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Archive for April, 2011

These Signs Shall Follow

Posted in Crucified, God's Glory, Healing, Jesus, Prayer, Salvation, Satan, Sin, Teaching, The Father, The Holy Spirit, The Righteous, The Word on April 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

19So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

 20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. Mark 16: 19-20

 3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

 4God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.  Hebrews 2: 3-4

Today is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter.  As Christians we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during this time.  Usually on Easter weekend, churches have the largest attendance of the year.  So many churches preach the gospel message hoping that many will give their life to Christ.

When Jesus commissioned the disciples after His resurrection, He told them that when they went out to preach the gospel, signs and wonders would follow them.  They would be able to cast out demons, lay hands on the sick and they would be healed.  We are also told in the above scriptures that God confirms the message of salvation by both signs and wonders and various miracles.  We cannot have the gospel preached without evidence of signs, wonders and miracles.  Otherwise we are simply preaching a message with no power behind it.

We should not only anticipate a great soul harvest this weekend, but we should expect to see it all including signs, wonders and miracles.  Their purpose is to confirm the gospel message and point people to Jesus.  So we should expect to see miracles, healings take place, deliverance from demons, etc.  Of course the greatest miracle of all is when a person is saved – that person was once dead in their sin and is made alive in Christ.

So let’s invite the lost, the sick and shut in, the hopeless, the downtrodden, those bound, etc.; and expect God to show up and deliver them all.  Let our prayer be that God will confirm His covenant, made through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by the miracles, signs and wonders that will point all men to Jesus.

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Peace As Our Guide

Posted in Peace, The Holy Spirit on April 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.  Romans 8:6

 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Peace is one of the tools the Holy Spirit uses to give us direction, either with the presence or absence of peace.  It is very important that we are in tune with the Holy Spirit and recognize when peace is present or not present.

The Holy Spirit will warn us if danger is ahead or if we are making the wrong decision.  He will confirm if a decision is right and the will of God.  But we must be sensitive to His promptings.  Many people want God to shout in a booming voice what they should or should not do.  Many times it is simply the presence or absences of peace that will let us know if we are on the right track.

Too many of us ignore this and we make decisions that we have no peace about but somehow reason it out to be right.  Other times we gave peace about a decision but it does not make sense in the natural, so we question ourselves and go against that decision.  It is very important that we heed to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and warnings.

When we make a decision based on God’s will, and obey Him, there will be peace, the kind of peace that is not controlled by circumstances or emotions.  It is the peace of God; peace that the world does not have.

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When We Doubt

Posted in Prayer on April 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

 6But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

 7For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,

 8being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.   James 1: 5-8

There are times when we pray that we do not really know the will of God in a situation, so we pray “If it be your will Lord…”  When we start our prayer with “if” it is an indication of doubt.  “If” is not a definitive statement, it is a conditional statement.  So when we put “if” in our prayer it is a conditional prayer that is actually based on doubt. 

James tells us to ask for wisdom, so if we do not know what God’s will is in a situation we should ask for wisdom.  God will give us wisdom and we can pray in accordance to that wisdom and God’s will.  However, when we doubt we are double minded and unstable.  We really have no confidence in our prayer or in God.

We know that without faith it is impossible to please God.  James tells us that when we doubt we should not expect to receive anything from God.  One minute we may believe God will hear and answer our prayer, but in another moment we will question the willingness of God.  We become double minded.

Jesus taught us to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  So when we pray we should not doubt that the will of God will be done.  We don’t have to make statements such as “if it by thy will God…” we can say with certainty “Thy will be done God.”  Wherever we lack wisdom we can simply ask God in faith and we will receive. 

Prayers that are rooted in doubt cannot be answered by God.  Only prayers of faith will be answered by God.

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And When You Pray

Posted in Healing, Jesus, Knowing God, Love, Prayer, Salvation, The Father, The Word on April 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 9“Pray, then, in this way:
  ‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
   Hallowed be Your name.
10’Your kingdom come
   Your will be done,
   On earth as it is in heaven.
 11‘Give us this day our daily bread.
 12‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 13‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]’  Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus taught the disciples how to pray.  We often pray the Lord’s prayer in church and in our private time.  This prayer is usually memorized by most Christians.  But do we really pray the way Jesus taught us to pray?

Many times when we pray we put a caveat in our prayer “If it be your will…”  But Jesus told us to pray “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  So when we pray we are to pray that the Father’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  We do not have to guess what the Father wants to do.  So when we pray we should ask ourselves what heaven says.  Then we know what to pray.

When we pray for the salvation of a loved one, we know that everyone in Heaven is saved, so when we pray we pray for God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.  We know it is God’s will to save the lost.  There is no sickness in heaven, so we know we can pray God’s will for healing to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  The bible even says that if we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).  So we can pray with confidence that God’s will be done when it comes to our desires.

When we start off a prayer saying “If it be your will…” we put the responsibility on God and remove our responsibility to have faith that God will answer our prayer.  Because if our prayer is not answered, then we can say it was not God’s will.  Instead, we should have enough faith to believe God for the answered prayer; have confidence enough that if it is not in line with His will then He will tell us; and direct us in what His will is in the situation.

It is important to remember that we pray from Heaven to earth.  We are to pray that which is loose in heaven be loosed on earth.  So it is always in line with God’s will to pray for peace, salvation, healing, restoration, joy, love, etc. because all these things are found in heaven.  We never have to worry that God desires anything that is contrary to heaven. 

So the next time you pray know that the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Pray in faith and with confidence.

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