Posted by Pastor Bruce on June 3, 2010
Obeying on command is our goal as Christians. To obey all that the Lord (Our Master) orders us to do.
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21 NKJV)
Our obedience to the Word of God is a direct reflection of how much we love and trust Jesus. There is no other way to “be happy in Jesus” but to trust and obey.
Obedience is almost non-existent in the day that we are living because there is very little submission to God. No submission, no honor, no respect and in turn no obedience. God expects us to obey not because we “have to”, but because He wants to manifest Himself to us and through us.
The way to experience a greater manifestation of God in your life is to find out what the Word of God says and obey it immediately…without hesitation. Obedience is not optional in the Kingdom of God. The Lord requires it and rewards it! Find out what the Lord wants you to do and do it, OBEY! There is no other way.
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 March 3, 2010
How do you know when you have changed?
Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him – Col. 3:9-10 NKJV
OLD MAN vs. NEW MAN…you choose.
We have the responsibility to walk (live) according to the Word of God and act like Jesus. We can say that we are “trying”…but how hard are we trying?
To grow up into Jesus is to change the way that we act, think and speak. We have the power (and the responsibility) to change for ourselves. No one can make you change and no one can change for you. You decide when and if you are going to change.
Our disadvantage is that we live in a society of convenience where we do the least amount possible and expect the greatest result. We want all the shortcuts and we want them right now!
Real and lasting change is not based on convenience, it is based on the how much of the Word of God we are putting to practice in our lives. We must determine that we will do whatever the Word says for us to do as quickly as we see it in the Word! To change we have to change, period. How much have you changed lately?
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 February 4, 2010
Dealing with opposition? Is his name Goliath?
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’S, and he will give you into our hands. – 1 Sam 17:45-47 (KJV)
There was once a young man named David that faced a giant named Goliath. The odds were totally against him and everything in the natural pointed to David’s defeat. By all outward appearance he was doomed before the battle started.
But God…
God was for him! David had God on his side and he was convinced that he had all that he needed to show all the earth that the God of Israel was the only true God! David knew in whom he had trusted and that God was well able to empower him for victory.
If you are facing a giant right now, don’t look at the size of “Goliath”, instead look at the size of God and begin to get bold! Stand in the armor of God and declare that “since God is for me then no one or nothing will defeat me. I will win because greater is He that is in me than he that is against me. I walk in victory because I walk in the faith of God. The battle is the Lord’s and He wins everytime. I am on His side and therefore I win everytime!”
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 26, 2010
Be a winner every time…as you do what love would do.
Love never fails. – 1 Cor. 13:8
God will guarantee our success when we act like He acts. We act like God when we “walk in love”. 1 John 4:7-8 says that God is love and in Ephesians 5:1 we are told to be imitators of God as dear children (act like He acts). When we act like He acts we will experience the same success that He experiences. It is just that simple!
We were made to win, every time. And we can win every time.
Our daily goal should be to win by saying everything that we say in love. Our prayer should be, “Lord show me the right thing to say each and every moment today so that I will constantly manifest the love of God in every situation.” The reason that we do not walk in the love of God more is because we do not expect to. By giving voice to your desire to walk in love, it begins to involve the Lord and the power of His love more in your life. You are opening the door so to speak.
Also, our daily goal should be to win by doing all that do motivated by love. Judging our actions before we act to see if they line up and conform to the love commandment will keep us from losing and failing. We are destined to win as we love like Jesus loves!
Posted by Pastor Bruce on January 18, 2010
Do you have stink’n think’n?
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. – Philippians 4:8
This is the “mind filter” that we must apply on a minute by minute basis. Any thought that does not agree with Philippians 4:8 we should not allow in our mind.
We must realize that we have authority over every thought in the Name of Jesus!
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; – 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 KJV
We have been given the responsibility to arrest every thought and apply the filter of Phillipians 4:8. If it passes the test think on it, if it doesn’t then cast it down (verbally with the Name of Jesus) and then replace it with the Word of God! Judge your thoughts because what you are thinking on, you become. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (or he will become)
Put the Word in your mind and heart by meditating on the Word day and night! Thinking it, speaking it, talking about the Word with those around you! Make His Word fill your mind and the wrong thoughts will flee FOR SURE!
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!
