Tag Archives: Prayer

A Life of Faith

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   By Pastor Mike

I wanna talk about Faith and Hope. Because the Faith we have in JESUS brings us the Hope for a better life and to spend forever with HIM.

Chapter 11 of Hebrews talks a lot about Faith. Read it when you get a chance.

Hebrews 11:1

11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:6 3

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Without faith it’s impossible to please GOD. Without faith it’s impossible to receive the power and the blessings of JESUS. You may be saying “I’m praying but nothing is happening.” We can never give up on our prayers or become upset or question ourselves when we don’t get immediate results when we do pray. It’s always in HIS timing.

Sometimes we get tested just enough to make us uncomfortable. To get out of our comfort zones and keep going forward in our faith. The way to avoid unbelief is to choose to let JESUS do HIS thing and take care of business. To actively watch for HIM to do something miraculous.

I want to challenge us to deeper prayer; let’s focus beyond our limitations.

WE BELIEVE that we serve a big GOD and WE BELIEVE that a GOD-sized vision stretches us enough so that the only way it can happen is by the power of JESUS.

It’s very important in building our faith in JESUS. When we do that, anything can happen and we will be victorious in every situation.

Do we have the faith to tell that mountain to move? Do we have enough faith to tell any sickness and disease they are not welcome in our bodies?

Do we have enough faith to let JESUS handle any situation at work, on the road, in our homes, in the stores? Do we have enough faith to tell people about our JESUS and what HE does for us to bring them to HIS Kingdom?

The foundation of our relationship with JESUS is built on Faith. Without Faith our foundation will be too shallow and we might begin to lean off center and even fall over.

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Make Prayer Your Lifestyle

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  By Pastor Mike

Ephesians 6:18-19 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; [19] And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,”

There is no replacement for prayer. Not church attendance, singing, working around here, you can never replace anything with your prayer. There are things that JESUS wants to give us that can’t be sung up, praised up, worked up, or preached up. They’re things that will only be prayed up! Something happens when we give ourselves to praying for the lost, for revival, for each other, for ourselves.

If you look at church history, you’ll find prayer to be the main thing in the powerful events that took place during their days.
Their churches stayed deep in prayer.
Their homes were blessed in prayer.
Their preaching was preceded by prayer.
Their altars were blanketed by prayer.
Their witnessing was prepared by prayer.
Everything they did was marked by prayer.

Prayer is a place of surrender and there are a lot of problems in our lives that would be resolved if we give it up to prayer.

A saint, a preacher, a church can’t continue without prayer.

There are times that we seek out human answers to try to fix difficult matters in our lives. Put the cares of life in the hands of the LORD. HE does care about us. Do you believe that? Are you giving HIM yourself?

You can give everything you’re going through every situation to JESUS. All you have to do is tell HIM from your heart that you don’t want junk in your life and then once you give it to HIM, don’t even think about it. Let it go.

Prayer will help you to understand that you can’t fix everything and that you are not the one the world revolves around. It’s about HIM. I don’t have to know all the answers; I just need to know who does have all the answers.

If we’re not praying and seeking the will of GOD and the direction HE wants us to take then anything can happen and don’t blame GOD when it don’t work out the way you want it to. Ask people you know that are in tune with JESUS to help you pray about the situation. You want the answers to come from JESUS.

We should include JESUS in every decision we make that will affect our lives.
Prayer is not a monologue. It is a dialogue. JESUS can talk to you if you’ll listen to Him. You can’t come to the altar and dump everything on HIM and then get up and leave. We need to stay at the altar and let HIM talk to us!

If prayer changed you. Prayer can change everything! GOD is bigger than anything you are facing right now!

You have to understand that the devil is like one of the biggest bullies you have ever faced but when you get JESUS after him, Look out!

Remember, we already won.

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Are You Ready for Revival?

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revival

By Pastor Jeff,

Esther 4:14, “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

“For such as a time as this” we no doubt are living in the last days, in a short time Israel will be celebrating it’s 70th anniversary as becoming a nation which clearly as noted by the book of Matthew would be the last generation. The question is, will there be one more revival among the Gentiles to usher in the seven year tribulation or will the Church be quietly called home?

I for one desire one more Revival but we must remember Revival does not come about as we have special speakers and worship leaders come into our church and stir us up for a short time. I for one have witnessed moves of God that soon turned back to regular services after these people left. Revival must begin with an intense hunger for God and seeking Him humbly on our faces. Great hunger and sincere repentance was always present during any revival. You had the Wesley’s, Finney’s to name a few.

I studied much on the outpouring during the early 20th century for on New Years day 1901 a little group in Topeka Kansas we witness the pouring out the baptism on a young lady named Agnes Ozman under the tutor ledge of Charles Parham which soon started a fire throughout the world. We first witnessed an outpouring in Wales Scotland in 1904, then soon in a place that has been called the Azusa Street Revival under a one eyed Black man named William Seymour in 1906 which lasted for three years with services at least three times per day. I wonder if our modern day Christians would be able to endure this type of move of God?
Frank Bartleman who was at the forefront on this and other churches in the early 1900’s clearly proclaimed that deep prayer, humility, unity, and sacrifice of oneself was the only way that true revival could occur. Jesus Christ is waiting on us and if no one answers the call will come for a church that is weak, defeated, with no real purpose other that going through the motions of weakly services that pump us up and send us on our merry way to face the world. James 5:7, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

 

One thing I noticed when studying revivals is that they were relatively short, a couple years at most. The greatest attack on revival is always from within as most leaders don’t know how to get out of the way and try to control what the Holy Spirit is wanting to do. When someone who is desperate for more of Jesus, others get offended, they look at you as weird, even out of order with how the “Church” in their limited view should be.

