Category: Words of Thought

Purpose of His Presence

There is nothing like going on vacation to see those who you haven’t seen in such a long time. Knowing the activities and adventures that you will embark on are priceless. The time that you will spend together laughing, maybe crying about stories that you have experienced in the past are priceless. Maybe it’s just a phone call to hear their voice that you haven’t heard in a long time. That time together is priceless.

That is how it is with the Lord, David says in Psalms 63:5

“Daily I will worship you passionately and with all my heart. My arms will wave to you like banners of praise. I overflow with praise when I come before you, for the anointing of your presence satisfies me like nothing else. You are such a rich banquet of pleasure to my soul. – Passion Translation

Q: So What is The Purpose of His Presence?

A: He, the Holy Spirit keeps you from wandering and causes you to separate (consecrate) anything else that is trying to take His place.

Matthew 4:18-22

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”[a]20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

There was something about Him that made these men leave behind their lives their livelihoods all that they have ever know they threw it away for the cause of Christ. What was it? They saw His Presence so valuable.

Psalm 16:11

“You make known to me cthe path of life; 

in your presence there is dfullness of joy; 

at your right hand are epleasures forevermore.”

Do you see His Presence so valuable and so priceless?

If you can’t fly then run

martin

You are almost their, almost to the top of that mountain and then you realize when you get to the top that it’s a plateau. Whenever we think we have reached the top you look up and still, there is room to grow, another mountain to climb and other devils to fight.

All those struggles along the way, all of those temptations that have tried to keep you away from reaching that mountaintop. The doubts that you believe and the lies that try to enslave us along the way are doing nothing but clouding your vision from seeing how to climb up that mountain. And the fears that ever so easily control our feelings and thoughts that cripple our strength and faith as we move forward in this race.

But as we get closer, the struggles appear to be more and the temptations are stronger, but God knows how much you can handle, He knows you better than yourself. When we refuse to let go of the rock that is helping us climb this mountain that we are holding onto. We focus upward not looking back but the things that are hoped for that are not yet seen. We believe because we know in whom we have believed. I believe for whatever situation that you are in the Lord is giving you the confidence to do what He has called you to do and the peace to walk in victory over every obstacle that you face.

 

Can we fly? No, that would be to easy, can we run? Yes, but pace yourself. Can we walk? Yes, but don’t walk to slow. What about if we crawl? We just have to keep moving forward.

 

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Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are

COME OUT

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand”…- Matthew 3:1,2

…Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. – Matthew 3:4-6

 

Why would God’s spirit preach in a wilderness? God brought thousands out of the city, away from the comfort, away from the luxury, away from the distractions.

How far would you be willing to go in order to receive the blessings of God?

God wanted to save and preserve those who love Him and leave those in the city to fall to there own demises.

Sometimes we must see the prosperity and blessing in the desert rather than the corrosion and weathering of the city.

Sand erodes by the ocean, but is preserved in the desert

IF Jesus is anything, He must be everything.

“Faith in Jesus is more than a match for worldly trials, temptations, unbelief, and overcomes them all. The same absorbing principle shines in the faithful service of God; with an enthusiastic love for Jesus, difficulties are surmounted, sacrifices become pleasure, sufferings are honors.” – Charles Spurgeon

“There are Two”

Life is a journey that offers two roads. It is “either/or” rather than “both/and.” There are two perceptions of reality: the supernatural and the natural. There are two conflicting kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. There are two entry points: the wide gate leading to destruction and the narrow gate leading to life.

While the World leads more to the “both/and,” scripture tells us that we must choose one. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” – Matt. 6:24

We say the words He is our everything but is He?
GFJ

He is Able

If I were to challenge you to get in the Word and write down every miracle, every time that God done something supernatural and i’ll tell you about a God that still performs those miracles to this day. Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man, when He raised the dead He still does, when He calms the storms He still does. When all of your life has changed so much He hasn’t, why? God never changes. And because He is a never changing God, He is able to perform those same miracles in your life.

