Concerning His Son Jesus Christ Our Lord

Today's blog is the third verse of Romans 1. "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;"

1 Corinthians 1:18--NIV--For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 2:2--NIV--For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5--NIV--And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power:  5--That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Paul gives us the greatest clue to the success of his ministry. So many preachers want to flower the gospel up to make it convenient to human beliefs today. Some want to preach the "hidden" and "dark truths" in the Bible.

But, Paul kept it simple and yet oh, so powerful. Jesus Christ, a righteous God-man, suffered and died on a wooden cross to pay the sin debt of an ungodly human race. After paying the price for our sins, He rose again to show His everlasting power over death, hell and the grave.

Simply put, there is no sinner that God won't forgive. There is no sin stain so bad that the blood of Jesus cannot blot out. There is no demonic force, sickness nor ungodly action that Jesus cannot stop. There is no one bound by any addiction the the blood of Jesus cannot break. In other words, everything that the devil has ever done to mankind Jesus "un-did" on the cross.

The problem is that we pay too much attention to the problems that we face instead of keeping our eyes on the problem solver. Jesus promised in John 16:33--KJV--In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The Henry translation reads like this, "Sure you're going to have problems, all kinds of problems. But every time one jumps in your face you outa get shoutin' happy because I've already got that problem whipped. So quit your cryin' and bellyachin'. Go do something that will make you smile while I take care of your problem. And  don't worry any more about it. I got it under control."

Read Paul's letters to the churches and to the people he wrote to. He doesn't go into anything elaborate about all of the problems they were facing. He went right to the answer. And that answer centered around Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead. He got people's eyes off of the problem and got them to focus their attention on what Jesus did to bring them the victory. He taught them that Jesus didn't bring them to a defeat. Rather, Jesus brought them to an overwhelming victory.

Believe the Word of God and Not Your Circumstances

Romans 1:2--KJV--Which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

Isaiah 46:9-10--KJV--Remember the former things of old: for I am God and there is none else; I am God, and there in none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do my pleasure;

How accurate is Bible prophecy any way? In my studies, I have read that there are some 2500 prophecies in the Bible. About 2000 have already been fulfilled to the letter without any error. There is no reason for me not to believe that the remaining 500 will not come to pass just like God said.

Paul knew this from what he had been taught by the religious teachers of his day. When he came face to face with Jesus Christ the promised Messiah I am sure that he spent hours remembering and pondering the Messianic prophecies he had been taught. All of that gave him a rock solid belief that the entire Word of God is true and that God would fulfill every promise He made.

To Paul the Word of God became more than just a collection of books and sweet stories. It became a lifestyle of the miraculous. When he read that God miraculously delivered His people from 400 years bondage to a heathen nation, he believed that God would deliver him also even if it took a miracle. When he remembered that God fed them with a massive supply of manna and quail every day for forty years, he believed that God would supply all of his need according to His riches in glory.

When he remembered Isaiah 53:5 "by His stripes ye were healed" he began praying for people to be healed. When he remembered Jeremiah 29:11 that God had good plans for him and that (Isaiah 55:8-9) God's ways and thoughts were higher than his, he declared (Rom 8:28) that all things would work together for his good. He also said in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 for us to give thanks in everything because it was the will of God for us.

Paul stood on every promise in the Word of God because he believed that God meant what He said. If we, as Christians, want to be able to reach the lost like Paul and the early disciples did then we have to be able to say, also, that our God's Word is true no matter what it looks like at the moment.

Grab the scriptures, or better yet, let the scriptures grab you. Even if you are facing a seemingly impossible situation, hold on to what God promised. He has a way of bringing it to past that is beyond our comprehension.

Separated Unto the Gospel of God

From Romans 1:1, we've already talked about Paul being a bond servant of Jesus Christ and that he was called by God to be an apostle. Today we want to finish that verse. "separated unto the gospel of God."

The Greek word for separated means "to mark off from others by boundaries, to limit, to separate."
As the old-time Pentecostals used to say, Paul had a made up mind. Before Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, he already knew more about the Word of God (the Old Testament) than the ordinary man. He had been schooled by the best teachers of his day. But that was just it. He knew the Word of God inside and out. Obviously, he was a good debater because after his conversion, he gave the Jewish leaders fits as he proved from the Old Testament that Jesus was the Son of God. He confounded their knowledge so much that they beat him, stoned him and tried their best to kill him. But, they could not out-reason him concerning the Word of God.

The big difference in Paul's life came when he had a one-on-one meeting with the Son of God on the road to Damascus. As we mentioned in the last blog, Paul spent the next few years down in Arabia where Jesus taught him the depth of the Old Testament by revelation (Gal. 1:11-12). As Paul spent time in God's presence, the very power of God hammered into Paul's spirit and soul the Heart of God that spoke the Old Testament into existence. Re-learning the Word of God in such a manner was what 'separated' Paul unto the gospel of God.

Seminaries are good up to a point. In my early teens as I answered God's call to the ministry I was given some advice by Rev. Clyde Wingo. He said, "Son, it's good to get your theology just as long as you don't leave out the knee-ology." Sad to say, the majority of pulpits today are filled with men and women who are more full of themselves than they are the Holy Ghost. How can I say that? It's simple. If you are full of the Holy Ghost, you begin to pour out the anointed Word of God and God's Word comes alive inside of people. People get saved and healed and delivered. If you are just full of yourself (yes, you can quote a lot of scripture and expound), nothing happens. People hear a sermon, get dismissed and go home.

When Paul said that he was separated unto the gospel of God, he meant that he believed everything that came out of the mouth of God just like Jesus did. If God said that there was power in the name of Jesus, Paul said that's right and he began to preach power in His name. If God said that by the stripes of Jesus people would be healed, Paul believed it and prayed for the sick until they were healed. Paul believed that he had power over the devil just like Jesus said in Luke 10:19 and he cast out devils whether they wanted to come out or not.

When we are separated unto the gospel of God, we do not pay any attention to whatever is going on around us. Whoever was the Roman ruler at the time and whatever laws they made didn't stop him. He kept preaching the Word in power. He went into Athens all by himself.  They had never heard of Jesus before. They didn't have a church or a single believer to pray with him. BUT, he preached Jesus Christ, crucified and raised from the dead with such power that people got saved. He was separated unto the gospel of God.

Let's get down to business with Jesus and change our city and our country like Paul did. Separate yourself unto the gospel of God. Believe every Word of it. Meditate on it day and night until it's power becomes a part of your every day life.

God didn't just throw Paul out to preaching after he was converted. Again, Paul spent three years seeking Jesus Christ for the correct understanding of the Word of God. Then he spent several years just teaching in the church at Antioch. After Paul proved himself to God that he was able to minister the Word of God, God separated him and Barnabas for a work He had for them to do (Acts 13:2).

What Has God Called You To Do?

Romans 1:1--KJV--Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, CALLED TO BE AN APOSTLE

Paul was not only a bond servant to Jesus Christ, from the moment of his conversion, God made it evident that he was going to carry God's word to the Gentiles and to kings as well as to the children of Israel.

Even though Paul immediately preached in the synagogues in Damascus, he went down to Arabia for three years.There he sought the Lord. By his own admission in Galatians 1:11-12, Paul was taught the doctrine he preached by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. That beats anything taught in theology schools today.

I don't know what God has called you to do. Maybe you don't either. And, there are times that I'm not sure that I'm doing the very thing that God wants me to do. I have pastored, taught, lead worship, evangelized and sat on the bench. Although I teach and I'm on the worship team of the church I now attend, I can't really say that this is what I am called to do. I do it heartily but is it what the heart of God really wants me to do. I'm not sure. But of this one thing I AM sure. I'll continue to do what I am doing until He tells me to do otherwise.

Even if you are actively serving God in some official capacity, it wouldn't hurt to come before the Lord several times a week and ask God to confirm your calling. There are gifts that God would like to see manifested on this earth. But, if we have our hard-headed minds set on just one thing then we might be missing the greatest journey of all. And that's living in the very middle of God's will for our lives.

Is what you're doing for the Lord right now challenging or a bore? Does it excite you to greet a new day? If you're dragging from one church service to another, you might need to check up on your calling.

Paul spent those three years in Arabia seeking hard after the Lord Jesus Christ. He already had the best theological education that could be acquired. However, knowledge without an up-to-date relationship with the Master is empty and boring. Let's seek after the presence and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Add the power of God to His Word that is resident inside of us. Then wait on Him to put us into a ministry.

Recap: Paul spent three years seeking God in Arabia. He spent four years in his home town of Tarsus just worshiping. He spent six years at Antioch just teaching and helping out. AND THEN, God set him into the ministry. When God calls, He qualifies and trains before He sets someone into a ministry.

Romans 1:1 Be Among the Ensnared

Romans 1:1--KJV--Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ

Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, describes himself before he met Jesus as being (Phil 3:5) a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a strict Pharisee and a pure blooded citizen of Israel. Before his conversion we would say that he was a hard-nosed Jew who hated Jesus and His followers. As we read the beginning of the book of Acts it seems like he was trying to stamp out Christianity all by himself. His zealous hatred for Jesus and His followers won him the admiration of all the Jews, especially the high and mighty. And they were only too pleased to have somebody bold enough to do the dirty work they only WISHED they had the guts to do.