If we want true Revival, the best thing we can do is to GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Jesus is coming soon and He desires His house to be full, let’s humble ourselves, Pray and then with the power that comes from the Holy Ghost do as he commands us in Luke 14:23, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

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Let’s Have a Talk with Jesus

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talk wjesus By Pastor Jeff

Prayer will always be one of the top items on a Christians to do list, and though we put a high priority on it, the church sometimes makes it seem like some kind of mysterious thing.

One day the disciples after watching Jesus pray asked how should they pray, Matthew 6:9-13, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

 I’m not going to give you a formula of how to pray or why we should pray, we just want you to pray, but I do want to take some of the mystery out of it. The basic meaning of prayer is communication with deity and many religions put a great focus on prayer even though it really has no purpose because they are communicating with nothing. The real question is, when you pray, how close do you believe God is? Is He in the third heaven, billions of lights years away, or do you see Him and feel He is right by your side, in front of you, or even behind you?Communion with Jesus Christ is special but we can have this communion wherever and whatever we are doing.

Adam and Eve in the garden had so a close relationship with God that they could hear His voice, Genesis 3:8-9, “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Many of us can remember the excitement when we were dating, how we could spend hours on the phone just talking, asking questions, exchanging our dreams, we should want the same, and even more excitement and relationship with Jesus. 

Many churches, sing about Jesus, they even preach about Jesus, and even talk about Jesus, but here we want you to know that you can talk to Jesus, Proverbs 18:24, “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” John 15:14-15, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” He’s not a God billions of light years away, He is here wherever you are, sitting next to you, or standing in front of you and though He knows everything that we desire of Him, He wants us to ask, to talk, and even to sometimes complain! 

You know what is the greatest fact you should know? If you have the baptism of the holy ghost, He is in you, John 14:17, Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” He is in you, the Hope of Glory!

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Where are the Intercessors?

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standing-in-the-gap

By Pastor Jeff

Isaiah 59:16, “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.” Ezekiel 22:30, ” And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”

We are in a time in which intercessors are desperately needed in the church, God is calling and seeking anyone who will answer the call. Most are familiar with 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Though this is referring to the nation of Israel, we see that many people are calling on the church to stand and pray for our nation and I will agree that we indeed need a move of God from the church up to the leaders of this land.

But when we talk about intercession it is more than just praying for our nation; it also is that individual prayer for each other that is missing from most of our assemblies. I got involved in intercession many years ago at a bible study about intercessory prayer when the power of God fell very heavily on a small group that assembled together one friday night. It forever changed my prayer life, but I will be the first to admit that I have done this type of prayer for a while, backed off, entered into it again and once again backed off. I can look back at my walk and see when ever I pursued intercession in my life big changes happened around it.

So I find myself excited that God seems to be directing my path and I hope others will join me in interceding for others. There are a couple of things we should know as we enter into intercession and one is that we need to be sensitive to the Spirit of God as He prompts to intercede for others, we also need to have discernment to recognize if it is a spiritual, physical, or emotional issue. We also need to have tenacity, that never giving up until we get the victory, and most important LOVE, Romans 12:9-15, “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”

When was the last time you weeped for a brother and sister? For if we intercede for them when the victory comes we can also rejoice with them as well, 1Corinthians 12:26, “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”

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The Anchor

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heb-6_19-anchor-of-our-soul-hope1    By Pastor Jeff

About a month ago my wife Carmen, stepson Lucas, and I went to visit my dear mother-in-law in Northern Minnesota. She lives on a lake and when ever we go up there we have to try our good fortunes out on the lake fishing. So we took the boat out on a somewhat very windy day and since she is familiar with the best fishing spots we dropped anchors in what promised to be a grand location. Well it didn’t take very long until I realized that we were drifting rather quickly into the nearby weed bed. So we pulled up anchor, found them to be clean of any mud or weeds so we motored our way back to our original area, dropped anchors again but this time we stood firm. When were ready to move we pulled up the anchors, this time it was much harder to bring them up, and we found the anchors this time covered with mud and weeds from the lake floor.

God then started to talk to me shortly after about this and I found the scripture in Hebrews 6:19, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” Jesus Christ needs to be our anchor for He is both “sure and steadfast” but unfortunately many a Christian does not see the importance of having and being able to use their anchor to be able to withstand the even lightest of winds. Many just put there anchor in the bow of the boat, where it gets lost over a period of time so when the wind comes they find themselves bashed against the weeds or worse the rocks of this world. We can compare this to the word of God, 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” Jesus also told us that we cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Too many believers are being led astray by the many false prophets of our day, we need to read and study His word just not on Sundays but throughout our week, Amen!

Depending on the size of your boat you also need to have the proper anchor, if it’s to small, it really becomes as no use, and once again find yourself being blown of course. We need to have a daily prayer life with our Lord and Savior to allow our faith to be large enough when the winds become stronger.

We then need to have the anchor secure enough for it to withstand in times that the enemy is putting everything it can to push us away from the love of Jesus Christ in our lives. We need to put on the full armor of God as mentioned in Ephesians 6:10-18 to allow us to do this. Its becoming more apparent that this world is becoming increasingly against the true message of salvation and living fully for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We need to have our anchor sure and steadfast in Jesus Christ in order to be able to withstand the wiles of the devil, so let Jesus become the anchor of your soul!

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