Don't Give Up, Part 2

I did not have any intentions to continue the thought that I shared yesterday until my prayer and study time for this evening's service in Cleveland, TN. Many of us are facing our own unusual set of circumstances. In many instances these circumstances are very daunting and the enemy will use them to discourage and frustrate us. In those moments we must rely on the strength of God to provide the persistence and desire that we need to continue our journey and to continue our pursuit of a deeper relationship with God. I woke up this morning with Hebrews 12:1-3 in my spirit. The last part of verse 2 keeps being raised up in my spirit as I have sought to listen to the Voice of God. Let me remind you of what the Bible says, "...let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (KJV). The word "patience" provides an interesting challenge to all of us. The original language provides this insight to the meaning of the word. The word "patience" is translated from the word which means "cheerful endurance." The Lord reminded me that I can "cheerfully endure" my race as I reflect on the presence of God that is traveling with me. Some of you may feel lonely, isolated, disconnected and even discouraged today; but rest assured that you are not alone. Cheerfulness does not emanate from your circumstances but cheerfulness comes from the Biblical promise that the Lord will not forsake you. You are not alone on the road of life; we can not afford to give up our walk with God regardless of what life is bringing our way. We do have days of challenge and trials but rest assured Christ has already faced those challenges for us and He stands ready to assist if we will remain consistent in our pursuit and recognition of His presence. Each of us need to take the time to recognize His presence today. During prayer time God reminded me that I needed His presence more than I needed "blessings." The blessings come from His presence. Oh that we would desire His presence in our lives, in our homes, in our marriages, in our families, and in our worship services.

Don't Give Up

I sense that the Spirit is encouraging me to make this declaration over our lives. This is not the time to give up on our dreams, desires, destinies, and future encounters with God. This is the day and time of divine revelation; we are being called to see and recognize God as the revelation of Truth, Grace, and Mercy. God desires to work in our lives if we will be willing to respond and commit to a life of seeking Him and following Him. I Thessalonians 5:17 deposits this challenge in our spirit; "Never stop praying" (NLT). We can not afford to stop listening to the Voice of God. Many of us are still praying for needs to be met in our lives as well as the lives of our friends and family. The enemy seeks to discourage us and he wants us to discontinue the offering of our sincere prayers to God. But before you quit praying let me remind you to take time to hear the Voice of God. God speaks to us through a variety of ways: through the Word of God, through the insight and wisdom of fellow believers, through the elements of nature that declare the glory and power of God, through our own conscience that speaks volumes of truth into our lives, and God also uses dreams, visions and other means of inspiration to alert us to His presence. God desires for you to hear Him this day; "Never stop praying." Let us fan the flame of intercession that is being awakened in our land today. We are in desperate times and we need Divine intervention. We should intensify our praying; we can not afford to become slack in this command of God. Do not lose heart; pray with passion, faith, and fervency. We must remember that God does hear the cry of our hearts and He responds to the brokenness of our spirit. KEEP PRAYING!

Weekend Review

It is such a blessing to be able to serve Christ. I am blessed that God has called me to join Him in the declaration of the Word of God as a Gospel Preacher. It is a privilege to stand and declare the greatness of our God and recognize His awesome presence. It is an honor to share the Word of God and watch the Spirit of God release conviction into the lives of individuals who are sitting in that particular service. I just felt that I needed to give honor to God today for the great opportunity of participating with Him in the spreading of the message of the Gospel throughout this nation. I firmly believe that God is speaking to people in our nation and we need to be willing to respond to the call that is being issued. Are you paying close attention to those nuggets of truth that God is depositing in your life? Are you presenting yourself to God a "living sacrifice" which is your reasonable service? Are you serving God out of duty or you serving God from a heart of desire? These and many more questions need to be answered by all of us; let us pay close attention to the Word that is being declared to us and let us make a commitment to follow Christ in full obedience. Thursday found me in Radcliff participating in a meeting with New River Ministries. The Spirit God called us to prayer during our time of worship. The Worship Leader, Carol Baker, felt led of the Lord to share what the Lord had placed in her heart. Those attending the service chose to respond to the call from God rather than ignoring the call of God. Each of us need to examine our lives and make sure that we are responding appropriately to God and not ignoring the message that God is sending to us. We spent the majority of the evening service interceding for our nation, our city, our families, and for our individual lives. I can declare that I truly feel that God was in charge of the meeting that night. That also reminds me that we must allow God to be in charge of each public meeting in which we participate. The Spirit knows exactly what we need and He will provide for those needs to be met if we will follow the leading of the Spirit. This week finds me at Keith Street Ministries in Cleveland, TN. Pastor John A. and Judy Stone have invited me to participate in the Kingdom Celebration services. From the very outset yesterday you could sense the desire of the people to worship and praise the King of the Kingdom. The King of the Kingdom offers great provision to His family; we are not just subjects in the kingdom, we are sons and daughters who have been invited into the presence of Royalty. I am grateful that God has chosen to adopt me into His family and I seek to honor Him through love and adoration. The altar services were tremendous as the anointing of the Spirit flowed as we prayed for numerous needs that people are encountering in their lives. My life was enriched as I saw several young people respond to the call from the Spirit. I have not given up on the youth and children of this generation; there is a group who are choosing to seek the face of God with passion and desire. I am convinced that "nothing is impossible with God." I believe that God is at work among His people and that we are seeing a renewed desire to release our faith and see God move in our lives. We saw that yesterday and we will see that in the remainder of the services. Many of us are choosing to wade out into the deeper presence of God; we no longer will be satisfied with the status quo. Will you join me on the journey and allow God to reveal Himself in the midst of your life?

