Thursday, September 21, 2017

Presence of God

2 Corinthians 13:14, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” (NKJV)

Is it possible that we can become so consumed by the presence of darkness that we fail to recognize and appreciate the presence and power of the Light? The True Light reminds us of the presence of God on a daily basis. God is not limited to a Sunday or Wednesday encounter; He is present at all times with all power to intervene in our lives. I am thankful that I can depend on the revelatory presence of the Triune God that makes Himself known through His activity in my daily life. 

I found an illustration that I read over six (6) years ago. I had filed it away and I had forgotten its location but during a time of sermon preparation the Spirit brought it to my attention. It spoke to my heart again just as it did in 2011. The words are just as true if not more true today then they were at that point in my spiritual journey. These are the days that we must choose to press in and press on when it comes to the Kingdom of God. We must refuse to settle for less when we know that God has more for us. We must break the chains of "spiritual contentment" and hunger for a deeper and stronger relationship with God. We desire the best things of life but choose to settle for the "lesser things" when it comes to the Kingdom of God. I am determined to change that narrative through the power of the Word of God and through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

"When electricity became available in remote rural areas, one woman went to great trouble and expense to have electricity installed in her home. A few months after the wiring was installed and the power was turned on; the power company noticed that the home didn’t use very much power. Fearing that there was a problem they sent a meter reader to check on the matter. The meter reader saw that the power was indeed working properly and then asked the woman, “Do you use your electricity?” The woman replied, “Of course we do. We turn it on every night to see to light our lamps and then we turn it off.”

Doesn’t that just sound ridiculous? Having all of the power that you need and the ability to tap it all of the time but only using it just enough “get by.” We would never do anything like this at all because it just wouldn’t make sense. However, we do this exact same thing a great deal when we apply the same reasoning to the power and presence of God.

We go out of our way to go to church and to worship but have little relationship with God through the week. We go through difficulties day after day and only when we come to the end of our strength do we ask for God’s help. We have the power of God at our disposal all of the time but yet we attempt to get by on our own strength everyday. We are a lot more like the woman who wouldn’t use her electricity than we would like to admit.

We need to experience the presence of God to experience His power. Just like electricity, when we remove the presence of God from our lives; we also remove the power." (Author Unknown)

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

This is NO TIME to be QUIET

I am sure that many of you who read this blog would concur with this following statement. The citizens of our nation are facing some very critical times without even referencing the political climate of America. The anger, frustration, hatred, division and acts of violence that have been simmering under the surface have now burst out into actions that are very troubling to the "average" citizen of our land. 

What should be the response of the people of God? What action or actions are we taking today that would portray, demonstrate, reveal and even declare our spiritual optimism? I have very little optimism from the natural point of view but my spiritual optimism is "over the top." And I am not embarrassed to declare that I am a " practicing believer" in the Great I AM and that I still believe He has the power to save, heal and deliver. 

I truly believe that the enemy is trying to interfere, hinder and even shut down one of the most powerful weapons in our arsenal of weaponry. The enemy seeks to hinder our praise, worship and offering of adoration to our Lord and Savior. He wants us to BE QUIET and he wants us to sheepishly walk away from the promises that have been revealed and declared in the Word of God. But I publicly declare that I refuse to go quietly and that I also refuse to walk away from the promises of God.

I am disturbed by the lack of interest in worship; the lack of interest in attending church; the lack of interest in prayer; the lack of interest in serving others; etc. We live in a world in which we will take time for ourselves but have very little time for God. The enemy of our soul is working to put the church to sleep and the Spirit of God is working to wake the church up. We have to choose between being put to sleep by Satan or being awakened by the Spirit. I know the choice that I am making; I desire to be fully awakened by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

The past two days the Spirit has placed songs in my Spirit as I was praying. Yesterday it was He's Able, He's Able and today it was one of the worship songs from our Sunday service, Great Are You Lord. I would like to share a few words from Great Are You Lord which was written by All Sons &  Daughters.

It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
To You only

All the earth will shout
Your praise
Our hearts will cry
These bones will sing
Great are You, Lord
It is time for the people of God to shout unto God with a voice of triumphant!!

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

9-11, Part 2

I would like to take a moment and share a personal perspective on another 9-11 event. The first service of what would become New River Worship Center was conducted on 9-11-09 at Woodland Elementary School in Radcliff, Kentucky. This was the beginning of a new chapter in our ministerial lives. Ann and I did not necessarily set out to plant a church but it was more of a step of faith prompted by a desire to seek after His will for our lives. 

This post is not about the process of development of the New River congregation but it is about a passage of scripture that the Spirit had placed in my heart during prayer time on 9-11-09. I will be honest and tell you that I had forgotten that the Spirit had dropped a passage in my heart until I looked back in my journal from 2009. I will share that passage in a moment because I believe that there are people who need to read this particular Word from God TODAY!! 

