Posts Tagged ‘pray’

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!

Share

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.

Share

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.

Share

Draw Near to Him

Thursday, 04 November, 2010 08:35 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

There is something that we can do to initiate a greater manifestation of the presence of God in our lives.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” – James 4:8

God is everywhere because He is omniscient, but His presence is not manifest to the same degree everywhere. He responds to our respect, reverence and honoring Him. 1 Samuel 2:30 says that He “honors those that honor Him”. The more that we honor Him, the more that He will honor us. One of the greatest ways that He honors us is with His presence. We need His presence today more than ever before.

In Exodus 33 Moses recognized that it was useless to attempt to fulfill the will of God without knowing that His presence was with them. Moses knew about drawing near to God. He knew how to reverence and honor God. He practiced honoring God and worshipping God to the extent that when he went in to meet with God in the tent of meeting all the children of Israel would stand at the entrance of their tents and worship God as well! Reverence, honor and respect begets (promotes) more reverence, honor and respect.

To draw near to God we must come to Him in worship and prayer, leave our agenda (and our watches) outside of the “place of prayer”. Be willing to stay with Him until we are full and refilled with His presence…and until we know that His presence has surrounded us, changed us and strengthened us. Until there is joy! In His presence is FULLNESS of joy! Joy is an indication of being full of the Spirit!

Share

Reverence?

Wednesday, 20 October, 2010 10:06 Written by Pastor Bruce 0 Comments

Words disappear from society over time when they are not used. One of those words is REVERENCE.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. – Hebrews 12:28-29 NKJV

Here is a New Testament scripture talking about reverence and godly fear! Reverence and godly fear are not being taught in most churches today. People are told to “come as you are”, casual dress, flip flops, coffee cups and all! BE COMFORTABLE is the “buzz message” for today. And most people are lapping it up without even thinking. Their attitude is “tell us want we want to hear”…instead of tell us what we need to hear.

In a day where millions and millons have no respect or reverence for anyone or anything we have been teaching the body of Christ to relax and be comfortable. Sit back and take it easy, don’t worry, be happy.

Our God is still a consuming fire and deserves all respect, all reverence and all honor! There is a lot that we need to learn about THE FEAR OF THE LORD.

My personal prayer is, “Lord, teach me. I am at awe in Your presence. I humble myself before you to learn more how to respect you more…”

Share
« Older Entries

Email Sign Up


 

Archives

February 2012
S M T W T F S
« Dec    
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26272829  

Categories