Turning our Attention to Christ

The revival at the Woodland Hills church in Bessemer, AL brought a powerful reminder to my heart. I need to make sure that the Word of God and the presence of God has my undivided attention. It becomes so easy to become distracted from the true purpose of my walk with Christ. I am to focus on Christ, the Chief Shepherd of my soul. Am I developing my desire to focus on Christ even in the midst of the daily challenges of life? It is so easy to become "consumed" in living my life that I can forget the presence of Christ. We can develop the mode of survival rather than realizing that Christ is present to lead and direct our steps if we will commit to following Him. One of the elements of the vision of Pastor James Wallace of the Woodland Hills church is to "Exalt Christ." At first glance that may seem simple yet our hope and source of strength is found in that statement. As we exalt Christ we are able to understand that God is greater than all of the events of life that we face. Christ is greater than any sin that may be practiced in our society; Christ is greater than any disease that we may find in our bodies or mind; Christ is greater than any trial that may cross our path; and Christ is greater than any power that seeks to undermine our faith in the promises of God. Do you see the point of the statement, "EXALT CHRIST" (emphasis mine)? Christ is worthy of exaltation. He is the source of our life and His presence in our lives will lead us to victory over the snares of the enemy. Would you take a moment today and lift your voice to the Lord God Almighty and declare His greatness? "God is great and greatly to be praised." Let us exalt Christ in all that we do and say!

Update

I have been unable to update the blog due to my travel schedule and lack of Internet access. I have missed the opportunity to share information and inspiration with those of you who take the time to read the thoughts that I post. I am always blessed by the words of encouragement that are shared with me via emails and comments on the blog. I am a firm believer in the need for each of us to encourage one another. The accuser of the brethren (satan) does all in his power to discourage and dissuade us from our journey; but God can use the fellowship of the believers to speak words of strength and encouragement into the lives of our fellow human beings. I encourage you to take the time to invest yourself in the lives of other people; people are in need of friends who can help share the load of burdens that life can bring to all of us. The revival services in Bessemer, AL at the Woodland Hills church have been wonderful. The anointing of the Holy Ghost has been very evident in each of the services. We have seen the miraculous power of healing released before our very eyes. A young lady walked into church on a crutch/cane on Sunday night and left without the aid of the crutch/cane. She has been in each of the evening services participating with the worship team. GOD IS GOOD TO GIVE US SO MANY BLESSINGS! I give this testimony to encourage the release of our faith. Faith is the key that unlocks the door to the promises and provisions of God. I have a greater desire to release my faith; as I have said before, these are the days to trust God and realize that He is at work in His Kingdom. He is still the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; I just want to offer Him praise and adoration. We have seen people saved, filled with the Spirit, delivered from oppression, and encouraged by the moving of the Holy Spirit. This morning during prayer the Lord placed this thought in my heart; many of us may be living in the Friday's (spiritual death and drought) of our lives but the Sunday's (resurrection and spiritual life) are in our future. Look for the Sunday's and realize that God is alive and that His power is real. He is still touching the lives of people around this world. I continue to be excited about the fulfillment of the promises of God; I am determined to remain focused on the progress of my journey with God.

