For the past several weeks we have been discussing prayer and what I call Prayer Basics
There are 5 prayer basics #1 ABIDE, #2 ASK, # 3 ASSURANCE, #4 AUTHORITY and today be will talk about #5 ASSIGNMENTS.
Prayer basics will lead you out of infancy in prayer and into rivers of Spirt-led prayer. John 7:38 says “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters.”
Only God knows He can rely on you to pray in reverence and with authority. He may place specific assignments on your heart. It could be an entire nation or you, a neighbor next door, but in His sight they are equally important and vital to His plan. Think of it: God has asked you to be involved in helping Him on earth! WOW!
Acts chapter 12 records a prayer assignment that was given to a church while Peter was in prison. Verse 5 says that they entered into fervent prayer on his behalf. Their prayer was so full of the fire of God that it broke open the prison door and set Peter free. That’s what fervent prayers can do.
When speaking about the Ephesians, Paul said that they labored fervently in prayer (Colossians 4:12) the word fervent is “to be hot, to boil.” The Bible tells us in James 5:16, that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. That’s the kind of prayer that Elijah prayed. He really turned the heat of old Ahab because he was on an assignment to intercede for his nation.
Prayer always begins with God. If prayer is your lifestyle, God will find a way to get His assignments to you. But don’t worry; God will not throw you in over your head. He’ll stat you out in the shallows so that you can get your feet wet first. If you are found faithful, God will move you on to deeper things.
Never underestimate the power of prayer! It is so awesome that it will heal the sick, save the lost and set the captives free. Prayers spoken in faith parted the Red Sea, raised the dead, and fed the multitudes. Regardless of the need, prayer will always reveal God’s plan for your victory.
Don’t let past failures keep you away from God’s throne of grace. Discover the awesome power that is available in prayer and never pass up the opportunity to pray.
This is the 30th year for NLFTN’s ministry. Anything that can last that long has had at least a measure of success. I was 32 years old when we started meeting. Our children were younger than any of my grandchildren are now. I am drawing social security and am now 63 years old. Wow, it is hard to believe I have been around that long. I have ministered over 5000 times. Does that mean 5000 different sermons? No, there has been many repeats on the same subject.
The interesting thing is that sermons from thirty years ago and sermons from now, on the same subject, may not say the same thing. Does that mean the Word is changing? No it does not. It means I have changed. The Word is alive and active. Although it is alive, it never changes. It is our understanding of the Word that changes as we study it.
Just because we believe something and preach it a certain way does not mean it is the truth. We are influenced by many sources and develop our ideas for many reasons. Most of our beliefs are based on our environment and experiences. To rightfully interpret and understand the Word of God we must move beyond ourselves and not let our life experiences “color” our view of God’s Word. We must study the Scriptures to show ourselves approved. This means having correct doctrine and theology by which to live. What was right 30 years ago is still right today. What is not right today was not right 30 years ago. The way I believed about an issue 30 years ago may not be the way I believe about it today. Am I trying to change the Word or has my study of the Word changed me to agree with the Word? I hope it would be the latter.
How much have you changed in the last 30 years? Are you being changed by knowledge of the Word? Or, are you changing the Word to suit you?
“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall hold them in derision.” Psalms 2:4
I know all of us have heard the expression, “a laughing stock”. A laughing stock is something that is so silly it can’t be taken seriously.
Imagine God looking at man’s antics and thinking of them as a laughing stock. God is not the one who creates laughing stocks. Satan comes up with ideas for our “enjoyment” and when we fall for them he considers us a laughing stock.
God may laugh at us as parents laugh at their children when they do something funny. God unquestionable has a sense of humor. “A merry heart does good like a medicine.” But, in the context above, He is not laughing in fun. It is a mocking of them for being such a “fool” as to ignore His ways and commands.
As the old proverb says, God will always get the “last laugh”. We need to live our lives in such a way that God never sees us as silly or a “laughing stock”. The Bible says that the man that doesn’t recognize God’s authority is a “fool”. Fools always end up being laughing stocks.