In Romans 1:1 and Titus 1:1 he declares himself to be a servant. There are many opinions on the internet about the meaning of the Greek word duolos. Some say that it just means 'servant' and some say that it refers to a 'bondservant' as mentioned in Exodus 21:1-6.

However, I am inclined to think Paul's intention lines up more correctly with Thayer's  Greek Lexicon of the Greek word duolos. His studies interprets the word as to ensnare or capture.

Follow my line of reasoning for a moment. By his own admission and the testimony of the writer of the Book of Acts, Paul (or Saul of Tarsus) waged his own religious war against all of the followers of Jesus Christ. He put them in prison, tore up their homes (figuratively) and voted to kill at least Stephen. He might have voted to kill others. 

I personally believe that he thought he was honestly doing God's will by stamping out the heretical movement that sought to undermine the religious customs that Jews had always followed. I get this idea from the fact that the religious big wigs of the day gave him letters of authority to put Jesus' followers in jail.

You know the story. When he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was 'captured' by Jesus' love for him. Even though he had done some despicable things to a lot of Jesus' followers, Jesus never brought the subject up. There is never any mention where Jesus jumped down Paul's throat about anything. Jesus only talked to Paul about his future and not his past. He talked to Paul about what He wanted Paul to do not what Paul had done.

This encounter and many more that Paul had with Jesus had one central theme and that was the agape love of God. The kind of love that walked in perpetual forgiveness. It was the kind of love that spoke sweetly and not sharply. It praised and not prattled. It lifted up and never tore down.

The more that Paul came into Jesus' presence, the more real God's love for him became. The more Paul prayed, the more ensnared or captured Paul became in the love of God. God took him through a lot of hard places that Paul didn't deserve to have to walk through. But God's grace and His agape love were there to walk with him.

It is my desire, as well as it should be all Christians, to develop such a love relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we too become ensnared with Jesus. Yes, it took Paul through a lot of hardships, but Paul saw thousands of people saved, healed and delivered. Churches were established that raised up the anthem of a loving God and a resurrected Jesus. Yes, obstacles were in his path at times but God used those times to help him write a great portion of the New Testament. As a matter of fact, Paul's soul-saving work is still going on in the Body of Christ today.

Join with me and allow Jesus to ensnare us by pouring His agape love through us onto this ungodly world. Let's grasp prayer hands across the world and pray for a world-wide outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. Let's set the trap of God's love in our hearts and ensnare as many lost souls as we can.

Follow After the Higher Way

Deuteronomy 8:1-3---NIV--Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Verse 1--We should always be careful to follow the instruction in God's Word. Also, it would behoove us to live close enough to Him to hear Him when He speaks to us. The main reason we should be careful in these areas of our lives is because God fully intends to bring His promises to us to pass. And we don't need to miss on piece of instruction.

Verse 2--Even though it took God forty years, he brought the believers into the land of promise. It took that long because God let the unbelievers die off. Even so today, unbelievers will NEVER receive any of the promises of God. The promises are for the believers.

Sometimes God takes us through times of waiting and testing. He wants us to trust Him and not our own virtues. He also wants to see what is in our hearts. Are we really going to follow Him and trust Him? Are we going to walk in love and forgiveness when times are bad? Are we going to hold on to our faith in His Word when we go through long periods of time where we don't hear from Him?

Verse 3--He also waits to make you hungry for the answer. A hungry heart always gets God's attention. A hungry heart will be willing to lay aside their sins and shortcomings to obtain the promises of God. A hungry heart appreciates what God does for him.

Unlike their unbelieving parents, the younguns DID NOT want to go back into bondage in Egypt. These hungry young adults and their children had a desire for freedom and their own place to live. They longed for the abundance of God's promised land. And they were willing to tough out a small amount of hardship to reach a whole lifetime of abundance and joy.

Instead of moaning about their past, the younguns looked at the miracles around them. These miracles told them that the God of their ancestors had them at the right place at the right time. They had manna every morning and quail every night and didn't have to work for it. They just harvested it. During the day they were sheltered from the heat by a cloud. As the sun sat, they watched that cloud slowly turn into a pillar of fire. When they got up early enough, they would watch the fire turn back into a cloud.

It finally dawned on some of them that a higher power was orchestrating everything that happened to them. It dawned on them that God only had to say it once and those things happened every day for forty years. Surely a God who could just speak a word like that would bring them into their wealthy place just like He promised.

Here's what we need to take away from this short lesson. God is taking us all somewhere, too. He is taking us to what He promised us. However, we delay or completely lose out on those blessings if we continue to live in the past or even the right now. The only thing that the past and the right now means is that we don't have the promise.....YET. It NEVER means that God won't bring us into the promised land.

If we are not walking in the realm of His promises, it means that He's checking out our heart and/or He's waiting for us to get hungry enough. When our heart gets right and we're hungry enough for the things of God then He'll start leading. But it's still up to us to follow Him by faith.

I hope you're like me. I am longing for a realm of God that I have never been to yet. Like the children of God, if I already knew how to get there I would certainly be there right now. Just like them, I have to trust God every day that where ever I am and whatever is happening to me is part of the divine plan of God (Isaiah 55:8-9), God's ways and thoughts are higher than mine.

Lead on, God, I am determined to follow You.

Joy Is A Channel That God Can Work Through

Romans 14:17--NIV--For the kingdom of God is.....righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Recap:
Righteousness, in essence, is doing what is acceptable to God. Our example was Abraham. The Bible says four times that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Therefore, simply believing what God has spoken about any given situation is what God desires from His people.

Peace will continue to grow within us as we re-train our minds to think in line with the Word of God. Doubts, fears and angers that normally crowd our thoughts will be put to flight by the peace that will prevail within our hearts.

Therefore, it is only natural that joy will be the overriding emotion of our heart. We will still face battles but they will be small in comparison to God's provision. We will still have to deal with ungodly situations but we will remember that these things are part of God's plan of good for us.

Take a look at the things that Paul said on the subject:

Philippians 4:4--KJV--Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say rejoice.
1Thessalonians 5:16--KJV--Rejoice evermore.
Philippians 3:1--KJV--Rejoice in the Lord

Paul had more problems in his lifetime than any ten of us put together. Yet, he also saw more miracles than any ten of us. He also reached the lost and started more churches than any ten of us. Obviously Paul knew that one of the keys to victory was to rejoice in the Lord even in the face of danger or temptation.

Pick a few of your favorite scripture promises. Run them through your mind throughout the day. Allow them to become a reality in your spirit. Then begin to rejoice and give God praise for your answers in advance.

Every time the enemy tries to wedge a doubt, a fear, any anger or guilt into your heart, meet it with a joyful Word. Practice and persistence in doing that will help you to walk in great joy. The devil cannot handle your joy. He can handle your hate, your doubt and your fear. But he is repulsed by a continually happy Christian. Actually your joy keeps him at bay. He can only operate in the realm of the negative.

My plans are to be joyful and watch the blessings of God unfold.

From Righteousness to Peace Workshop

Romans 14:17--NIV--For the kingdom of God is.....righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

In previous blogs we have found out that righteousness is declaring that what God says and does is the right thing. God says we are righteous when we agree with Him and His actions. It is in believing that God's Word is true in spite of what is going on in our lives at the moment that brings us peace.

If I was to look at the things that surround me right now at the moment, I would be tempted to doubt that God's Word was true at all. I can't see His promise being manifested and in some cases it doesn't look like there is any way in the world that it could ever happen. 

This is where most Christians are. We judge God and His Word on the basis of what the past has brought us and what it looks like right now. And neither one of those things have any bearing on whether or not God will answer our prayer or be faithful to His promise.

Think with me for a little bit and challenge your mind. In Genesis the third chapter, God cursed the serpent (the devil) by declaring that the seed of the woman would bruise his head. Certainly, Eve hadn't had any children yet. And it didn't happen with Cain and it didn't happen with Abel and it didn't happen with Seth. Yet, it DID happen 4,000 years later. It DID happen. God DID bring His Word to pass.

He promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. And in all of this great faith that we have attributed to Abraham he only saw one son grow up before the Lord. He was around for several of Esau's and Jacob's early years but that was the extent of it. Yet, today, Abraham IS the father of many nations. God is not bound by time or space.

In John 11, Jesus told the disciples that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He didn't actually do it until a couple of days later. He told Saul of Tarsus that he was going to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ before kings. That didn't happen for quite some time. God foretold about King Josiah and King Cyrus hundreds of years before they were born. I could go on an on.

When I lay claim to the salvation of my children according to Deuteronomy 28:4 I don't have to see it manifested before I give Him praise for it. God has NEVER forsaken His Word and he never will. Just because one of my children isn't immediately healed doesn't mean that they are not going to be. I don't have to see the manifestation of it to believe that God will do it. That's called TRUST. 

I have had to re-train my thought process down through the years. It has taken me time to get my brain to quit thinking in the realm of "it doesn't look like it" or "I've never seen God do that before". The hindrance to answered prayer has nothing to do with God. He is always faithful. He has always proven Himself to be faithful in the past. So I have every confidence in the world that He will be faithful to His Word in the future. AND, I have every right to expect that answer. AND, I have every right to think about receiving that answer. AND, I have every right to be at peace before the answer gets here.