Distractions

As I continue to draw near to God I am blessed to know that God is interested in the successful completion of my journey. God has planned for my victory and not my defeat. The cross has made provision for us to walk in His strength and not in the strength of the flesh. The strength of the flesh will lead to confusion and disillusionment but the direction of the Spirit will lead to a deeper dependence on God. I truly believe that God will reveal the strategies of the enemy as I continue to draw near to His presence. I would like to look at one of the strategies of the enemy that God brought to my heart during prayer time. The enemy seeks to distract us from our purpose and from our call. The enemy will place all types of obstacles in our path; he does not want us to be alert to the traps that have been set for our demise. The enemy seeks for me to lose my focus; he wants me looking everywhere but to the Lord. Hebrews 12 talks about "keeping our eyes on Jesus" (NLT) on our journey through life. I have come to realize that the enemy will do all in his power to move the "eyes of my heart" away from Christ. The enemy wants me to focus on what is going on around me and in some cases what is going on in me. But I am given the opportunity to make a decision and defeat the strategy of the enemy by constantly refocusing my attention on Christ. We are living in the prophetic times in which we need to constantly refocus the desires of our heart toward Christ. This is no time to be looking around; this is the time to be looking up to Heaven and realize that Christ is our answer. Some of us may be able to compare our situation to the race horses of Kentucky; we may need a set of blinders placed around our eyes. The blinders keep the horse from being distracted by the crowd or by the other horses involved in the race. The blinders cause the horse to stay focused on the finish line and the race at hand. What are you focused on today? Where are you looking? Are you being distracted from your relationship with Christ? Take a moment today, lift your heart to God and ask for a renewed desire to see Him as the focal point of your life. The revival meeting in Acworth, GA has been awesome. A powerful anointing has been released in each of the services. The altar services have certainly "altered" the lives of all of us who have been involved in seeking after God. The Spirit of God is certainly interested in "altering" our lives so that we can fully please God in all that we do. I desire to be open to this process and procedure; I do not want to resist what God is releasing among the people of God. I am hungry to become all that God has planned for me to become; He has a plan and purpose and I desire to submit to His plan.

Speaking from my Heart

I am constantly amazed at the greatness of God's love and His desire to inform me of His will and direction for my life. I must allow the Spirit to develop my spiritual sensitivity to a higher level. I must allow the Spirit to have full sway over my life and I do this by making the decision to listen, follow, and obey the direction of God in my life. Each one of us in the family of God must make the decision to invite God into our lives and I mean each area of our lives. Is it possible that we have kept some of the compartments of our life off limits to God? We do not want Him revealing what is hidden in those compartments. Those compartments may contain sin, hurts, injuries, and all sorts of failures. But we must remember that the Spirit not only reveals those problem areas of our lives He also has the "healing balm" that can bring relief and deliverance to each one of us. Will you allow Him to search every compartment of your life today so that you can fully reach the potential that God has deposited in you? The Lord also dealt with me concerning the process of decisions in our lives. Each of us face our own set of daunting circumstances but we must make the decision to follow Christ regardless of the circumstances. Politicians use the term "waffling" when their opponent does not stay committed to a previous position on a certain issue. We must not be guilty of "waffling" when it comes to our decision to follow Christ. We must choose to follow after Christ and His will for our lives regardless of the cost. I was praying with someone last night who was asking God for freedom in certain areas of their life. I began to join with this person in crying out to God for their "deliverance." I truly believe that we made progress during the time of intercession for that individual but this morning I was awakened to this thought in my spirit. It is only through the process of "decision" that we are able to invite Christ not only into our hearts but into our lives. We can not avoid the decision; I believe that Christ will only deliver us from those things which we have decided to place in His hands. Do not be afraid to make the decision to follow Christ will all of your heart. Do not "waffle" in your decision to place Christ as the leader of your life; as I have said before, "God will guide and lead if we will decide to follow." Will you make the decision today to follow God regardless of the road of life that you may have to travel? God has promised to accompany us down the road of life regardless of how bumpy, treacherous, or challenging the road may become. Decide to follow Him today without any reservation in your heart! You and I will be blessed and encouraged by the strength that God will provide as me make that decision in our hearts.