Is God On Your Side? Part 1

Is God on your side?

No!

Oops! Did I say that out loud? Now before you get mad at me, let me explain this audacious statement:

I am privileged to be able to pray for and with people quite often and when I do, I am careful to pray according to God's Word. Our Lord has made the path of prayer abundantly clear and the confidence that we have is that whenever we pray according to His will, He hears us and if He hears us, we know we have the petitions we've asked of Him. So does God really answer prayer? Absolutely!

And that's where the problem starts! Life throws some real stuff at us and people often seek out people of God to help them get through the difficult times. But a lot of folks only want the help, not the Helper. They want God to "interfere" but only when it benefits them and they want him out of their lives when it doesn't benefit them. For example, I met an individual who fell and broke elbow. It greatly interfered with his tennis game and so he asked for prayer. He knew I was a believer and he believed that I really believed. So he figured he'd get healed. He didn't.

He wanted God on his side...but just until he could rehab long enough to get his game back.

That's the thing about dealing with God in prayer - He knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Can He and will He heal anyway? Of course, but it's our faith that sets us apart from the rest of fallen mankind. And without faith, it's impossible to please Him.

So a lot of times when we pray for people, they simply "hope" they'll get healed but they don't actually have the faith to "believe" they'll be healed. So they go away mad and sick and discouraged. They tell their friends that they went to a "faith healer" but it didn't work and well, they really didn't expect it to work.

So beloved, if you're a person of God and an unsaved person in need of healing (or anything else for that matter) asks you to pray, jump at the chance! But always remember that the most important thing you can pray for that person is for their redemption. Jesus already came to save them, their sins are already forgiven, and they're already healed. They just have to believe that God Is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Help the unbelievers in your life.
Lead them into a relationship with God.
Teach them the scriptures.
Teach them to pray.

Because the only time God is on your side is when you're on His side!

Time Flies...

Time flies when you're having fun...or when you're working 60 hours a week! But fun it is! I've got a great job, work with great people, and serve a Great God. What more can a girl ask?

But you know, the more we work, the more we really need to spend time with God. I hear from so many people that they just "don't have time" any more to clear their thoughts and sit quietly in the Presence of God. But, Beloved, the busier you are, the more you need to do just that. Time with the Father is what keeps us strong and it's what keeps us going in the right direction.

When we put our lives down for even a little while each and every day, and have fellowship with the Lord, when we again pick up our lives we'll find we're refreshed and encouraged. The world today is complex and we must have clarity to know what direction to follow; we must have time with the Father to hear His voice.

Communications Gap

It's amazing how well our spiritual ancestors communicated. Written letters and personal visits were how they found out what was going on down the road and across the country. Letters and visits created unity and without them, what would we have in the way of impartation of what the original disciples learned from Jesus and each other? Today we have letters, internet, TV, ad infinitum! And we still don't know what's going on. Now maybe it's just me, but I'd love to know what "the church" is up to. And when I say "church" I don't mean the building you go to on Sunday/Wednesday or any of the other buildings folks go to once or twice a week. When I say "church" I mean the Body of Christ.

But the Body of Christ has become crippled because its members are disjointed and therefore lame and impotent. How did we get that way? The answer's evident...we got that way because each "church" has its own agenda and that agenda often has no place for Jesus. It seems to me that everyone is doing their own thing instead of doing His thing! Churches seldom work together in unity to take a region for the Kingdom of God. Why?

'Cause if I help you, you might steal some of MY church members. Pathetic. We should be helping each other, we should be working together, we should be praying together to determine what it is the Holy Spirit needs for us to DO in our region...and then we should be joining forces to get the job done.

Do you know why people ridicule us? Because they see us for who we really are. They don't see signs, they don't see wonders. They often only see a bunch of self-serving, well-dressed, Bible-ignoring, sin-as-much-as-the-next-guy preachers telling them they're going to Hell but not giving them one reason at all to go to Heaven.

Here's a novel idea: why don't we get together as a region - whatever region it is you live in - and pray and see what God wants us to do!?! How about we give it a shot in Brevard County, Florida?

Let's see what happens...

God's Mercy, God's Grace, God's Power

Without His mercy, I'd still be dead in my sins, not even knowing I was filthy and going to hell. Who knew? Nothing in my Catholic upbringing ever said anything about being born again!  Nobody ever told me that Jesus was no longer nailed to the cross but had risen. Nobody ever told me that the reason He was nailed to the cross in the first place was because of my sins...not the sins of mankind...MY sins. But it was His mercy that saved me, that let me hear His voice calling me even when I was deaf and blind in my sin.

And it was through His grace I was saved. Believe me, it was nothing I ever did on my own, I sure as heck wasn't good enough, smart enough, nice enough or rich enough to have figured out that I needed saving, and I sure couldn't have made it happen on my own! Yup, it's by grace I was saved. I give Him all the credit! I wasn't even listening for Him when He let me hear His voice call me! How cool is that? That's grace...nothing but grace. Grace that got me through the struggles of my life, grace that got me down on my knees, and grace positioned me to receive His resurrection power into my life.

But how do we get God's power? First, you have to believe that He died for YOUR sins and receive His forgiveness. Then make Him the Lord of your life which simply means obeying Him. But how can you obey Him? Power! When He dwells within you, you receive the resurrection power that enables you to overcome temptation, to overcome sin, and to overcome the stuff that the enemy uses to try to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you.