Now, here's where the guts comes in. Not only do I have the right to expect God to answer....BUT....I also have to right to shove God's Word into the devil's face and taunt him with it. Why would I want to do that? Because, he has been bull-dogged determined to wreck my life by fear, doubt, anger and jealousy. 

Soooooooo, not only will I shove it in his face like he has done me down through the years, I'm going to give God praise in advance.  Now, listen.....even though it doesn't look like it will ever come to pass.....even though I can't see any way out....even though I don't feel like it's going to happen. 

None of these things control the outcome of my prayers. The fact that God made a blood-sworn oath to His promises is enough for me to shout the victory. The only thing that will stop them is if I quit praying.

We can live in peace and when we live in peace it makes the devil worry because we have just started to take God's victory over him.

The Second Thing That Gives The Devil Fits

A couple of blogs ago, I quoted from Romans 14:17 which says that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I spent a couple of blogs on the subject of righteousness. In essence, righteousness is believing that what God says is true and that He is God enough to bring it to pass.

When we re-train our minds to believe that the Word of God is our future that will overturn our right now, faith will rise in our hearts. (Romans 12:2)  When faith rises to claim that the promises of God are OURS, then our hearts will begin to be at peace with whatever situation we are facing. Why? Because we steadfastly believe that God will override our present situation and bring His Word to pass.

Let's look at Abraham and Sarah. They had to wait 25 years before God brought them Isaac. Yes, He waited a long time but He did what He said He would do, Every year that went by nothing changed except their bodies. They watched as their bodies got older and older and older. The older they grew, the more they realized that only God could bring His promise to life. In other words, they were prime candidates for a miracle. And that is what they got.

How many of you can declare that you are a prime candidate for a miracle? I know that I am. I've waited for and longed for and cried for God to answer several of my prayers. But, to my flesh, it doesn't look like my answers have a snow ball's chance.......in the Sahara desert of ever coming to pass. That doesn't mean that they never will. It just means that they haven't yet.

God doesn't get upset about performing miracles. As a matter of fact, He delights in doing the impossible for His children. Why did God care if the two of them got older? He was the creator. He made their bodies in the first place. It was absolutely nothing for God to reverse the aging process for a moment of time. It was absolutely nothing for God to give Sarah strength.

But, wait a minute! Here's where you have to understand the loving nature of God. Why did He wait so long? Why did He wait until it looked like it was impossible?

Look at it from God's standpoint. If He gave them a child when they were in their 60's and 70's they could almost say that they did it on their own. However, when He waited until it LOOKED impossible to them and everybody else, He knew that the only thing that COULD be said was, "It must have been God."

For God to bless a 30 or 40 year-old couple with a child is not much of a miracle. But, it would take a complete idiot to suggest that a 100-year-old couple just happened to get pregnant. God displayed His great love to the world by holding back childbirth from this couple until He was ready.

Genesis 14 tells us that Abraham  318 trained servants that fought to rescue his nephew Lot. These 318 men, their wives and their children saw a miracle when Isaac was born. Now think about this! When Isaac got old enough to understand the birth process, HE even had to come to the conclusion that he was a miracle baby and was born in a miracle fashion.

GOD KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING WHEN HE WAITS TO ANSWER YOUR PRAYER. IT WILL MAKE MORE SENSE WHY HE WAITED SO LONG WHEN THE ANSWER DOES ARRIVE. PRAISE GOD AND PRAISE GOD AND PRAISE GOD FOR HONORING HIS OWN WORD.

Would you like to give the devil some t-total, obnoxious, and well deserved hissy fits? Would you like to see him whine and cry BECAUSE OF YOUR actions instead of you crying about his? Did you know that God put absolutely no limit on how much torment you give the devil? Then take Luke 10:19 and Psalm 8:2 as your marching orders from the MOST HIGH GOD and praise God for being faithful to keep His Word.

The more you praise Him for the answer, the more you think about His answer, the more you see yourself enjoying His answer has a direct relationship to the peace that comes from believing God's Word. It's called righteousness. Abraham believed God and God said that believing Him was the right thing to do. Meditation on His Word will bring you peace and peace will bring down the devil's stronghold around your life.

Your answer might not come today but you won't care. You'll walk in peace. Today it might seem impossible but you won't care. You'll walk in peace. And as you walk in peace and refuse to doubt and refuse to fear.....you will rip the devil a new one.

You've got to admit it like I have. I'm going to walk in peace as I believe God's Word NOT just because it brings God's answer. BUT IT GIVES BACK TO THE DEVIL SOME OF THE AGGRAVATION THAT HE HAS GIVEN ME. IT LITERALLY TEARS HIM UP TO HEAR US PRAISING GOD IN ADVANCE. AND, ACCORDING TO PSALM 8 IT VIRTUALLY PARALYZES HIS EFFORTS AGAINST GOD'S PEOPLE.

NOW START BELIEVING AND PRAISING GOD AND LET'S RIP THE DEVIL AND HIS STOOGES ON THIS EARTH A NEW ONE!!!!!

Righteousness Part 2

In my last blog I shared with you that righteousness, or believing the Word of God to be true, would give the devil fits. Remember that Abraham believed God and God counted that for righteousness. In other words God says that it is the right thing to do to believe what He says. After all, everything that God speaks is a creative Word and has to come to pass.

According to Daniel the 10th chapter, an angel from Heaven was dispatched to bring Daniel an answer to his prayer the same day he prayed it. However, the ruling demon over the kingdom of Persia prevented the answer from coming for 21 days. Of course, the arch angel Michael had to come to help deliver Daniel's answer.

Here's what we need to glean from this particular scripture. First of all, God heard the prayer and sent the answer immediately. In Ephesians 2:2, Paul reveals satan to be the prince of the power of the air. And, as in the case of Daniel, he does a pretty good job of intercepting God's answers and hinder them from coming to us.

O-o-o-o-h, Bro. Henry that's bad. No, no, no, that's good. I plan on keeping that obstinate little bugger busy by praying more now than I ever have before. I pray for people's impossible medical conditions, like blindness, MS, cancer and the like. I pray for my children to get saved every day. I pray for them to marry Godly spouses and follow hard after God. I pray for the president, his cabinet and all of congress. I pray for the city officials of Savannah, Georgia. I pray for our servicemen, our policemen, our firefighters and the like.

Remember I wrote a blog entitled Send out the Angels in the Name of Jesus. Go back and read it again. Angels are our ministering spirits. I keep them busy, too. I send them out to protect my children and my loved ones. I send them out to bring me my financial blessings. I send them out to ride with the policemen in our city. I send them out to protect and guide our troops.

Let me start another paragraph because I don't want you to miss this. Please, please, please do as I do. I send out angels to walk through the streets of Savannah and interrupt the ungodliness that tries to go on. I pray that they would make a sound, make an appearance momentarily, clear their throat (yes, I really pray that) when someone is about to murder, rob, rape, kidnap or other act. I ask Jesus to personally show up in the gang meetings where they plot to commit mayhem. That is just a few of the things I have been praying for.

Why? Because the devil and his imps are instigating all types of ungodliness. I think that we as Bible believing Christians need to pray however we need to pray to stop what the enemy is doing. Jesus said in Mark 9:23 that all things are possible to the believer. When He said ALL THINGS I think I'll take Him up on that.

Now, according to Mark 11:24, I actually see in my mind's eye angels brushing past the criminals, clearing their throats, and making sounds as people are about to commit crimes. I picture angels walking the streets of Savannah as the guard innocent people. I picture people with blindness seeing. I picture people with MS being completely healed.

As long as I believe it, God will work however He needs to in order to bring me my answer. He has never failed and He never will. As long as we keep our faith up our answer will come. God will never fail to answer our prayers. He might tarry. He might have to work some situations that will glorify His name. BUT, He will always answer if we continue to pray and hold on to our faith.

And that gives the devil fits. He CANNOT STOP God from working. He can hinder. He can aggravate. BUT he cannot stop God from answering our prayers as long as we continue to praise God for His Word. Praise God in the very middle of an aggravating situation. Praise Him when it doesn't look like it will ever come. Praise Him anyway when it looks like it just got worse. Remember that Psalm 8 says that prayer will stop the enemy in his tracks.

Pray and Praise because believing God to be right gives the devil fits.

Three Things That Gives the Devil Fits

Romans 14:17--NIV--For the kingdom of Got is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

#1--If you will meditate on your righteousness in Christ and God's righteousness toward you, it won't be long before you become a spiritual giant. Nothing will be impossible to you.

2 Corinthians 5:21--NIV--God made Him Who had not sin to be sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Greek word for 'righteousness' means--that which is acceptable to God. Jesus became our sin so that we could be righteous and acceptable to God. The only thing that we need to do to become righteous and acceptable to God is to confess our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That's all. Jesus did all the hard work when He took our beating, bore our cross, went to hell in our place and rose again to sit at the Father's right hand. The sin question is more than answered. It is under the blood of Jesus and removed forever from our lives. God said that He would never remember our sins again.

