Your Plans Or His Plan for 2012

Monday, 05 December, 2011 08:31 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Is it too early to begin planning for 2012?

Proverbs 16:1-3 (NLT)

We can make our own plans, but the LORD gives the right answer. People may be pure in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their motives. Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.

2012 will come and it’s fast on it’s way! (It will not take the Lord by surprise and neither should it take us by surprise.)

God is the master planner and was the FIRST planner! Before He spoke “Light BE” He had a plan for the light and everything else that He set out to create. He created all things with a purpose and on purpose. He didn’t discover man one day and say, “Oh, there’s a man. What should I do with him?” He had a plan for that man named Adam. He has a plan for you. (And He has a plan for you in the year of 2012!) (see Jer. 29:11)

God the Father has gone through some great efforts to make a way to get His plan for us transmitted to us. We are anticipating that 2012 will be the greatest year of our lives because God’s plan is for us is to ALWAYS “be fruitful and multiply!” (even when the earth is experiencing difficult times) He created us to succeed and be victorious.

Seeking His plan…

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The Fruit of Your Lips

Monday, 28 November, 2011 07:05 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Your words reveal your heart. A thankful and grateful person will have a continual flow of positive words coming out of their mouth.

Hebrews 13:15 AMP

Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.

Have you listened to yourself lately? What are you saying?

Are the words that you are using glorifying God and ministering grace to all those that hear you? Or do people run from you because of the negative flow coming from your heart and out of your mouth?

We are to imitate God as dear children imitate their father. God has designed each one of us to be carriers of thanksgiving and gratefulness. We should always have something to thank God about and have control over the thoughts that we allow in our minds.

Because we are recreated spiritually through our confession that Jesus is Lord we should be the most positive people that we know. God has given us the power of His Word to change our attitude from negative to positive and affect the very words that we speak.

As we submit ourselves to Him on a daily basis as we are instructed in Romans 12:1-2 we can expect that we will be changed from the way that the world thinks, speaks and acts to the way that God wants us to think, speak and act. It’s time to check out the fruit of our lips.

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Staying in the Love of God

Thursday, 29 September, 2011 11:43 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

It is the power of the love of God working through us that causes us to win in all that we do!

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. – Jude 1:20-21 NKJV

We can walk in love at all times, with all people and in every situation! Each one of us have the ability to love people that act unlovely and in our opinion may be undeserving of any love.

The way that we “tap in” to the love of God is first to become “born again”! When we become born again and make Jesus the Lord of our lives the love of God resides in our heart. His love can be “shed abroad” (Romans 5:5) increased or expanded in our lives as we yield and submit to the Holy Spirit. God is love according to 1 John 4:7-8 and when we pray in the Holy Spirit we “stir up” or cause His love to grow in our heart. When we pray in the spirit we are exercising and gaining ground spiritually in our ability to love like Jesus loves. We begin to have more compassion on people and see them the way that God sees them. This motivates us to love them the way that God loves them and we become a bigger vessel of His love extended to those around us. We stay in the love of God by continuing to pray in the Holy Spirit consistently. Let the love flow through you!

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Yes to Your Spirit and No to Your Flesh

Thursday, 22 September, 2011 20:56 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

A key to living a victorious life is taking control of your flesh and allowing your spirit to rule.

Romans 8:13 AMP – For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

We have to become strong spiritually first by feeding on the Word of God daily in order to take control of our flesh. Galatians 5 lists some of the works of the flesh and they are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, uncontrolled drinking and feasting and “the like” (or things that are similar to these). This is a long list and only controllable by those who are walking in the spirit and after the Spirit of God.

The way that we gain control over our flesh and it’s desires is to learn an important word, “NO”! When we say NO to our flesh at the moment of temptation then we are able to say YES to our spirit! Our spirit wants to do right and wants to serve the Lord. We have to make the conscious decision to allow our spirit to rule over our flesh. Live in the supernatural rather than the natural. Take the high road and do the right thing by saying YES to the spirit. You CAN do it!

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All Together Now

Tuesday, 30 August, 2011 15:49 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Being “in sync” allows us to produce a harmony. When we are pursuing and aiming at peace we are walking in unity and fulfilling the will of our Father.

Rom 15:6 …that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The church began in unity. Acts Chapter 2 uses the phrase “in one accord” to signify that the believers that were gathered in the upper room were not just in the same room but that they were united in heart and in mind. It is not enough to just be in the same place at the same time.

You can be under the same roof and be miles and miles apart.

If we are to mature in the Lord we must prefer one another and adjust in our relationships to the point that we experience a unity. The more unity that we experience, the more of God’s power we will see flowing through our homes and churches. Every adjustment we make and every time that we choose to prefer others it is worth the effort that it takes. Walking in love translates to HARMONY and UNITY! God has not called us to be self-serving (alone) but to serve (united with the body of Christ).

Psalms 133:1 NKJV – Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!