For the past several weeks we have been discussing prayer and what I call Prayer Basics
There are 5 prayer basics #1 ABIDE, #2 ASK, # 3 ASSURANCE and today be will talk about #4 AUTHORITY.
AUTHORITY Every born-again believer has the potential to tear down strongholds of the enemy and build up the Kingdom of God with their prayers. I am not talking about a haphazard prayer life that occasionally reminds God about our problems. I am talking about a perpetual, consistent and even constant communication with God–communications that keep the airways open, so that the Holy Spirit is able to the plans of the enemy to you and show you how to neutralize his forces and send them running for cover.
It is no wonder the devil works overtime to stop your prayer life. He knows that it is all over for him the moment that you discover the authority you have as a believer in Jesus Christ. Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Jesus gave you authority to use His name in John 14:14, “If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.” When you have the authority to use someone’s name, it’s as though they were standing there in person. Like you having power of attorney of that person.
That’s what happened in Acts 3:6 to the paralyzed man tat sat at the gate of the city begging for alms. Peter said “…Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” The power of the Name of Jesus instantly healed that man.
When you use the name of Jesus in faith, everything that is named has to bow. Philippians 2:10-11 “That at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of things in Heaven , and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The devil messed up when he put a name on your problem. Cancer has to bow, poverty has to bow, oppression has to bow, fear has to bow–every name that is named has to bow at the name of Jesus! Of course for this to happen we must be in a relationship with Jesus and doing His Word in our life.
Paul prayed that in Ephesians they would know “…what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominions, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all thins under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church…And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 1:19-22. 2:6
You are seated with Christ and have full authority to use His name to trample on the devil’s head!! Get busy! Pray! We have the authority!!
to be continued
I have learned to live with modern phone technologies as a necessary part of modernization. But I have often wondered, “What if God decided to install automated voice mail system?”
Imagine praying and hearing this: “Thank you for calling My Father’s House. Please select one of the following four options: Press 1 for requests. Press 2 for thanksgiving. Press 3 for complaints. For all other inquiries, press 4.”
What if God used the familiar excuse: “All the angels are helping other customers right now. Please stay on the line. Your call will be answered in the order it was received.”
Can you imagine getting these kinds of responses as you call on God in prayer?
“If you’d like to speak with Gabriel, press 1. For Michael, press 2. For any other angel, press 3.”
“If you’d like King David to sing a psalm for you, press 6.”
“To find out if your relative is here, enter his/her date of death and listen for the list that follows.”
“For reservations at My Father’s House, simply press the letters J-O-H-N, followed by the numbers 3-1-6.”
For answers to nagging questions about dinosaurs, the age of the earth, and where Noah’s ark is, wait till you get here!”
“Our computers show that you have called once today already. Please hang up immediately.”
“This office is closed for the week-end. Please call again Monday,”
Thank God, you can’t call Him too often! You only need to ring once, and God the Father hears you. Because of Jesus, you never get a busy signal. God takes each call and knows each caller personally.
Then you will call and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: “Here am I.” (Isaiah 58:9 NIV)
I was about the last one of our crew to arrive at New Life and Tim ushered us in just as the Praise and Worship services were getting underway. They have a great Praise and Worship team and from the moment they started you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit this morning.
As I was getting used to the service I noticed the guy in front of me on the first row had no right hand. Something clicked in my memory about how I thought I had overhead my wife and Tim say something about their Pastor, Bro Reliford being the Pastor at Atwood Chapel in Casey County years ago. That Bro Reliford had actually baptized her when she accepted Christ as her Saviour. The “wierd” thing was that only yesterday I had seen the picture of her being baptized in 1974 that was printed in the Casey paper. For some reason the picture was laying there on the dresser in our bedroom. I have no idea why it was there as I hadn’t seen it out in a lot of years.
While I was contemplating on that, a gentleman came in and joined the Praise and Worship team after a few songs. I recognized him as the man who sung at David Ballard’s funeral almost 2 years ago in Russell Springs. He sang a song that was titled “We Will Ride”. I was so moved by that song at the funeral, that I came home and found three different versions of it. My intention was to use the song as a backdrop for a video segment about our chapter. I have worked on it off and on but still haven’t made it happen. I started thinking about how I could get to him somehow to ask him if he could sing it this morning.
