

Today, I want us to consider one of the principles that will help us to keep the process of spiritual life-change alive in our lives. 

Lay Claim to the Promises

Our first step in life-change is not doing something, but believing something. I’m really not thinking of any specific promise; rather, I’m suggesting that we need faith in God and His promises. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” And so, we must know and trust God, believing that He exists and that He rewards. We must believe that all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26). We must believe that through Christ’s death and resurrection, and our participation in it through baptism, our old self was crucified and that we have been freed from sin (Rom. 6:6-7). We must believe that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Phil. 4:13). And we must believe that Jesus our faithful high priest sympathizes with our weaknesses, and offers us mercy and help in our time of need (Heb. 4:15-16). There are literally hundreds or thousands of promises that God has given us, and the process of life-change begins as we claim those promises and act upon them. To experience life-change, we have to think for a change. The mind is the place where Satan attacks us with doubt and deception. But as Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 10:5, we must “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Paul also has taught us that we are transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2). In Phil. 3:12-14, Paul declares, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Do you hear what Paul is saying there? He is claiming for his life that for which Christ has accomplished. He is believing it and acting according to it. So, that’s what we have to do as well. The first step to freedom is believing that freedom and power really exist as God’s promises. We’ve got to win the battle of the mind, and lay claim to the promises.

Let me refer your to the Church album “AROGOSOGO” track 4 “I AM PRESS FORWARD” It is a track I love and it will bless your life.

Peace be unto you