Posts Tagged ‘power’

Heavy Laden or Easy Yoke?

Monday, 17 January, 2011 11:52 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

“I am so busy”, “I just don’t have any time”, “I’m stressed out!” These are heard more and more commonly these days. And the sad thing is that it is accepted by most as “honorable”.

Matt. 11:28  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Being stressed may be “fad-ish” but it is far from honorable and not the way that God designed us to live. We cannot live long and live strong carrying the weight and the stress of the world! Jesus worked hard doing the will of His Father but never once declared, “I am on the edge of burnout so I must take a vacation and vegetate for a few weeks”.

Jesus wants us to work hard to get the will of God done on the earth but be yoked up with Him so that we don’t become overburdened and stressed out.

If we have allowed ourselves to get stressed out it is because we have failed to get (and stay) yoked up with Jesus! We should be invigorated and energized by our fellowship with Him, drawing our strength from Him to press on and finish our course strong. Learn to wait in His presence until you be endued with power from on high! Take His easy yoke.

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Great Faith is Tied to Submission to Authority

Wednesday, 12 January, 2011 20:49 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Recognizing authority and submitting to it is key to great faith!

When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! – Matthew 8:10 NKJV

The centurion in Matthew 8 that recognized the authority of Jesus and the power of His word was greatly rewarded and greatly acknowledged by the Lord. In our attempt to gain great faith and operate in great faith we must realize that it only comes by submission.

Submission has become a word that millions of Christians avoid. They want great faith but do not want to submit to anyone or anything. They want the blessings of God without limits and still want to live their lives without limits. It doesn’t (and never has) work like that. In order to have the power of the words of Jesus working in our lives we must first submit ourselves to God and do what He wants us to do.

We should even go further and submit our spirit, soul and bodies to the Lord to glorify Him in our whole being. He gave all of Himself to us and is only right and just to ask us to give all of ourselves to Him. (Romans 12:1-2) Renewing our minds with His Word, controlling our mouth to speak His word only, putting our bodies under by fasting and continuing steadfastly in prayer are ways to totally submit to His lordship…and experience His power. Great submission, great faith and great power!

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When You Fast

Monday, 10 January, 2011 11:23 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Jesus said WHEN you fast, not IF you fast.

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. – Matthew 6:16-18 NKJV

Fasting should be as common as giving and praying according to Jesus. Just study Matthew 6. He wants His body to fast. He fasted and it was a part of His lifestyle!

Fasting can be a tough subject for Christians who have never fasted because it deals with the flesh and sacrifice. There are many wrong ideas about fasting that have evolved from many wrong teachings on the subject. The bottom line in fasting is to say NO to your flesh in order to say YES to your spirit and hear from God.

We should be so accustomed to fasting that we are consistently asking the Lord, “do you want me to fast something right now?”. It should be a lifestyle with us. We should live so connected to the Lord that we are willing to give up anything at anytime in order to spend more time in fellowship with Him.

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Moved With Compassion

Thursday, 10 June, 2010 16:23 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

We are called to move toward the unlovely! (not run from them to a place of protection and security)

Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. (Mar 1:40-42 NKJV)

Jesus was MOVED with COMPASSION (the love of God in action) toward a leper!

The untouchable man was touched by the Healer! In that instance Jesus displayed for us all that it is God’s will that ALL be healed and whole. He also showed us how we should respond to the untouchable and unlovable…move with the love of God TOWARD them.

If God is going to use us we must go out to where there are hurting people that need a touch. Jesus did not come to earth to be secluded in a cave somewhere only to come out and be crucified when the time was right. The Great Physician came to the wounded ones in order to heal them. We have got to do more moving! Moving toward those who want deliverance and help!

Begin to pray, “Thank you Lord that I am moving with compassion as Jesus did! I see people that are reaching out in faith and move toward them so that you can move through me to meet their need! The love of God moves me to speak to people about their eternal destination. Thank you Lord for using me to bring help, hope and healing to all those around me.”

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I Love My Wife and Pasta

Thursday, 20 May, 2010 13:10 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

How many things do you love? Or better yet, how many things do you ”SAY” that you love?

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him]. 1 John 4:7 AMP

God is love and love comes from (or springs from) God. Without God there is no love. These are absolutes, this is THE TRUTH from the Word of God.

We have weakened the power of love by our nonchalant and overuse use of the word “LOVE”. We love chocolate, cars, vacation, starbuck’s coffee, walking on the beach, sunsets, ice cream, sports teams, (and the list goes on and on)…

We say that we love things that do not have the ability to love us back. Because we use the word love so much we do not have a handle on what we really do love.

The Word of God says that we should love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and strength! (every part of our being!) He is to be Lord and Master of our universe. Then He tells us that we should love people (our neighbor, our brothers, spouse, children, family, friends, co-workers and everyone). People have the ability to love us back. (sidenote: we do not love those that only love us back but everyone that we come in contact with)

We should check up on the way that we use the word LOVE and make sure that we are not overusing it. Instead we should say “like” when we are speaking of an object that we appreciate. Guard your affections and make sure that you are only loving God and people. Begin to use the word love with a new sensitivity of the power in love and new awareness that only God and other people are worth your full affection, attention and admiration!

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