“For I am the LORD, I change not” – Malachi 3:6

Even though we may change. As the years pass by we will face some hard times. Some mountains, but yet we will survive, we will endure. We will flourish and we will look back and see all that God has done for us. All that He asks is that we abide in His word. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” – John 15:7,8

If we abide in His word and not move with every passing wind and we hold onto the Rock which is Jesus Christ and believe that what we ask in His name it shall be done!

I believe why we don’t see God perform as much as those same miracles is that we don’t let Him, we try and put God in a box. We become content at the place where we are at in God. Even though His spirit is bidding us to come closer, we stay back from the fire, we have lost that burning passion that we once had. But God is able.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”
– Ephesians 3:20

As Paul came to this great height (what can there be higher than the fullness of God?), it is logical to ask how this can ever be. How can something so far above us ever become reality? It can only happen because God is able to do far beyond what we ask or think.

Do you have a need that God has not met you with yet? Don’t have doubts, keep trusting! If it is His will for you to have in your life, God will deliver!

GFJ

Why Keep Praying?

why keep praying

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. – Matthew 7:7-8

We live in times of instant gratification. We are so accustomed these days to a “vending machine” mentality, that we no longer have the patience to wait or not to find what we need immediately. Unfortunately, I have noticed that sometimes we carry the same mentality into our prayer life.

Let’s think about vending machines for a moment. We have a pocket full of change and we stand in front of a vending machine trying to decide what we want, we look at all the options. Once we make up our minds, we put in the change and voila! We get what we want.

The same thing may be happening in our prayer life. Unconsciously we think of God as the ultimate vending machine. Our thought process goes like this: Jesus promised that whatsoever we ask in His name He would do. Then we pray for what we need or want in His name, and we may continue to pray thus for few days expecting that God will do what we want. but whenever an answer comes not exactly in the way we expect it, we become mad at God. Some people believe that God does not love them because He did not give them what they had asked! Seriously?

We must realize that even when we ask good things, sometimes the answer is “No”.

“God is not a vending machine where we can go and purchase with prayer our every desire and whim”

If every prayer you ever prayed were instantly answered, two things would be true. Prayer would become a weapon of destruction in your life and you’d never think about God because He would become a vending machine.

Why be persistent? When you pray a prayer request over and over, it’s not to remind God. He doesn’t need to be reminded! It’s to remind yourself who the source of your answer and all your needs is.

Prayer is a faith builder. In the waiting God begins to grow you even more. So don’t let go of your prayers, keep on trusting

So Why Keep Praying?

Without prayer you will be powerless.

Without prayer you won’t build faith.

Without prayer you have no insight of what God is doing in your life.

Prayer prepares us for what is yet to come, what we aren’t ready for perhaps. Prayer humbles us, takes us off the throne, and puts God in His rightful place.

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A Prayer of Urgency

uI’ve been praying more than I ever have because I have been asking God more than ever to create in me a burden for the lost. And I’m starting to get His attention. I’m feeling an urgency to pray more, not that I have to but I’m wanting to. For Him to create in me a pure heart and actions that follow.

A couple of days ago God had directed me to Matthew 9:13 “For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Got it God! I asked Him ” Show me what this really means…in Gary terms.” He spoke ” I AM Mercy.” God is love, and love comes from God. Like the prodigal son who went away for a while, lived his life the way he wanted to and found out that the grass isn’t greener on the other side. God, just like a parent who would want His child back uses His people who are in Him to call out to those who are lost. Simple, but some of us have a hard time with this.

We become busy bees losing track of the time. We have to ” Work while it is day; night is coming, when no one is able to work.”

On a Thursday morning at 6 a.m. out of no where my computer started playing worship music. I staggered into my office still half asleep to turn it off. The presence of God was strong but I was so tired and did not feel like praying. As I began to walk back to my bed God spoke to me and said ” I am coming very soon.” Should I have prayed? Of course but that bed sounded pretty good and the comforts of life got to me that time. What does all this mean? It means that God so desperately loves His children so much that He wants them to be saved. It’s not God’s will that any should perish but have everlasting life.

GFJ