We all understand God's part in righteousness, but what do we have to do to be righteous with God?
The answer is found several times in the Word of God. Genesis 15:16, Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6 and Romans 4:22. Abraham believed God and it was credited him as righteousness. That's all Abraham did. He believed that whatever God said was going to come to pass just like He said. Jesus even commended Abraham in John 8:56 when He said that Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus' day.

How did Abraham see Jesus' day? The creation story had been handed down from generation to generation. And in that creation story they repeated the curse that God had put on the devil (the serpent). God said that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, Abraham interpreted that to mean that one of his kids was going to destroy the power of the devil and free mankind. Abraham believed the Word of God so strongly that he day-dreamed about one of his kids whippin' up on the devil. Just because that was what God said.

Can you believe that Jesus would tell the truth? Would He tell the truth about prayer? Would He say something about prayer that He didn't mean? Of course He told the truth, especially when it came to prayer. In Luke 11, He taught that men ought always to pray. He wouldn't lie about something He told us to do constantly. And He never said anything that He didn't mean.

Look at Mark 11:24--NIV--Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. This is exactly what Abraham did. He believed that what God had said was going to come to pass. So he day-dreamed about one of his boys whipping the devil. And Jesus commended Him on it.

Now, would Jesus commend Abraham for something and beat us down about doing the same thing? Of course not. We need to get it into our head that God loves us and wants to answer every prayer that we pray. He might not answer it exactly as we thought that He should but He wants to answer every one of them anyway.

So it wouldn't be wrong to meditate on your children being saved, healed and married to Godly spouses. It's not wrong to think about every need of yours being met in an overcoming manner. It's not wrong of you to think about your child being healed, and so on and so forth.

When you start meditating on receiving the answer to your prayers instead of thinking about how awful the situation is right now you will begin to free your mind from doubt and fear. The gear of faith will begin to kick in and you will begin anticipating good things happening instead of dreading the bad things. It will take some time to overcome all the negativity but it is well worth the effort.

And the best part is that the devil hates it when you continue to imagine yourself living in answered prayer instead of wallowing around in doubt and fear. You'll get enough courage to start talking trash to the big dummy because you'll realize that you're more than a conqueror and he's more than a loser.

Pull yourself together. Meditate on Mark 11:24 for a while until it becomes second nature. And that will bring us to the second 'devil buster'------peace.

Learn to Rejoice and Spoil the Devil's Fun

Psalm 118:24--KJV--This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

According to Jer. 29:11, God has every intention of doing us good. When we submit our prayer request to Him in faith, He formulates a plan to get us to that destination. The problem is, when we see with our physical eyes that it doesn't look like anything will work out for us, we give up. We get this gloomy look on our face and begin to complain. Kinda like the children of Israel did when they came out of Egyptian bondage.

To them it didn't look like God was going to keep His Word. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we walk by faith and not by sight. Paul was used to 'it doesn't look like'. He learned to praise God for what he didn't see. He learned to give Him thanks when it looked bad.

Paul admonished us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to give God thanks in everything. He didn't say to give God thanks FOR everything but to give Him thanks IN everything. He explained why in the next part of the sentence, "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." In other words, God meant for it to work this way for you. Why? Because He's taking you somewhere and He's getting you in shape for His blessing.

According to Psalm 8, praise stills the enemy and the avenger. In essence, it paralyzes the devil in his attempts to destroy you. He is virtually powerless against your faith and your joy.

I might not have what I'm believing God for right here in my hands. I might not even know where the answer is coming from except for the fact that God is working on it right now. I might not know WHEN the answer is coming but I know that God's timing is impeccable.

Now get this. When the devil throws every obstacle in your path and you still smile and you still rejoice he backs off. He has to because he doesn't know how to attack you.

Rejoicing in advance also cements your faith in God's Word. You become stable in your relationship with Him because you are now agreeing with Him. Rejoicing helps you grow up into what God intended you to be.

Begin praising Him in advance for His answer and see what happens to you. Your attitude will change. You'll face each day with an assurance you never had before. This IS the day that the Lord has made and He has made it especially for you.

Is There A Reason To Fear?

If you look at the recent happenings in Paris, I would say 'yes'.
If you look at what Jesus did for us on the cross I would say 'no'.
If you look at the power of the promises of God to those who pray I would say 'no'.
If you look at the amount of importance God's people place on prayer I would say 'yes'.

Although most people will agree that there is great power in prayer, the problem is that not enough of us and doing enough of it. We have been remiss in our duties as Christians. And, now we see the reward for our slothfulness.

In John 14:1, Jesus told us not to allow our hearts to be troubled. In Mark 4, Jesus calmed a raging storm that the disciples were absolutely sure they were going to die in. The He jumped their case for being afraid and having no faith. In Isaiah 41:10, God told us not to be afraid because He was with us. In Psalm 23, David said that even though God lead him through the valley of the shadow of death, he wouldn't fear the evil because God was with him.

Then just how is a Christian supposed to react to what happened in Paris? The first question I would ask you is how much have you been praying for people to turn their lives over to God? Saved people don't go around killing people. While we're on the subject, saved people don't go around robbing, raping, kidnapping and just plain beating up on people. Praying for the lost would certainly bring the crime rate down in your neck of the woods now wouldn't it?

In all of your thinking, have you ever thought of that? No, because you have spent your time getting angry and upset over the things you demand yourself to look at. It's the habit of most people. Take Paul's advice in Romans 12:2. Don't be conformed to the world's standard of behavior. Transform your thought life and your prayer life by meditation on the word of God instead of what you see and hear.

Then, again, you might take the advice Jesus gave in His prayer in Matthew 6:10. "Father, let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." The cross just didn't seem to be the appropriate way for Jesus to die. He should have lived for years until all of Jerusalem had been healed and saved and delivered.

But God had bigger plans than that. He intended for the message of His love to be spread throughout all of the earth. Jesus couldn't do that by himself. He needed the help of thousands of volunteers. He never intended for these volunteers to go about the business of reaching the lost without empowering them to be able to do the job. That took a cross, a resurrection and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Let me give you something else to think about. The Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to overcome Jerusalem and take the people captive for 70 years. He kept telling them to get right and stay right but they refused. So, the Lord kept His word.

But, look at the overall picture. God troubled Nebuchadnezzar with a dream. Through Daniel, God showed Nebuchadnezzar and His people His long range plan. In the Babylonian empire, they were just puppets who fulfilled God's warning from the book of Deuteronomy and the prophets. God used the riches of the Medio-Persian empire to send the Jews back to their homeland and rebuild the temple. When the Greeks captured the land, they made everybody speak their language. When the Romans destroyed the Greeks they built roads and placed guards along it.

Therefore, when Jesus told the disciples (Matthew 28:19) to go into all the world and make disciples, a lot of the hard work was already done for them. Everybody spoke Greek and they were able to travel on safe roads. What looked like God turning His back on His faithful people was actually God working out His complete will.

Yes, the bombings in Paris were terrible. Yes, it was a shame that so many people were hurt and killed. And, yes, if Christians had been more attentive to the promise of God in 2 Chronicles 7:14, it might not have happened.

However, that is history now and we need to prepare for the future. Instead of shaking in fear, we need to double and re-double our prayer efforts. According to Paul (Romans 8:28) God is able to make this work together for our good. In John 16:33, Jesus told us that we would have tribulation. But, He also instructed us to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world.

Here's how we need to pray. We need to declare that God is going to work something good for us in all of this. We need to thank Him for His plan to do us good, (Jeremiah 29:11). Then we need to submit ourselves to God. Ask Him to show us what we should be doing in this matter. Then get busy about doing it. Keep in mind that as we submit ourselves to God, the devil will flee from us (James 4:7).

The bottom line---Pray for the lost to get saved and give God praise for answering prayer.

How's Your Love Life?

John 13:34-35--KJV--A new commandment I give unto you, That Ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35--By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, If ye have love one to another.

Galatians 5:6--KJV--For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

As you may remember, when Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, He answered by giving them the greatest two commandments. (Matthew 22:37) He said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all of your heart, soul and mind. The second was to love your neighbor as yourself.

Paul wrote that nothing matters to God except faith that works by love. The Greek word for "worketh" that Paul used is "energeo". Do you Start Trek fans recognize that word? How many times did Captain Kirk give the command "energize"? And when he said it, any number of things would change in just a moment of time.

Paul found out the source of Jesus' great power. It was His ability to love every sinner with the same hot, passionate love that He loved His Father and He loved His closest friend with. No matter what the sinner was guilty of, Jesus was able to look past it with agape love and minister to the need of the moment.

Let's put this into practical application. How about your spouse? Are you able to overlook the things they have done to you and love them as passionately as you would a brand new baby? How about the president of the land? Or the members of Congress? Or the Supreme Court? Or the drunk on the street? Or the guy that just murdered 20-30 people?
How about that person of a different color? Nationality? Religion?

My friends, revival has not come because of a lack of power. All power in Heaven and earth has been given to us. Revival has come because we are still holding EVERYBODY accountable for their sins when Jesus told us plainly that we should love our neighbors as ourselves.

It would behoove us to recheck our love lives. There will be no "earth shaking, life changing" outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives until their comes an "earth shaking, life changing" love walk among the Christians.

I don't know about you, but I'm changing my attitude and my heart. I want my faith to be "energized".