About this time, a young lady in a wheelchair came forward. It seems as if she has a lot of trouble breathing except when she is singing for the Lord. This morning she sang a duet and did a great job. The song she sang was “I Can Only Imagine”. That song is very personal to some of our members and as they sang it, I was filled with quite a bit of emotion also.
It struck me that here I was in a church I had never been in before and that in front of me was a Pastor I had never met. And he had brought a message way back in 1974 that allowed the Holy Spirit to move on a young high school girl and become saved. How she and I got married and that she has been the rock of spirituality for our marriage. And that just yesterday we celebrated 34 years of being married. Thats when I think I kinda lost it. I am glad I had the sunglasses on at that time. The emotion was pretty strong for me.
But God wasn’t done just yet it seems. About this time Bro Reliford gets up and asks Tim to come up and let the church know a bit about CMA and our ministry. Tim of course gets up as a good military man will and then in perfect military fashion, he decides to pass the buck on to someone else. That someone else happened to be me!!
As I took the mike after being thrown under the bus, I knew that God was providing me a way to get to the singer as well as to Bro Reliford. I quickly asked Bro Reliford if he had served at Atwood’s Chapel in Casey County and he looked at me a little weird and said that he had. I then turned to the singer and asked if he had sung at David Ballard’s funeral and he said that he did. I was on the hook now I guess. In a way I was hoping that they both would have said no and that I was mistaken on both counts. I asked the singer if he could do the song that he sang at the funeral. I was so pleased when he said he and the band would try.
As I briefly told the congregation about CMA and our chapter I was trying to keep some composure, but I think I blew it when I tried to tell Bro Reliford how much affect he had on my life by being at a small country church a lot of years ago. About all I could do was to hug him, thank him and sit down out of the way.
We got to hear again one of my favorite contemporary Christian songs that I have heard and I was truly blessed. Bro Reliford brought a good worship message and I knew I had recieved another great blessing today.
Thanks so much Tim and Jodie for inviting us to be a part of your church family. I hope everyone was as blessed as I was today.
Richard Durham
2010 President
Vision Riders Chapter 1038
Christian Motorcyclists Association
For the past several weeks we have been discussing prayer and what I call Prayer Basics
There are 5 prayer basics #1 ABIDE, #2 ASK and today we will talk about # 3 ASSURANCE
(ASSURANCE) My mother, I feel is the best cook ever. She absolutely loves to cook for me if I want her to. I could walk into her house today and say mother would you cook me some of your delicious sweet potatoes and cornbread and she would prepare them in no time flat, just for me. I know that it would happen just that way. I know her that well. That’s my assurance.
In John 5:14-15, the amplified says “And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make a request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.
And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the request made of Him.
Assurance in prayer comes from knowing the character of God. You have studied His Word and you know His will concerning the things you are asking about. There is no reason to be timid or fearful because God’s Word say, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)
The moment you ask in reverence to Him as your Source, you can rejoice for the answer because you know the Father has heard your request. When you abide in Him and He abides in you, you can be assured that He will always hear and listen to you, and grant anything that you ask. You just know it will happen just that way because you know Him that well!
Continued
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Gal. 6:9
Is it “due season” to faint or is it time to persevere until God’s “due season”? Oral Roberts put it like this.
“God has a timetable for every seed we plant. His timetable is not always our timetable. Sometimes the “due season” means a quick return. Sometimes it means a process or a slow return that may take years, even a lifetime. But we can count on three things. First, God will cause a harvest to come from our seeds. Second, God is never early or late. He is always right on time with our best interests at heart. Third, our harvest will have the same nature as our seeds sown: good seeds bring good harvests, bad seeds bring bad harvests. What are we to do during the growing time of our seeds? 1. Refuse to become discouraged. 2. Determine to keep our faith alive and active. 3. Give and keep on giving; love and keep on loving. Know this-His harvest is guaranteed. Continue in an attitude of expectancy.”
The main object of the adversary is to cause us to faint. Our strength is not found in us, but in The Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus.
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