Posted by Pastor Bruce on April 23, 2010
Need to see from faith’s perspective?
For we walk by faith, not by sight. – 2 Corinthians 5:7
We are not limited to our 5 physical senses when we decide to walk by faith. When we trust God with all of our heart and lean not on our understanding faith kicks in and we begin to see things from His perspective… with supernatural sight. We have the ability to see with the eye of faith in order to do the impossible through the power of God.
God designed us to walk in a higher realm where He walks. The walk of faith requires not looking at things the way that they appear outwardly. If we walk and live our lives by the way that things look in the natural realm (judging things after the facts) then we are limited to what we can see. But if we ask God to reveal to us the way that He sees things then He will begin to open our eyes, fill our hearts with faith and we will begin to have a whole new perspective on life. We can do all that God has called us to do when we begin to see things the way that God sees them. He wants to empower us with supernatural sight on a daily basis.
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 25, 2010
Receive more grace for your race.
Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Ps. 110:1.] JUST THINK OF HIM Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds. – Hebrews 12:1-3 AMP
Considering Jesus and what He did for us will quickly bring us up and out of any pity party! Verse 3 of Hebrews 12 says to think of Him so that we will not grow weary or exhausted…faint in our minds…
We must remember that He did all that He did (endured the shame of the cross) because of the joy that was set before Him. He empowers us with that same joy as we look to Him who is the author and finisher of our faith. That joy of the Lord is our very strength and He is the very source of our faith. God will do exceedingly abundantly above anything that we can ask or think ACCORDING TO the power that is at work within us! Let His power work within you today as you think about Him and consider what He did for you and realize that He lives in you!
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 10, 2010
Feeling faint?
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; – Luke 18:1 (KJV)
When we reach out in faith and begin believing God for something that He has promised us the number one thing that the enemy wants us to do is to give up, give in, faint and quit. He knows that if we stay in faith and operate patience that we will receive the promise of God everytime! (Heb 10:36)
We must continue to thank God each time that we think about what we have prayed and believed that we receive. (Mark 11:24) The “you shall have them” time will take “some time”…it could be a day or it could be a year. The time part is not in your control and should not affect your “standing in faith”.
The way not to faint is to “keep the switch of faith ON” like Abraham.
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. – Romans 4:19-21 (KJV)
Giving glory to God is the same as thanking God for the answer before you see things change in the natural realm. The highest kind of prayer is worshipping God for who He is in your life and every situation in your life! If you are feeling faint, don’t sit down or lay down stand up throw your head back and praise God with every bit of strength that you have left. God will begin to strengthen you with His might and you will be made strong in faith!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on February 8, 2010
Get out of the boat!
He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus. – Matt. 14:29
Jesus is saying, “COME!…get out of the boat and walk on the water with Me!” You can do it, you were designed to do what Jesus did. We are fit for the task. Our Father has great faith in us because He put it there. He wants us to use it and the way that we use it is to get out of the boat and dare to walk on the water.
While the rest of the disciples sat in the boat watching Peter he was walking on the water with Jesus! (We tend to focus on the fact that he sank down into the water and Jesus had to help him back up and forget that he was the only one out of the disciples that did the impossible!)
Begin to ask God what He wants you to do that you haven’t done up to this point in your life. He is always calling us to go higher, reach farther and do what no one else has ever done! (of course He expects us to depend on Him by looking to Him for strength and ability beyond our natural ability) He wants to show Himself strong on our behalf and empower us to do the impossible, conquer the challenge and live as an over-comer! You can do it, look at Jesus, believe and get out of the boat!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 22, 2010
Sitting still?…waiting to die?
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? – 2 Kings 7:3 NKJV
And now the rest of the story…These four lepers got up and went into the city and the Lord supernaturally caused their enemies to flee! They took back all that the enemy stole (and then some) all because they refused to sit around until the died. They got up and went toward the problem and God caused the problem to flee! Action will put the enemy on the run.
It is important that we pray. (most important) But after we pray we must put feet to our faith and get up and move. The power of God could not part the Red Sea until Moses stretched out the rod over the waters. We have a part to play and God can not (and will not) do our part for us.
Do something lest you do nothing. Begin to move toward the answer in faith even if you do not see the end result. God will make a way where it does seem like there is one. (He loves doing the impossible!) Trust Him, obey Him, get up and move. Don’t wait for your life to pass you by, jump up, dust yourself off and get moving. God created us to move and grow and go. He said GO into all the world and preach the Gospel. If you are going to go then you have to rise up and move out. Quitters never win and winners never quit! Keep moving and God will dispel your enemies before your face!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 12, 2010
Worry always contains the fear of the future.
So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble. – Matt. 6:34 AMP
Worry and fear are destructive buddies. They travel together and do damage to whoever will allow them to hang around. They love to lock up your mind with endless loops of failure and defeat. They are debilitating and will render you weak and powerless.
Jesus showed us how to deal with worry and fear as He walked this earth. He became a man that was filled with the Holy Spirit in order to show us how do live in the spirit and walk in the spirit. Living in the spirit and walking in the spirit do not just happen because we are “born again” and have accepted Jesus as our Savior. There is something more that we must do…and that is verse 33 of Matthew 6…SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM.
His Kingdom is filled with faith and strength that will overcome every fear and dispel all worry. His Kingdom is made up of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, strength, health, abundance…All that we need for all of our life!
No wonder Jesus said if we put first things first and seek His Kingdom first (by prayer and getting into His Word – Bible study)…then everything that we need will be provided for us as we need it…NO WORRIES! NO FEAR!
Trust Him by putting Him first and seeking Him first and before you do anything else…worry and fear will quickly flee!
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 23, 2009
Mary said it and it is worth us saying it too – “my soul magnifies the Lord!”
And Mary said, My soul magnifies and extols the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, – Luke 1:46-47 AMP
To magnify the Lord is to “declare great” or “enlarge”. When we magnify the Lord we are enlarging Him in our lives. (He already is the largest being in the universe!) But when we begin to look at His size and lift Him up in our life by declaring Him great and making a big deal about Him, then He is magnified!
“God is greater” is an absolute statement. If you ask “God is greater than what?”, the response is always, “God is greater than all!” The creator is always greater than the creation. He reigns over all. Declaring His greatness in your life causes all things to be put in proper perspective. Everything bows it’s knee to the Name above all names – Jesus! And when we magnify Him and lift up the Name of Jesus, everything in our lives begins to bow it’s knee.
Magnifying the Lord is a powerful act of faith! It is worshipping the Lord to the highest degree and declaring Him Lord over all. We have the awesome privilege of declaring the greatness of God! Let’s do it today!