Set Your Destination Point

James likens the tongue to the rudder of a ship. That small rudder can turn a big ship in circles. And as you can imagine, the tongue can also make you run in circles if you don't watch what comes out of it.

As we previously discussed, when Jesus finally started on His journey to Lazarus' house, He told the disciples that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Never once did He say anything else except that Lazarus was going to come back to life.

When He started teaching His disciples about His death and resurrection, He said the same thing over and over. He repeated that He was going to Jerusalem, He would be crucified and He would rise again. His disciples understood the death part but couldn't quite get a grasp of the resurrection part.

I make frequent trips to Green Cove Springs. When I set out from Savannah, I have in my mind my destination point. If I stop for coffee, I could tell anyone who would listen that I'm not staying at this rest stop. I am headed to Green Cove Springs. And, given enough travel time I will get to my destination.

Revival and miracles are destination points that the Word of God says can be ours if we will set our hearts on them and begin traveling toward them. We set these destination points firmly in our hearts by the way that we pray. If we want revival, we will pray every day for souls to be saved. If we want to see someone healed we will pray for that person every day.

We set that destination point by giving God the praise in advance. Thank Him for revival. Thank Him for souls being saved. Thank Him for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What ever it is that you are praying for, give Him thanks. Then keep expecting it to manifest.

Never in God's Word will you hear God say, "I'm not going to answer your prayer because I don't want to." It's the other way around. He is always trying to get us to pray. He said to ask "anything" in His name. Jesus said to ask and that we would receive. We don't get to the destination point by just wishing we were there. We get to the destination point by "traveling" to it every day through prayer and faith.

Pray with me:

Father, I thank You that You are faithful to keep Your promises. You sent Your Son to die on a cross so that the world could be saved. My unsaved loved ones still live on this earth so I know they are included in that promise. Presidents, congressmen, kings and leaders of foreign countries are still in this world. Bank robbers, murderers, kidnappers, rapists, drug addicts and the like are still on this earth. And I know that it is Your desire to save them.

So, in the name of Jesus we ask for a revival within us that would spread throughout the world and bring the lost to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Break down all of the barriers that hinder them from coming to You.

Speak to our hearts. Teach us how to reach the lost. Show us how to pray. Show us how we can be a vital part of revival in our town. In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

Send out the Angels in the Name of Jesus

I don't have the space to explain all the work of angels that are available to the child of God. However, here is a good website that will help you understand their work in the lives of God's praying people.

http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/6601

Suffice it to say, I believe in angels and I am convinced that we do not use them to the extent that God meant for us to. Here's a model of the way that I have begun praying.

Father, I believe that there are angels because Your Word is explicit about them and their work. I believe Hebrews 1:14 gives us the right to place them on assignment. I ask that if I am wrong about the meaning of Your Word that You will correct me. Until then I will continue praying.

Father, I am just one person. Savannah, Georgia (or your home town) is a big place and full of sin and ungodliness. By myself, I cannot physically stop the meanness that sinners have designed to do throughout this city. But, I know that the angels are spirit beings that can see the evil spirits at work in this city. Beyond a shadow of a doubt I know that it is not Your will that these ungodly acts be perpetrated on innocent individuals.

Therefore, in the Name of Jesus, angels intervene in these ungodly acts before they are done. Cause the murderer or thief or kidnapper to hear or see something that would keep them from fulfilling their plans. Show up on the streets walking beside the innocent when someone is watching them to do them harm. Cause the thieves to hear a noise, or a voice or sense your unseen presence. Bring confusion to the plans of the ungodly.

Angels ride in the police cars and walk with the police on the street. Draw their attention to a crime about to be committed. Give them and strong thought that would compel them to go to a place they were not intending to go. Warn them of impending danger and show them a way out of it.

God, show up on the streets, the lanes and the stores of this city You have placed us in. Guard the innocent lives. We take them under our protective prayer custody as if they were our own children or parents. We plead the precious blood of Jesus over them. Devil we declare that these innocent people are off limits to you and demand that you stop your plans to harm them.

Father, help us as Christians to bind our love and our prayers together to make a difference in our city as well as our homes. Teach us how to fight the good fight of faith. Teach us how to make the strongest possible use of the blood covenant. Help us as we reach the lost and intercede for this city. Teach us how to be more effective prayer warriors than we have ever been before, in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

Thank You Devil

Before I head off to pick up my daughter Faith for church, I would like to tell the devil how much I appreciate what he has tried to do to me. Those of you who have followed this blog for the past couple of weeks (including you faithful ones in Russia) know that I've been pretty rough on him at times.

I have said several times that when things happen that are out of your control, it probably means that God is in control and is taking you somewhere. And that somewhere is good for you. And that somewhere will bring God glory when He gets you to the destination. And people will know that God is alive inside of you for certain.

Within the last 24 hours, I have been blind-sided by a couple of things that I never saw coming. I actually lost a little sleep over one of them until I could pull myself together. My faith and my attitude are back to their Jesus-praising, devil-destroying normal now and I'm ready to shout the victory.

I thank you devil because by rearing up your ugly head, you showed me that I was on the right track. I vowed to become a terrorist to you and I'm glad you've notice that I'm gaining ground. (FBI and all of you international security agencies---come see me about that statement if you'd like. I'm much better at explaining it in person than I am typing.)

Once again, devil, you have proven yourself to be a liar and I am going to re-double my efforts to expose and destroy your powers not only here in and around Savannah, Ga but also everywhere else on the face of this earth.

Everybody give the Lord a shout of praise with me. HALLELUJAH FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNS!!!!!!!

Give God Praise in Advance

Let's take a look at the celebration of God's people after their deliverance from Pharaoh. Exodus the 15th chapter tells about Miriam (Moses older sister) taking a tambourine and leading the ladies in a victory dance after the Lord destroyed Pharaoh and his army. I am presuming you've read the story before.

Well, I guess I can't blame them. After all, God freed them from being slaves, they came out of bondage with as much gold and silver as they could carry and all of the enemy soldiers that were chasing them were now dead. Yeah, I guess that's a good reason to dance and sing for a while. And it's good that they took time to dance before the Lord and praise Him in a very raucous manner. They probably did some shouting. Kinda like Florida and Georgia fans in the Gator Bowl, huh?

Here's the rub. God promised that miracle to their forefather Abraham over 500 years before that. Here is what God said. Genesis 15:13--KJV--And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;  vs 14--And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

We can look at this story and say, "They had the promise. They knew they had been there for 400 years already. Why didn't they start praising the Lord and getting excited." Instead, they griped and complained to Moses (Exodus 5).

Unfortunately, we are the same way. We have read all of the great promises of Almighty God. We believe that He sent His Son to die for us and come back from the dead. There are preachers who can preach this particular message with such dynamic zeal that we would shout about it for weeks.

AND at the same time, we will gripe, nag, and bellyache about what we are going through, The same God that delivered the Hebrews from Pharaoh had given His promise that He would answer our prayer that was prayed in the name of Jesus (John 14:13).

You can say that if the Hebrews really believed God's Word to their forefather Abraham, then they had the right to dance, sing and shout. When Moses came back home and made his announcement about God speaking to him through a burning bush, THAT's when Miriam should have lead the women in a song and a dance. Every time Pharaoh said "No" to Moses' demand they could have danced and praised louder and longer. Why? Because no matter what it looked like, God was fixing to change the entire situation. They had the right to praise God in advance.

We have that same option. The same God has given us so many promises in His Word. Will He ever break a promise? Absolutely not. Then, no matter what it looks like, we have a right to shout and sing the praises of God. We can praise Him NOT for what it looks like right at this very moment but for what HE is going to make it in the future.

Praising God in advance builds stamina and courage in the heart of a Christian. It also encourages the younger Christians who are struggling with their faith. When we give God praise in advance for what He is going to do, it becomes a great testimony to the sinner when they see God working for you. If you are married and have children, it makes an impression on your children. When your children see a miracle they have to admit that there is something to this God-thing.

The bottom line---pull yourself up by the bootstraps and praise God in advance for what He has declared in His Word to do. Praise Him for saving your lost loved ones. Praise Him for healing. Praise Him for revival. Praise Him for the outpouring of His soul-saving power. Praise Him for changing the minds of the ungodly leaders. Praise Him for interfering with the evil plans against the innocent.

Praise Him when it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Then praise Him when He answers in a different way than you thought He would. According to Psalm 8:2, praise stops the enemy from his evil work. And I'm all for that.

What Did Jesus Think of the Devil?

Philippians 2:5--KJV--Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 2:16--KJV--But we have the mind of Christ.

Romans 12:2--KJV--And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of you mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If we follow Paul's admonition in Romans then we should think like Jesus thinks. As far as this particular blog is concerned let's ask ourselves just what does Jesus think about the devil. We can find that out by what Jesus says and what Jesus does concerning the devil.

Luke 10:18--KJV--I beheld satan as lightning fall from Heaven. In plain King James English, Jesus was standing right there when iniquity was found in satan and IMMEDIATELY satan was expelled from the portals of glory. Jesus said that it happened as quick as lightning. 

Jesus saw satan's status with the Heavenly Father change irrevocably in the blink of an eye. That's how long God tolerated sin and satan. The mighty archangel Lucifer's status in the Glory World was changed to that of a disgusting imp in just a moment of time.

