Posted by Pastor Bruce on March 5, 2010
Are you in a place where you need to know something?
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. – James 1:5-6 NKJV
As much as you know, you do not know it all and you need wisdom…daily. God is the God of all wisdom. He knows all and wants to reveal things to us! This is great news!
We do not have to walk around in the dark and stumble. We can know what to do at all times.
We must ask God for His wisdom in faith and expect to receive direct, divine revelation from our Heavenly Father!
If you are dealing with a challenge or circumstance that you have no idea how overcome and exit victoriously, ASK GOD FOR WISDOM! Expect to hear His voice, follow the guide (the mighty Holy Spirit!).
God desires that you walk in His wisdom and counsel. Not only does He desire for you to walk in His ways and His wisdom, He has opened the door and has invited you to ask.
Ask and receive. Spend time with Him and He will show you things to come. He will speak to you and settle every issue that you are dealing with. He already knows what you need to know!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on February 24, 2010
Ever felt like giving up?
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. – Acts 2:42 (KJV)
We all have the opportunity everyday to quit, run and hide. BUT we must continue steadfastly!
Continue in: 1) The Word – Read, study and meditate the Word of God as much as you can daily. 2) Fellowship – Get involved in a local church where iron sharpens iron and your church family can exhort you. 3) Breaking of bread – Receive communion – the Lord’s Supper – regularly, at home and at church. 4) Pray – without ceasing and before you do anything. Give yourself to prayer, listen to the voice of God.
It is our job to continue. To continue steadfastly means to make a choice to do what you know to do. God can only give you the strength to do what you have determined in your heart to do and then begin to move toward it. Don’t sit down in the mully grubs and whine and complain, get up, dust yourself off and get moving! Re-focus, re-fuel and get moving towards all that God has for you! Jer. 29:11 You can do more than you ever thought you could do but you must CONTINUE!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on February 12, 2010
How full are you?
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, – Ephesians 5:18 NKJV
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. – Romans 8:14 NKJV
We are able to be led by the Spirit of God to the degree that we are filled by the Spirit of God. If you are wandering around not knowing where to go or how to get there, get full of the Spirit of God! BE FILLED!
We are instructed to walk in the spirit and not after the flesh. I have found in my own life that it is so much easier to walk in the spirit when I am filled with the Spirit of God. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a once in a lifetime occurrence. There is one initial infilling but many subsequent refillings. The number one way to be refilled is to enter into the presence of God and yield yourself the very same way that you first received the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Reach up to God and out in faith, begin to worship Him from the heart and in other tongues and out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water that will refresh and renew you!
As you are full of the Holy Spirit expect to become more sensitive to His voice and leading. He desires to show you which way to go and what steps to take! Stay filled with Him and direction comes much easier.
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 11, 2010
What do you long for and desire more than anything?
But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. – Matt. 6:33 AMP
There will always be the temptation to worry and fret about “things”…what to wear and what to eat…how are we going to pay all the bills…etc. BUT we are instructed by Jesus to do something that will cause that worry, fear and dread to go away.
Seeking first the Kingdom of God is not just something that sounds good to quote. It is something that we must do on a daily basis if we are to live above the “cares of this world”. By seeking first the Kingdom of God we are lifted up so that we begin to see things from God’s perspective (on a higher level). Putting the Word of God and prayer in it’s rightful place puts everything else in it’s rightful place.
Our number one priority must become our spiritual growth and health! We must give attention to God through prayer and the study of His Word if we desire to walk in His peace (Phil. 4:6) and have good success (Joshua 1:8). There is no substitute and no excuse…we must.
Seek first His Kingdom on a daily basis by studying and meditating on a chapter a day then pray…ask the Lord to show you His will for your life…then get ready for all those things that you need to be given to you!
It’s His Word and it works, prove it!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 4, 2010
Challenge yourself! Reach, stretch and press forward.
Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. – Matthew 12:13 NKJV
Jesus healed the man with the withered hand but first asked the man to do something in faith. At Jesus command he stretched out his hand. I can imagine that the man did not want to even show his hand. Most people with a withered hand want to cover it up and hide it out of embarrassment. But Jesus asked this man to do what he could do and with that action Jesus did what only He could do. His power totally restored the man’s hand.
In this new year of 2010 God wants us to begin to do things that we have never done before! But we have to stretch and reach out. We have to take a step of faith and do what we know that we should do. Even though what you must do might be something that you do not want to do and might be embarrassing to you, the power of God will meet you and cause you to succeed!
Ask the Lord what He would have you to do this year. Do something that you have never done before. STRETCH! Lose that 30 pounds that you have been needing to lose, pay off all the credit cards, establish a time of daily prayer and study of God’s Word, love your family like never before. Do it! Just stretch and God will meet you and His power will cause you to succeed.
Posted by Pastor Bruce on December 31, 2009
Yesterday is gone.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. – Phil 3:13-14 (KJV)
You cannot do a thing about 2009 except learn from it. Learn the lessons, forget the details. New Year, new chapter in your life.
The most important time in our lives is today. What we are doing with today will determine our tomorrow. Today we thank God for today and do all that we can to live in the very center of His will. The Apostle Paul in writing to the Church in Philippi said that he had not experienced all that God had for Him yet and because of that there is ONE thing that he did…”FORGETTING those things that are behind”.
Forgetting the past is a big key to accomplishing what God has for you to accomplish just ahead. It is a monumental task that requires the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life.
Check out this powerful word from The Word:
“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”- Isaiah 43:16, 18-19
Move forward by leaving 2009 in 2009! Great things are just ahead – 2010 here we come!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on December 30, 2009
Moving forward is a great thing!
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, – Philippians 3:13 NKJV
There is one thing required to go forward…leave the past in the past.
Yesterday’s manna stinks. We must move toward all that God has for us today. Living for the moment is what we as Christians need to have as our goal. (in the sense that we are ever sensitive to do exactly what the Lord wants us to do at every moment!) Tomorrow is not here yet and yesterday is gone forever.
Let’s determine to go into 2010 with everything from 2009 left in the past. (except for the lessons that we learned, of course)
God has great things for us just ahead. He wants us to keep moving and keep pressing on. We have a bright future full of faith adventures and faith victories! BUT, we must quit looking behind us, quit pointing to our past failures AND successes! Don’t allow the devil to point out your past to you, be bold and point out his future to him and he will back off quick!
2010 is your year of victory! Determine to shut the door on the past and walk through the new door just ahead. Move into 2010 with God! Pray IN 2010 and experience all that God has for you this next year!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on November 10, 2009
Can you hear Him?
But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. – John 16:13 AMP
We have a distinct advantage since we have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us! When we became born again the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity, came to live on the inside of us. We have a guide that has been given an assignment from the Father to speak to us and lead us. He is announcing and declaring things that will happen in the future. If we will only listen…
Listening to the Holy Spirit is THE issue. He is speaking, are we listening? Have you (and I) taken the time to listen to Him today? To find out what will happen before it happens…
We really should never be taken by surprise since we have the Holy Spirit leading us and showing us things to come. Tap in and tune up…to “God’s Guidance System” (more excellent than a GPS!). Listen to the Holy Spirit, today.
Posted by Pastor Bruce on February 20, 2009
Jeremiah 33:3 – Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen here.
God wants us to get Him involved in our lives.
He invites us to ask Him…because He wants us to have inside information.
Our heavenly Father does not want us to be in the dark at all.
Ask, call and request of Him. He is a perfect gentleman and will wait until we ask to tell us secrets about the future.
He knows us and knows the plans that He has for us (Jer. 29:11)…and He will reveal them to us by His Spirit.
Call Him up…listen close and intently.
