Pray for the Election!!!!

Brevard Prayer Team invites you to attend a “Prayer Walk In The Park” on Thursday, October 25 from 3:00 pm until 6:00 pm. Please join us at this non-partisan, non-political event as we pray for the upcoming election and ask the Lord for His guidance for America through the voting process. This informal prayer gathering will be held in Gleason Park (one block north of the Eau Gallie Causeway on South Patrick Drive) in Indian Harbour Beach. Feel free to come and pray by yourself or with others of like precious faith as you enjoy the park and the presence of our Lord. Brevard Prayer Team is a group of business owners, church leaders, political leaders, chaplains and professionals who meet monthly to pray for Brevard County, and is an outreach of Power In The Workplace Ministries. For more information, contact Rev. Carol Wheatley at 321-626-4483.

Is God On Your Side? - Part 2

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:

Wait! Wait! Didn’t we just write this in the last blog? Why yes we did, but this version has a very different focus! Read on…

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 to prayer abundantly clear and "this is the confidence" that we have - 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.

And that's where the problem starts! Life throws some real stuff at us whether we're saved or not and a lot of Christians just don't seem to know what to do when the tough stuff hits them. So they turn to the people who they think can and will pray.

People want to be healed - no doubt about that - but sometimes they get in their own way. Let me give you an example: A woman I know had been dealing with a physical issue for quite some time and had had numerous people lay hands on her and pray. She went up for every prayer line and attended any church that offered a healing service. She looked and looked and looked for her healing.

She agreed with the scriptures and could recite them by heart; she believed God truly wanted her well. So why wasn't she healed? Well, all I can do is tell you what happened at a service one Sunday morning. The pastor called for anyone needing prayer and this lady went forward; normally I would have gone up and laid hands and prayed for anyone needing it but this time the Holy Spirit specifically told me to just sit down. As I prayed in tongues, He revealed to me that this lady was taking His Name and His Word in vain. How so, Lord? I asked. He said that no matter how many times the scriptures were spoken over her or by her, that she negated them by the words that came from her heart.

"Yes, the pastor prayed for me, but I still feel terrible."
"I quote the scriptures all the time, but there's been absolutely no change in my condition."
"I know the Lord wants me well but you know, I know someone who died from this condition."
"I don't know why my healing is taking so long...I'm really discouraged."
"I thought that by speaking the scriptures I'd get healed...isn't God supposed to be on my side?"

The things that we truly believe in our hearts eventually make it out of our mouths! And when they do, all of the doubt and unbelief we harbor come out. It's so sad.

But the good news is that it's not a condition that can't be fixed! All it takes is effort...lots of effort. Beloved, stating the blatantly obvious is a habit we all tend to battle, but it's a battle that our Lord and Savior fought and won on Calvary's cross! He equipped us with everything we need to access and keep our healing. He gave us His Words!

The way to know that God is on your side is to be sure you're on God's side and you do that by studying the scriptures, meditating on them, and then making sure that ONLY those scriptures come out of your mouth. Renew your mind and your body will follow!

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!