How did Jesus treat satan when they met? When they met and satan tried to get Jesus to worship him, Jesus refused by battering him with the Word of God (Luke 4).  Again, in Luke 4 Jesus told a demon to shut up and he shut up. In Mark 5 Jesus commanded one to speak and he obeyed. In the same chapter Jesus told the demons to go into the pigs and they did. Luke 11, Matthew 8 as well as other places in the gospels tells of how Jesus cast demons out. Not once did ANY demon NOT do what Jesus told them to do. He was their master. They knew it and went into hissy-fits when Jesus came around (Luke 4:41)

So, just what does Jesus think of the devil? He NEVER ONCE gave into the thought that the devil was more powerful than He was. Jesus NEVER ONCE entertained ANY thought that the devil would not obey His command. Jesus NEVER ONCE was intimidated by anything the devil did. Jesus NEVER ONCE felt powerless and unable to cope with ANY situation dominated by the devil.

Paul put on the mind of Christ. He was not intimidated in the least by stoning, beating, useless arguments, prison, hunger, sickness or shipwreck. Yes, the devil came at him time and time again. But, Paul changed his thinking from that of a mortal man to that of the Living God. How could he do that? He reminded himself that (Romans 8:11) the same powerful force that raised Jesus from the dead was alive and well inside of him.

We have that same Spirit of God inside of us. BUT, our minds are shackled by erroneous teaching and preaching that satan can run over us any time he wants. I will admit, satan can come against us just like he did Paul, But, (James 4:7) if I will resist the devil he will have to flee because we are filled with that same creative force that created the devil. We are filled with that same Spirit that cast the devil out of heaven in the first place. We are filled with that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him power to cast out every demon He came across.

Change your way of thinking and spend hours meditating on the power that resides inside of you. Think like Jesus thought. Pray like Jesus prayed. Spend time with the Father like Jesus did and pretty soon the commanding presence of the Holy Spirit will rise up inside of you. Then you'll begin to think that nothing is impossible to the believer. Because Jesus said that it wouldn't be (Mark 9:23).

What Was He Thinking?

The story of the resurrection of Lazarus is in John 11. Jesus was a day's walk from Lazarus' home in Bethany. His sisters sent Him word that Lazarus was sick.


vs 6--When He had heard that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where He was.

vs 7--Then after that He said to His disciples, Let us go unto Judaea again.

vs 14--Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

Something happens to you when you spend time in God's presence. Your doubts begin to fade. Your joy in answered prayed begins to rise on the inside of you. And, you begin to see things in a different light. You see things through a God-light.

Mary, Martha and Jesus' disciples thought that Lazarus' death was the end. That was the normal thing. You get sick and some sicknesses bring your death. Then you go out and have a tearful burial.

Jesus was around a lot of people that died. He had seen and endured death just like everybody else did.  But this was different and this story would have a different ending.

Let me say this, first. Jesus did not just go throughout the land raising the dead any time He felt like it. That was never God's plan for Him or for anybody. And, surely, not everybody in the land wanted to be healed either. Some people just wanted to stay sick. So, it was God's plan for those that wanted to stay sick to let them just stay sick if they wanted to.

When you spend time with God in prayer and God finds that He can trust you, He will send you on special missions. There were a lot of people in that area at that time that were demon possessed. But, God sent Jesus and His disciples across a storm-tossed sea to a graveyard to minister to one man and then come back. He stopped Jesus outside of Nain to raise a widow's son in the middle of a funeral procession. God also urged Jesus to stay put for a couple of days before He left for Bethany.

What was Jesus thinking? Jesus knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if He waited on His Father, His Father would give Jesus the right instruction at the right time. Jesus knew that if He was obedient to His Father's command that He would be very successful and God would work miraculously through Him.

If you'll read through the whole account, you'll find that there never was a doubt in Jesus' mind that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. His faith was based on His open and ongoing relationship with His Father.

As we consistently pray and seek God and His will for our lives, there will come a calm knowing way down inside of us that God is in control. We will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is taking the right steps at the right time. We will have the calm assurance that as we wait on God's answers He will answer in a fashion that will bring glory to His name and people will be able to see the Hand of God at work.

Jesus was thinking all during his two day stay and his one day walk to Bethany that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He pictured it in His mind every time He thought about it. NOT ONCE did Jesus ever picture Himself calling Lazarus out of the grave and failing.

Not once did Jesus picture Himself hanging on the cross and NOT coming out of the empty tomb. Not once did He picture Himself laying hands on people and them NOT being healed. Not once did He see Himself being unsuccessful at what His Father had instructed Him to do. And there we have the great clue to His secret.

Jesus stayed in God's presence until He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that He had heard a command from His Father. He decided early in His life that if He was ever going to accomplish the things that the Word of God said that He would do, He had to have an up-to-date experience with His Father.

The same goes for us. If we want revival, if we want a God-change, if we want to make a difference in the area that we live in then we need to have an on fire, up-to-date relationship with the Father. Now let's get busy and get one.

The Audacity of Jesus

Phil. 2:5--KJV--Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:

John 14:12--KJV--He that believeth on Me, the works that I do, He will do also: and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father.

Jesus thought and acted like He could do anything through the power of prayer. Those thoughts led Him to do some things that we would consider crazy and insane.

For example: In Matthew 21 Jesus drove out the dove sellers and money changers from the temple in Jerusalem. He broke all of the established "Godly" customs of His day. Then the blind and the lame came into the temple and Jesus healed them. In Matthew 12 Jesus interrupted a service at a synagogue by healing a man with a withered hand. In Luke 7 He dared to stop a funeral procession to raise a widow's son from the dead. In John 11 He called out Lazarus from the grave. In John 8 He stopped a stoning by forgiving a woman that had been caught in the act of adultery.

Time and time again He repeated the promises of His Father as He taught the disciples that He would go to Jerusalem, be beaten, be crucified and rise again the third day. That was not the usual sermon that the disciples were used to hearing. That lesson was not covered by any of their Sabbath School quarterlies. But, He preached it anyway and, as crazy as it sounded, it came to pass just like He quoted God's promises.

Let me warn you. PRAYING IS DANGEROUS!!!! The more time you spend in God's presence the more you begin to think like Him. Then as you keep thinking like God and begin to allow the mind of Christ to challenge you.......you will begin to act as if every promise in the Bible is true. You will begin to pray for the meanest sinner. You will begin to pray for the crippled to walk. You'll actually be walking down the street and wonder who you are going to meet that you could lead to a life changing experience with Jesus. YOU'LL BEGIN TO ACT AS IF YOU REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD IS TRUE. And that ain't bad.

Pray with me:

Father, I'm tired of life as usual. I'm tired of ho-hum church services. My heart is broken when I see lives torn apart by sin. I'm through with being a casual Christian. Light my fire, O God. Make my life a fountain of Your love and Your passion. Bring people across my path today that I can give a drink of this Living Water to.

I'm tired of watching my city and this nation struggle under the weight of sin. I pray for that burden-removing, yoke-destroying anointing in my life (Isaiah 10:27). Show me how to stir the gift You have placed in my life (2 Timothy 1:6).  Erupt inside of me with the Spirit of power and love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

As I flow with Your Spirit.....give me a double portion of Your audacity, in Jesus' Name, Amen.

Father, I Thank You that You Have Heard Me.

John 11:40-42--NIV--Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" 41--So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42--"I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me."

Jesus says some incredible things here. AND, He's about to do some incredible things. He's not doing it to show off. He's not trying to be flashy as some televangelists would and are doing today.

He is simply trying to get the people to understand that God, the Father, really did send Him. That is crucial to their salvation. They have got to believe that He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. They've got to believe that Jesus is on a mission to die on a cross and rise again according to God's perfect plan for all mankind.

Still we have some great faith and prayer lessons. #1--Jesus, in verse 42 states a truth, not only for Himself but for all of those that call upon God through His name. "I knew that You always hear Me." This is so vital and essential to a child of God. You have got to know that the Heavenly Father HEARS you EVERY TIME you pray. It is never hit or miss. It is never maybe or I think so. It a solid I KNOW THAT YOU ALWAYS HEAR ME. If we don't get that declaration down pat we have lost our reason for praying. God always does and He always will hear you when you pray.

#2--That statement stems from something that Jesus said in verse 41. He said "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me." Up until then, Jesus hadn't prayed anything to the Father. But, He was about to. This is a strong demonstration of the depth of the relationship He had with the Father. God had placed all of His power in the hands of His only begotten Son. Jesus could do with that power whatever He pleased. It was somewhat like a blank check that God has signed and handed over to His Son. Whatever the Son wanted to use it for, God would honor it. God knew His Son's heart and knew Jesus could be trusted. Jesus also know His Father's heart and He knew that Lazarus' resurrection would turn many hearts toward the Father.

Paul said in Philippians 4:6--NIV--Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Paul even declares that prayer with thanksgiving go hand in hand.

I hope you can catch what I am about to say. In Jer. 29:11 it says that God has a plan for us and that it is a plan to do us good. When some challenge comes our way that we have NO control over we need to understand that God might be guiding our circumstances to present us with a miracle. Examples: Joseph sold into slavery looked bad until it lifted him up to be second in command in Egypt and preserved Abraham's lineage. The three Hebrew children faced a fiery furnace and Daniel faced a lion's den so God could show their captors the God of the Hebrews was in control and not them.

