Tuesday, February 22, 2011

What a Mighty God I Serve

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth"  Psalm 46:10.  My nine year old son Cory suffers with multiple disabilities.  He is in a wheelchair, and is unable to set, stand or move on his own.  I've been told by the many doctors who care for him that he will never walk, talk or see.  BUT GOD!  You see, when Cory was born, I was told that he was a vegetable; but if you see him for your self, will would attest that "the devil is a liar"!

For the past six months, we've been watching Cory's spin progressively curve to dangerous degrees.  So the orthopedic and the neurosurgeon was looking at spinal cord and tether cord surgery.  These surgeries are very dangerous to an already medically fragile child.  So, the more talk of the surgeries, the more I cried out to my miracle performing God.  "For with God, nothing is impossible" Luke 1:37.

So last week, we went to our follow up appointment with the orthopedic doctor.  When she put the x-ray of his spin on the board, she looked as me and asked "What have you been doing, his spin is straight!"  Well, needless to say, I responded, "PRAYING!"  You see, I serve a mighty God, one who specializes in the impossible.  One who has been performing miracles, signs and wonders down though the centuries.  And I believe and stand on the promises in God's Word; "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" Isaiah 53:5.

So I encourage you today reading this, put your trust in the one, true and living God.  He is the Lord of lords and King of kings!

Be blessed!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

I've Learned to Worship

As I set in a Sunday service, I closed my eyes and listened to the call to
worship.  Then it hit me; we know more about praise then we know about worship. 
Thanksgiving gets us in the gates, praise gets us in the courts, but worship
takes us into His presence.  We often get stalled in the courtyard and never
make it to the throne room.
 
God is looking for authentic worship!  Worship that not only comes from the
lips, but also from the heart.  He is raising up a worshipping bride who
desires to be lost in the love of His presence.  This worship is bringing life
back into the body of Christ.  It is restoring joy to God's people, and
restoring our love to the Father.  It is bringing liberty and deliverance to
the people of God.

We can't expect to enter in, on our emotions, or how we feel.  The word of God
tells us in John 4:23-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth”.

So before you can worship in the way that God desires, you must develop a
personal relationship with Jesus, cultivated in prayer and fellowship.  "I am the
way the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John
14:6).

It is a privilege to worship God.  We would be miserable and lifeless without
this privilege.  Worship will lift you spirit, charge a chaotic atmosphere,
and break the spirit of heaviness.

When my special needs son Cory was born, I learned to worship.  It became my lifestyle.
I found out worship wasn’t just showing up for Wednesday and Sunday services.  Cory was born a very medically fragile boy, spending a lot of time in the hospital.  Here I was this new mom, feeling overwhelmed, and life as I new was over.  I new I needed help!  

I began to understand the importance of spending quite time with God, soaking in His very presence.  Yes I was a believer, and I prayed regularly.  But the more time I soaked in the presence of God, I realized I was praying some very selfish prayers.   

You see, worship is a condition of the heart, to walk in holiness and love.  As God began to show me myself, I was able to repent and come into a deeper relationship with Him.  This relationship helped me deal with all the bad reports I was getting from doctor’s concerning my son.  I was told he wouldn’t live to be a year old.  That sent me into a radical worship.  My son is now nine years old.

It is my worship to an Almighty God that lifts me from the pit of humanity’s problems to a higher and purer perspective.  My worship causes me to truly understand “with God all things are possible” (Luke 18:27), because I’m trusting in God for every thing, because He is faithful.  You see, I have learned to worship my way through difficult times.  Worship is powerful, it will charge and change a chaotic atmosphere, and break the spirit of heaviness.

What does your life look like?  Can people look at you and know you’ve been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).  Can Jesus been seen in you?  It is the love of God that should ignite authentic worship in you!  "For God so love the world that He gave His
only begotten Son...(John 3:16).  That is extreme love!  Jesus tells us to love the
Lord with all thy heart, soul and mind (Mark 12:30.  This type of love requires
you to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthews 6:33), and obey the Holy Spirit
as He leads you.