The passage is taken from Hebrews. The Apostle Paul is reminding them of the persecution as well as various problems that they had faced and that they were facing. Paul also reminded them that they had also believed that their future was better than their past or even their present. Their belief was based on their eternal view of their lives and not their temporal view of life. I would encourage you to pay close attention to verse 35. 

These "words" are the reminder that each of us needs to read and HEAR today. You may be on the verge of "throwing in your towel" of faith, hope and trust. You may be on the verge of walking away from your relationship with God. You may be on the verge of giving up on the prayers that you are praying at this moment or that you have prayed. You may be on the verge of losing confidence in God and loosing confidence in your ability to faithfully run your race. But don't give up just yet!! Help is on the way!! The Word of God is alive and powerful!! 

Hebrews 10:32-36, Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.(NIV) (Emphasis Added)

Monday, September 11, 2017

Remembering 9-11-01

My comments this morning are not intended to diminish the terrible destruction that has been inflicted by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Neither are my comments meant to deflect our thoughts, prayers, and assistance away from many individuals both within as well as outside our nation that are facing their own set of difficult challenges.  

But I also believe that I would be doing a disservice to those individuals who perished on that terrible day in our history as well as overlooking those families who still grieve over the departure of their loved ones. It is hard to imagine that it has been sixteen (16) years since the horrific events of that day took place. Many of us sat in shock as well as unbelief as we watched the events unfold before or eyes on national TV or as  we were listening to our local radio stations. I will repeat the words that have been spoken very often since 9-11-01, "Our nation has not been the same since that day!"

We have been at war for sixteen (16) years. We can not afford to forget those brave men and women who have given their lives on various battlefields around the world since the pain of 9-11 was inflicted upon us. We can not afford to forget the numbers of prayers that have been offered since the 9-11 terrorist attack took place. Let me hasten to add that many of us continue to pray some of those same prayers these sixteen (16) years later!

I read some words this morning and I listened to some voices reciting the names of those individuals who perished as a result of the attacks in New York City, the Pentagon as well as the plane crash in Pennsylvania. These individuals and their families are depending on us to keep learning the valuable lessons that God continues to teach these many years later. 

1. We should remember these events with humility. We must be careful and not allow our pride and arrogance get the best of us. WE STILL NEED THE DIRECTION OF GOD MORE TODAY THAN EVER BEFORE!!

2. We should "weep with those who weep." There is a time to mourn and there is a time to laugh. Today is a day to mourn with those who mourn.

3. We should remember the unity that we felt as Americans immediately following the attack upon our nation. Doesn't that sound like a wonderful goal or desire to have in the midst of the division, angst and anger that our nation is embroiled in at this time in our history?

4. We should also remember that we are involved in a "spiritual war" as well as war against terrorists.

Psalm 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble." (NKJV)

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Wednesday's Inspiration

This has been another week that I have sensed the presence of the Spirit during prayer time. I truly believe that God is at work even in the midst of our challenges and difficulties. I truly desire to offer my sincere praise to Him and I desire to serve Him to the best of my ability.

I would like to share with you a portion of a letter that I shared with our church family this week. I wrote what I sensed God revealing to me as I prayed this week as well as those things that the Spirit brought to my remembrance. We must remind ourselves that we are in the "kingdom for such a time of this." God is fully aware of all that is taking place in this world but He is also aware of all that is taking place in your life. I am "counting on God" to walk with me as I move through the challenges of life. 

The Psalmist David encouraged us to look forward to those opportunities in which we could offer our heartfelt worship in the House of the Lord. There is true joy when we are afforded the opportunity to gather together with the family of God and offer our corporate worship to our Savior. Is it possible that our corporate praise times on this Earth are preparing us for the day that we will join with the saints of God from around the world in a time of " TRUE CORPORATE, FAMILY WORSHIP?

I spoke three (3) words at the conclusion of the Altar Call last Sunday. Those words were "rejuvenate, refresh and revive." One of the definitions of the word "rejuvenate" is "to restore to a former state; make fresh or new again." (Dictionary.com) The more that I pray the more I believe that this is one of the blessings that God desires to share with the present day church. Many of us are facing situations/trials/challenges/temptations/distractions/discouragement/etc. These "difficulties" are seeking to "rob" us of the initial "joy, peace and hope" that we received as we began our initial journey with Christ. We also received the deposit of the "fire of evangelism" when we began our journey with Christ. We had a burning desire to share the Good News with our family, friends and even complete strangers. I believe that these are two of the many elements that the Spirit desires "to restore or make fresh again." Oh, that we would ask God to open our eyes, unstop our ears and soften our hearts one more time as we face the onslaught of the challenges of Satan. But REMEMBER THAT OUR VICTORY WILL BE FOUND IN CHRIST & OUR VICTORY WILL BE LIVED OUT THROUGH CHRIST!!! 

Would you join with me in asking God to deposit the "3 R's" in your life today?