So, when something happens that you have no control over, don't be anxious. Do like Jesus and give God praise that He's still in control and that God will hear your prayer. Then pray for the need and praise Him for the answer. He obviously brought you there and He is well able to get you out.

Pray with me:

Father, I don't always understand why You do the things You do. But, I accept Your Lordship and Your wisdom in guiding my life and the lives of my children. First of all, I'm going to give You praise that You are firmly in control. Then, I'm going to thank You for making a way out where there seems to be no way. I ask for the wisdom to understand Your ways concerning my life. Give me the unction of the Holy Ghost to make the right decisions at the right time and at the right place. I am going to praise you for victory in this situation. You certainly never said that I would fail. But, in every scripture that I know of, You promised a great deliverance.

So I praise You for that deliverance. And, like Jesus, I'm asking You to show up in our lives in a way that people would be able to see the glory of the Lord in our situation. Show your compassion and mercy in a way that would make them want to know more about You.

Help me to walk through this time with grace and love in my heart toward everyone I meet. Let the glory of the Lord be evident in all that I do. Give me an opportunity to share Your love through this time as well as after our deliverance. Let all things be done to Your glory, in Jesus' Name Amen.

Anger, Fear and Hatred

John 14:12--NIV--Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

I've heard countless people try to say that the days of miracles are over. All I can say is that they are tremendously deceived. If you'll think about this scripture for just a little bit, you'll come to the same conclusion that I have. Jesus came to this earth, suffered and died on the cross and rose again the third day just so we could walk in days of miracles. He even said that we would do greater miracles than He did.

Phil. 2:5--KJV--Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Paul was a miracle worker himself. He overcame tremendous obstacles in order to follow the heart of God throughout his life. He led many to Christ. He performed many miracles including causing blindness to come on someone (whom he later healed). He said in Romans 12:2--KJV--And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If Paul trained himself to think like Jesus thought and saved and healed and delivered people, then we can too. Jesus never thought that any situation He faced was too hard to overcome. The only place where His miracle power was held back was in Nazareth (Matt 13:58). And that was because of the people's doubts.

Paul learned Jesus' secret to great power. Galatians 5:6--KJV--but faith which worketh by love. Jesus preached a fervent love toward God and toward each other. Paul said the same thing throughout his epistles.

Mankind is not born with anger, fear and hatred. These are learned traits. We learn them from our parents and from the people we hand around with. When we let our mind dwell on these three emotions it completely destroys the power of God that is trying to work through us.

Many people's minds are slave to these three demons. We all have been slaves to them at some time or another. I was, too, until my prayer life brought me to this truth. I couldn't go thirty minutes without my mind going off on some rabbit trail being chased by one of the three. Jesus and His healing power didn't stand a chance. I was always mad at somebody or fussing about not having my prayers answered.

But, the more I prayed, the more I realized that this type of thinking is the greatest interrupter of God's power that wants to work through me. His Holy Spirit is constantly desiring to perform miracles of deliverance and healing today. It's the very heart of God and has been since before the creation of the world.

Now, I am casting out these imaginations and bringing my thoughts into captivity of God's thoughts (2 Cor. 10:5). I am allowing the mind of Christ take charge of my thoughts by thinking of others with the agape heart of God. The more I refuse to let my mind dwell on anger, fear and hatred the stronger the Holy Spirit is within me. My faith and anticipation are rising to new heights. I am expecting a move of God in my life, my family and the area in which I live. I am beginning to feel way down inside of me that God is leading me to the land of "nothing is impossible".


Pray with me:

Father, as of today, we are going to change the way we think. We are going to put off the old man and his way of looking at the things that plague us. We will put away our anger, fear and hatred and begin to meditate on Your agape love and the promises You have made to us. We have a desire to walk out of our stale and dead Christian lifestyle and into a fresh life of renewed fellowship with You.

We firmly believe that we as spirit-filled believers have the potential to do the same thing that Jesus did. We believe that we can reach the lost by just strolling through the market place. We believe that we can lead people to life changing decisions by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we continue to fellowship with You and think like You that we are confident that we will walk into a new realm of possibilities that are limited only by You.

Lead us and guide us by Your Spirit. Come alive inside of us and give us visions of what we have inherited because of Your blood. Help us flow in the power of Your glorious Presence.

More than anything, we want to see hurting people healed by the entrance of Your Spirit. Help us to bring peace to our communities by saving those who seek to destroy it. Help us to take Your burden-removing, yoke-destroying presence out into the streets and parks where the devil seems to rule and reign.

Help us to declare to all who will hear us that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Two Main Hindrances to Prayer

Rom. 8:17--NIV--Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

John 14:12--NIV--Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

There are two great hindrances to prayer #1--We don't pray. #2--We don't utilize prayer to the utmost extent that God intended it.

In Luke 18, Jesus talks about being consistent in prayer. He talks about a widow who comes before the judge EVERY DAY and lays a claim on his judgement bench for relief. Jesus finishes the parable by asking, Vs 8--NIV--However, when the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

Understand what Jesus was asking here. He wasn't really asking if there would just be any faith. He was actually asking if He would be able to find people that had enough faith to be persistent in praying like He did.

Do we give up if we don't get an answer after we have prayed a couple of times? Do we stop praying because we think it might not be God's will? Are there too many other things in our lives that we enjoy more than answered prayer?

In John 14:12 we have a three hour sermon on prayer in just one sentence. Jesus plainly tells all of us that the Heavenly Father is expecting us to do the same things that He did AND MORE. Most of us have quit before we even get close enough to the same things that He did.

Jesus reached thousands of souls through His message, His anointing and His miracles. But, He got that type of power by consistently spending time with His Father in prayer. That's what brings us to the #1 hindrance to prayer. We give God a few minutes of our time a week.........if He's lucky. Amen?

Personal and not just congregational time should be spent with the Father in prayer and sometimes in just listening to Him. Yes, that will correct our paths. Yes, that will convict us of sins. But it will also strengthen our relationship with the prayer answerer.

#2--We need to get a vision in our spirits of just how powerful God wants to be. Is God content with just a few souls a year when His heart aches for the entire world? Is raising the dead, healing the crippled and casting out demons the greatest extent of the power of God? The answer to all of these questions is NO! But, we will never really comprehend the extent of prayer that God meant for us until we spend time in His presence.

Pray with me:

Father, we, as Christians, have fallen way short of what we should be. While some might be content with the shallow waters of Your presence, some of us long for the healing waters of the Holy Spirit to flood through our souls.

We are going to make more time in our lives to seek You. It is evident that we are not being used to the fullest extent of the gifts that You have put inside of us. But that is going to change starting today.

As we spend time in Your presence, we ask that You commune with us. Give us a vision of Your possibilities to us. Help us to understand the great compassion and great grace of Your heart. Instill withing us a greater hunger for more of Your power.

Father, fill us with Your power and the demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Help us not to be content with a move of God in our churches. Help us to take Your power to the masses like Jesus did. Help us take it into our homes, the market place and our jobs. Come alive inside of us in a way that everyone we meet can tell that You are alive within us.

Bring revival to the streets of Savannah instead of death. Bring healing of body and soul instead of injury. Instead of striking each other with our hands, help us to join hands with other prayer warriors and fight the good fight of faith and prayer.

In Jesus' Name, Amen

Who is the Biggest?

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1 John 4:4--NIV--You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Several months ago, God gave me a distinct challenge from this scripture. While I was meditating on it, He began talking to me about it. First of all He asked me did I really believe it? I assured Him that I did with my whole heart. Then came a challenge that I had never heard before. And, it changed my thinking and therefore my praying. His challenge to me was that if I really believed that the Greater One lived within me-------that I should start thinking like it, start talking like it and start praying like it. Needless to say, that got to me and changed me.

Paul said virtually the same thing in Romans 12:2--KJV--And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I would spend time just thinking about the phrase "greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world." I would think those words over and over and over. I would pray them to God throughout the day. Little by little the daily problems didn't seem to worry me as much as they used to. My inner man was being encouraged. My prayers began to take a different tone. Instead of pleading or cajoling God through prayer I began to praise Him in advance for two things. #1--God saw this stuff happening before I did. #2--Therefore, if He saw them coming before they appeared to me, then obviously He had a plan to get me out of it.

What else happened? That old "Oh well" attitude I used to have turned into a "That's not going to bother me. God obviously has it under control" statement of faith. Instead of falling down in rejection I stood firm and declared my confidence in God to move in my favor. Meditation on His Word was transforming my inner man to become a prayer warrior. And it will do the same to you.

Pray with Me:

Father, I boldly declare that You are the Almighty God and that there is none above you. I believe that the power of Your words control the universe and all that dwells in it. In Jeremiah 32:27 you asked, "Is there anything too hard for Me?"

I know that there is nothing wrong with You. I know that the problem is with us. Teach us the value and the depth of this privilege called prayer. Show us how to pray with passion and with purpose. Give us visions of what can be accomplished with prayer.