In caring for my special needs son, I must listen to the Holy Spirit!  When my son’s head begin to swell at three months old, I closed my eyes and prayed, “Lord, help me!  Is something wrong with my baby?  And I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Go to the hospital”.  And when I got to the hospital, one of the doctors’s asked me, “How did you know to bring him here?”  When I told the doctor I prayed about it, they wanted me to talk with a counselor.  I didn’t need a counselor; I had already spoken to the Wonderful Counselor!

I challenge you today in your love walk and in your worship to an Almighty God. 
Allow Jesus to be seen in you.  Be mindful of your actions and reactions to
others.  Have you learned to deal so close with God that you know Omnipotence is
working in you?
Be blessed!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Discern the Seasons of The Lord

There are times in our lives when we need to hold on and there are times when we need to let things go.  Times and seasons for unloading.  In 1 Samuel 31:2; Jonathan was torn between his loyalty  to his spiritual brother David he made a spiritual covenant with, and his biological father, King Saul, which he had a physical covenant with.

When Jonathan followed the flesh instead of the spirit, early death came to him.  He could not discern what to hold and what to unload.  This is a good lesson to learn from.  You must realize that before there can be a filling, there must be an emptying.  How can God fill you, when you're already running over with "self".  God can not give you solutions when you are clinging to your problems and refuse to unload them.  "Ooch!  Lord I hear You load and clear!" 

I've been boiling and stewing over something for about three days, and God spoke to my spirit convicting me of the situation.  There are times I have to unload the assignments I cannot accomplish by myself.  There will be burdens that I must release to future generations.  Over in 1 Kings 19:15-16, God told the prophet Elijah to do three things, but he only accomplished one.  God passed the remaining assignments to Elisha, and he felt the burden of three generations during his ministry. 

So in my frustration, I had to realize and except that things are timely or timeless.  God speaks both into our hearts.  My my job is to know what to unload, what to fulfill, and what to pass on.  There will be times in our lives when we must unload, stop trying to go ahead of God and make things happen, we get outside His will when we do that.  We must learn to simply get with God, rest in Him, worship Jesus, and walk in the Spirit.  Cultivate an intimate love relationship with Him.  Serve Him. 

In order for God to ignite and infuse last day power, we must first learn to unload some things in our lives.  God may be waiting for you to get rid of some things to make room for Him, and more of Him!  He asking, "Do you love Me more than any problem or position in your life?  Are you focusing on Me more than the distractions in your life?  Am I greater than every failure and disappointment you have experienced?  Come rest in Me.  Come learn to discern My season for you. 

It's time to lay aside every weight, distractions, and lay aside the sins that so easily entangle you, and choose God (see Hebrews 12:1).  It's time to take your mind and your mouth off of "you", "your" problems, and shift your focus to the Most High God.  This is the first step to igniting the power of God in your life.

Be blessed!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The More I Die, The Closer God Gets

We like things to come quickly, easily, and cheaply.  God knows that such things never produce godly character in us.  Jesus says: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26).

Intimacy with God requires brokeness, because purity comes from brokeness.  He will reveal more of Himself to you if you are willing to die to yourself.  When the apostle Paul wrote, "I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31), he was saying; "I enter into the presence of God every day".  God is calling!  He is calling people who want serious revival into a place of transparent purity.

Please understand, that He wants to draw near, and when you come near, He will have to deal with you.  Meaning, you must die.  God told Moses, "No man has seen My face and lived."  Flesh can not live in the glory of the Most High God.  When the glory of God comes, the flesh doesn't feel comfortable.  It becomes weakened by His presence.  Something dies within us every time we are confronted by God's glory.  Just as the prophet Isaiah received the hot coals on his lips, we receive the hot bread of His presence and are forever changed. When more of our flesh dies,  more of our spirit lives.

I want more of God!  I want to move from the place of anointing into His manifested glory.  So I choose to obey God's call for brokeness, death and purity.  To walk in holiness, love and peace.  I want to be more like Jesus.  What about you?

Be blessed!