Beloved, don't fall for the lie that says "God loves you so much that He allows evil, horrible, despicable, heartbreaking things to happen in your life." It's a LIE. don't, don't, don't fall for it!!! The biggest lie the enemy tells those who are willing to hear is that he doesn't exist and that it is God, not the devil, who brings tragedy and sickness into your life. God says very plainly that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly; that by His stripes you are healed; that when we confess our sins, we're forgiven; that we should cast out demons; we should lay hands on the sick and they'll recover; and that we should tell people about the good news.

Seriously, does rape and murder and childhood death sound like good news? Does financial ruin sound like good news? Nope. Doesn't sound like good news to me either. Beloved, don't get tricked into believing the very prevalent lie that is being taught in many of our churches. Believe what you read for yourself in the Bible...believe in the finished work of Jesus...believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,.

Allow God's mercy to cleanse you from all unrighteousness; let His grace lead you into a life of service and obedience to Him; and let His power be evident in your life by living the Word, not just hearing it, but actually getting out there are doing what He has commanded us to do. Arise, beloved, to your high calling in Christ Jesus!

Soooooo Frustrating

Have you ever noticed that life can be just the teeniest little bit frustrating? As Christians, we encounter the same frustrations that the rest of the world encounters. It's inevitable. Nowhere in the Bible does it say our days on earth will be frustration-free when we give our lives to the Lord.

But it's actually not unGodly to be frustrated; it's how we handle the frustration that deems Godliness or unGodliness! What's your first line of defense when you run into a brick wall of frustration? Your first line of defense has to be what it is in every situation: the Word. What does the Word say about the situation that's causing frustration or irritation or anger in your life? If you don't know what the Word says, you'll have nothing to stand on to regain your balance when you hit that wall full force! If you don't know what the promises are, how can you believe they'll occur in your life?

You know, there's a line from a song in the movie "South Pacific" that I've never forgotten: the song was "Happy Talk" and the line goes something like this: "You've got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?" It's almost the same theory: unless you have God's Word within you, how you gonna trust Him to see His Word come true? If you don't know what His promises are, you'll never be able to trust Him to fulfill His promises...at best all your prayers will ever be is wishful thinking!

So why am I telling you this? Because in order to combat the frustration in your life (which leads to anger, doubt, resentment, bitterness, unbelief, discouragement, and on and on) you have to know what's wrong with the situation you're in. Until you know what you're facing, you can't use that mighty Sword of the Spirit against it to gain victory.

So study! Renew your mind! Gain strength! Learn the word and learn the solutions to life's problems!

Opportunity Knocks

Opportunity in America takes on many different forms. Sometimes we recognize it, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we don't even know that opportunity is knocking!

But what does the Word tell us about opportunity? And what does the Word tell us about knocking?  Let's look at knocking first: ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it will be opened to you. The Greek actually translates "keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking" and so we have to realize that knocking just once may not do it. Now don't confuse knocking with begging or pleading. Loud banging and continual knocking does not change God's heart; knocking to seek God's wisdom changes our hearts and helps us realize that we have nothing and we are nothing without Him. It reminds us that the "keep on knocking" exercise continually brings us into the Presence of God which is where we should be. Scriptures tell us over and over that God hears and answers our prayers. So why do we have to keep on knocking if we've already been granted the petitions we've sought? We keep on knocking to find the wisdom we need to recognize the opportunities surrounding our prayers, to walk out the answers to our prayers, and to continually remain in an attitude of thankfulness.. It is God Himself Who is opened to us.

Opportunity is when God puts something in front of us that's good for us. Opportunity sometimes comes clothed in sheep's clothing (from the enemy or lust or the flesh or the world) and what may seem like an opportunity isn't. Sometimes God will simply say "No" to some opportunities - sometimes we think we want a piece of bread but God knows it's a stone; sometimes we want what we think is a fish but that God knows is a scorpion that will poison us. But opportunities do come and we have to be able to identify them. Again going before the Father in prayer will keep you in a position to be able to identify an opportunity from a temptation.

Pray on, people!

Get Rid of the Stress

Stress is really nothing more than fear. Sometimes you’re afraid of what’s coming; sometimes you’re afraid because you don’t know what’s coming. But no matter what the circumstances, you can always boil stress down to fear. There are numerous stressors, but the most common cause of stress is time constraints. So let’s look at some of the ways you can reduce the stress in your life just by organizing some stuff:

• Make a list of what stresses you; then decide what is and isn’t worth it; then change what you can change and develop work-arounds for what you can’t change.
  
• Use a wall calendar and a pocket datebook. (The operative word is use.
  
• Balance your scheduled activities: work/play; groups/personal; family/couple.
  
• Use your head! Think about what you’re going to do or how to do something.
  
• Don’t buy stuff that isn’t easy to take care of.
  
• Simplify your eating and cooking habits.
  
• Plan your day the night before: clothes, breakfast foods, lunches, money, dry cleaning, homework, etc.
  
• Simplify your schedule: don’t go places you don’t want to go!
  
• Unclutter! Throw it out or give it away.
  
• Make lists!
  
• Make more lists!
  
• Keep home and job separate. Spend quality time in both places.
  

These are just a few of the good ideas that will help take the stress out of your life…no matter where that stress comes from.