Satan we bind you in Jesus' Name and declare that you are ineffective against us any more. We declare your power over us, our family and our city to be broken by the spoken Word of God and ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ. We declare that our families are off limits to you and your evil schemes.

We refuse to allow you to have access into our minds and our hearts. We are constantly going to be meditating on the Word of God and it is transforming us into the miracle workers God ordained us to be. Your days of ruling us in fear are over.

Jesus, we declare that Your blood has set us free from all the powers of evil that are trying to run rampant. We know that You have heard our prayers because we have asked according to what the Word of God has promised. We know that right now Your great love and power are setting things in motion to bring us the things that we have asked You for.

Carry us deeper into this realm in Jesus' Name Amen.

I'm Calling Out the Christians in Savannah, Georgia

This also applies to those of you in other cities and in other countries. Incidents like this happen in your city and in your country, also. But, two nights ago on 37th Street in Savannah there was an officer-involved shooting. The cameras that the men wore showed the GBI exactly what happened.

I'm not going to get into who was right and who was wrong. I want to get into the fact that this incident would have never happened at all if those that call themselves Christians had been as vigilant about their business as these brave volunteer officers were about theirs.

God has given those that call on His Name a power greater than any weapon or show of force that this world has ever known. It is called prayer. I don't have the time nor the space to even begin to list the things that people have accomplished through prayer. It is more powerful than any sickness or injury. God's grace and the blood of His Son when they are applied through prayer is greater than any sin that holds the soul of men and women.

2 Chronicles 7:14 said that if His people would pray that He would heal their land. That's a simple solution to the complex problem of violence in our city. It is so simple that a little child could do it. But, you and I both have seen innocent children's lives taken by useless violence. When are we going to step up and protect our children?

When are you going to understand that the police force is not the major answer to the problem in our city? The real answer is when God changes the hearts of the sinner and turns their hatred into love. Guns and force doesn't bring that answer. That answer only comes when people become concerned enough to daily set aside the time to pray.

 The issues of crime are not black and they are not white. The great issue is sin. The great answer is when the people of Savannah--regardless of color, regardless of religion, regardless of nationality--decide to join hands in love and in prayer for the sinners.

We can pray in our homes. We can pray in our churches. Some of us have already gathered daily for prayer. We can get together and pray in the parks. We can pray on the sidewalks. We can pray silently. We can pray out loud. We can sing as we pray. We can dance before the Lord as we worship Him.

Men and women are so ungodly in this town that they think it's the normal thing to rob, maim and kill. They do it freely. They plot with each other. They encourage each other to be evil. They invite others to help them break the law and destroy innocent lives.

I'm asking the Christians that are seriously concerned about the violence in our city to take their concern to the next level. Make up your mind like some of the rest of us have already done and pray earnestly every day against the ungodly violence in this place. The power of prayer can go a lot farther than the police can. It can stop the violence before it ever begins by turning the sinner's heart to a loving God.

Tomorrow I'll post a prayer pattern for you to follow. But, don't wait until tomorrow. Start today and ask the Lord to show you and all of us how to effectively pray for the lost in this city. Let's unite our love and our faith and help the police force control this city.

Thank you

Prayer from Ephesians 1:6

Ephesians 1:6--KJV--To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Remember vs 4--It was God's choice that we stand before Him holy and blameless because of His love.

Remember vs 5--God adopted us as His very own children through Jesus Christ just because He wanted to and no one could stop Him.

He chose to love us and call us His very own children just because He wanted to. It didn't matter how bad we were. His love was going to blot out the sins of those who received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Those sins would never be remembered any more. Those who try to stand before God and declare our meanness to Him would find that He would refuse to listen to their accusations. As far as God is concerned, the blood-bought Christian is sinless.

Paul, as well as the rest of us that have tasted of His agape love, refer to this as His glorious grace. We didn't pay Him for it. We don't have to work for it.  God FREELY bestows His grace to all of those who ask for it.

But, please note, this grace has been offered to all of mankind without any reservation. It has been offered to the most dastardly criminal, the most heinous terrorist, the most ungodly leader as well as to us. Equally, it has been offered to those who have hurt us, treated us ugly and said mean things about us.

Jesus said in John 13:34--KJV--A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Jesus, like His Father, proved His love for the sinner time and time again in the four gospels. He even showed His love for those disciples that would turn their backs on Him by washing their feet at the last supper. He set a high standard for all of us.

Prayers will be answered and a move of God will come when we finally obey God's command and love one another like He loved us. That goes for the criminals, the terrorists, the elected officials as well as your loved ones, church members and co-workers. We show them God's love just like Jesus showed it here on this earth. He treated people as if they hadn't done anything wrong. He even prayed that His Father would forgive those who crucified Him.

Pray with me:

Father, help me to lay aside everything that would hinder me from having a more effectual prayer life. Help me to love like You do. Help me to see everyone through Your eyes of compassion. Let Your love for all of mankind be the force that drives my prayers.

Just like Saul of Tarsus, bring the sinners to a life changing experience with you. I ask that you put circumstances between them and the evil they plan so that their plans fall apart. Speak to their hearts in a way that would help them to realize that they are fighting against God Almighty.

I pray that the children of God continue to tear down the dividing walls that keep us from joining our prayer forces. Remove all envy and malice keeping us apart. Help us to love beyond the pain of our hearts and join our souls in service to You. Open doors of ministry that only You can open and grant us a mighty revival in Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

Prayer from Ephesians 1:5

Ephesians 1:5--Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

As we mentioned in our last post, God created mankind to enjoy a loving relationship with. Even though He knew mankind would fall into sin and the fellowship would be broken, He declared that He would adopt all of wayward mankind who would come to Him through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Why? "According to the good pleasure of His will." That's all. In more common terms God simply said, "Because I said so." That's easier to understand.

To me, the most important point that needs to be heard is that God declared that ALL of mankind would be adopted. No color, no nationality, no particular denomination but ALL of those who bowed the knee at the name of Jesus Christ would be adopted.

Then, whoever you are, whatever color you are, whatever language you speak, whatever culture you come from, and whatever denomination you claim-------why are we acting like step-children from a broken marriage? Why do we act like everybody is a foreigner? Why doesn't the Body of Jesus Christ tear down ALL of the walls, come together in the common blood of Jesus and God's Holy Spirit and act like God's children? Tear down those walls and let's pray together! We are fighting the same devil and not each other.

Pray with me:

Father, your children are hurting today. The world is in turmoil. Innocent people are being tormented by the powers of evil. Help us tear down all of the dividing walls that have kept Your body from being united in prayer and faith. Help us love one another as You have loved us. Help us stand united against the powers of our common enemy the devil instead of standing apart because of color, nationality or denomination. Help us to look through Your eyes at the job at hand instead of what divides us. Break down our wills until we break down the dividing walls. Help us to fix our eyes and our hearts on You instead of how someone has hurt us.

Father, as we unite in Your name through the blood of Jesus Christ and repent of our sins we cry out to You to make Your presence known in a greater way than ever before. Heal our hearts, heal us as we worship You and heal our land. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Prayer from Ephesians 1:4

Ephesians 1:4--According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Humans came into being because God wanted someone He could pour out His love on. He decided to make man in His image. He needed a place for man to live so He decided to create the earth for man to live on. Since the devil had been already kicked out of Heaven, God knew that the trickster would tempt man and man would fall. Revelation 13:8 declares Jesus to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. Through the blood of Jesus' sacrifice God made a way that He could love mankind throughout eternity. God created man even though He knew that man would fall into temptation and sin. Yet, God sent His Son to pay the price for those sins so that He could once again be able to pour out His love on us.

No matter what we've done, God has made a way for Him to love us. No matter how bad or evil the sin was going to be, God's decision BEFORE He started creating things was to love mankind. What a thought! What a God!

When God made that decision before He created earth, He chose to love EVERYBODY. Yes, He chose to love me and you. John 3:16 says that He loved the whole world. That includes the people that have offended us, that hate us, that have done us wrong and all those that do evil. God has never culled anyone out of His love.

Jesus said in Mark 12 that the greatest commandment of all was to love God. Then He said that the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. That includes everyone on the face of the earth. That means the good guys and the bad guys.

As we pray for salvation of the lost we need to include those "bad" guys that our human nature would normally teach us to hate. After all, if they got saved and turned from their evil ways they wouldn't be bad guys any more.

Pray with me:

Father, I thank you that you love me in spite of all the ugly things that I have done. I thank you that You sent Jesus to die in my place. I thank You for the sweet fellowship that we share together. I pray that You would make me a vessel of love that I could share Your compassion with those that I meet. Help them to see Your love through me and give me the opportunity to lead some of them to Jesus.

Father, help me to love those that have hurt and offended me. I know they might not receive Your message of salvation from me so I ask to to send someone across their path to lead them into a relationship with You.

Father, I pray for those who are stirring up evil in our city. I pray that Your presence would be so prevalent that the criminals would turn their lives over to you. I ask that your angels walk the streets of this city to stop them from their crimes and innocent people would be safe. I pray for those in public office that are making ungodly plans that Your Spirit would convict them of their ideas and stop their plans.

All of these are the lost that You love. Help us Christians to decide to walk and pray in love toward those who are doing evil. We pray for a city-wide revival to stir souls to do good instead of evil. In Jesus Name, Amen.