 

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Harmonize

Thursday, 25 August, 2011 05:55 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Unity is a big deal to God! He desires that our marriages, families, churches, cities, nation be unified. After all he created man to be united to Himself and to Eve. “It is not good that man is alone.”

To be unified requires that we learn how to harmonize. Harmonizing is adjusting and adapting in order to produce a pleasing sound. In music to harmonize means to play a chord or series of notes at the same time that complement each other and produce a pleasing tone.

In each chord there is a root note that determines the name and nature of the chord or “key”. Our root note is God. He is the base of our chord and He is the one that each of us adjust ourselves to. We daily seek the Lord through His Word and adjust ourselves to be in harmony with Him and in doing so we place ourselves in harmony with those who are doing the same thing. It is not about adjusting ourselves to each other but each of us adjusting ourselves to God.

Let’s aim at and pursue harmony. Let’s lay down our agendas and pick up His agenda.

Romans 14:19

So let us then definitely aim for and eagerly pursue what makes for harmony and for mutual upbuilding edification and development) of one another.

Find the root note and make every adjustment necessary to be pleasing to Him. What a beautiful sound!

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Outgrow the Shoe

Friday, 19 August, 2011 08:02 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Ever heard “If the shoe fits, wear it”?…

We say, “If the shoe fits, OUTGROW IT!” Change is the goal of every maturing Christian. In order to change we have do two things:

Identify, where we are

Move, to where we should be

The “change agent” is the Holy Spirit. He is ready, willing and able to assist us in every change that we need to make in our lives.

Zechariah 4:6 NKJV -… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.’

The truth is that we can NOT make the necessary changes in our lives with out the express help of the Holy Spirit. We must totally depend on Him to show us what to change and when.

Your weaknesses are no excuse to stay weak. As long as you follow the Holy Spirit you are able to destroy every crutch that you have leaned on in the past.

God has not called you to stay where you are but to come up higher, go farther and do more today than you did yesterday. You CAN outgrow the shoe!

 

 

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God’s Will? Jesus Healed!

Tuesday, 22 March, 2011 07:51 Written by Pastor Bruce 1 Comment

Jesus’ earthly ministry was the manifest will of God. He went about healing and doing good! (Acts 10:38)

One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, He saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then He touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God! – Luke 13:10-13 (NLT)

Healing is always and forever the will of God because Jesus always did the will of the Father. There was never a time in the earthly ministry of Jesus where He withheld or denied someone healing yet there are some today that doubt whether it is God’s will to heal. Leave your doubt and come over to the life-giving truth of God’s Word!

Jesus is God’s will in action and He heals. Hebrews 13:8 declares that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever therefore we know with absolute certainty that He is healing today. Regardless of who believes this truth or who got mad at Jesus for healing on the Sabbath decide to believe the Word of God and align your heart and mouth with His Word.

Say out loud – I believe that Jesus is healing me right now and I receive it! I line my body, my heart and my mouth up with the Word of God and I praise God for my healing! Thank you Jesus for fulfilling the will of the Father!

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Full of and Controlled By

Wednesday, 09 March, 2011 11:24 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

The prerequisite of doing the will of God is to be led by the Spirit of God and to be led by the Spirit of God we must be full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Then Jesus, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit – Luke 4:1 (AMP)

He lives in us to fill us with Himself so that He can lead us and guide us. Only when He leads us are we successful and fruitful. We will do what He wants us to do and say what He wants us to say when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not some level of spirituality to be proud or boastful about but a practical “equipping” in order to be productive for the Kingdom of God. The more filled that we stay the more closely we can follow Him.

Receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one time experience but staying full of the Spirit is an ongoing practice of yielding to Him in His presence to receive all the strength, might and power that He has for us.

We put ourselves in His presence when we worship and magnify Him. We yield to Him when we wait upon Him so that He can renew our strength by His Spirit.

Get full and be controlled today!

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I Must be About My Fathers Business

Monday, 07 March, 2011 09:27 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Who are you working for today? Are you “self” employed or do you work for a company? Or are you working for the Lord?

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” – Luke 2:49 NKJV

God is constantly looking for people to “employ”. He has a plan and needs people to fulfill His plan. He created us to be co-workers with Him for His Kingdom. His plan is to reach all of mankind with His Gospel! He needs us to preach His good news.

Jesus at the age of 12 recognized that He had a distinct calling. Understanding this is monumental for us as “Jesus followers”. We can know (at any age) what we are called to do and that we must be “about Our Fathers business”. The higher calling on your life is the only thing that will fulfill you. God’s plan for you is the best thing that you can do with your life.

The key to knowing what God wants you to do specifically is found in the verses before Luke 2:49.

And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. – Luke 2:40 NKJV

We must become 1. strong in spirit, 2. filled with the wisdom of God, and 3. have the grace of God upon us and then we will know what He wants us to do.

Let’s get with it!

 

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