Posts

Posted on

Back to Basics

“When you get in trouble, go back to basics.”

1 Corinthian 2:1-5

1And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.  2For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  3And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.  4And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:  5That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Proverbs 4:20-22The Message

20-22 Dear friend, listen well to my words; tune your ears to my voice. Keep my message in plain view at all times. Concentrate! Learn it by heart! Those who discover these words live, really live; body and soul, they’re bursting with health.

Ephesians 4:14 Amplified Bible Classic Edition

So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.

The Word of God should be the foundation of our Christian walk. However, there are times that we may become distracted and start listening to voices other than God. That is when we usually get into trouble. We find ourselves somewhere we weren’t planning on going and doing things we don’t really want to do. Things get complicated. That is when it time to go back to basics. It is time to go back to the presence and Word of God for direction. It is time to let go of our own plans and follow the plan of God.

Victory Action

When times are tough, I will go back to what Jesus did through His shed blood on the cross and the power of His resurrection.

Posted on

Be Specific

“Definite requests bring definite results.”

1 Samuel 1:11, 20

 11And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.   20Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.

Matthew 6:7-8 New Living Translation

7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

James 1:5 Good News Translation

“But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.”

A friend once told me that when I prayed I should be specific. He said to write down what I was believing God for and be specific. He said if it has a color, a size or specific features then write that. Then put the paper away and don’t tell anyone else. The point was when I received what I was praying for I would know that it truly was God that provided because it was specifically what I asked for. It worked! I received EXACTLY what I asked from God. Now, remember we have to ask according to the Word of God. We do not use this prayer to manipulate people to do what we want. God wants to provide for us. Trust God with your needs and desires because He has your best interests at heart.

Victory Action

I will pray specifically for my needs and desires in order to get the definite results God wants me to have.

Posted on

Church History

William Carey (1761-1824)

As a newly ordained minister, William Carey stood up among his Baptist counterparts and made a case for the necessity of overseas missions. An older man immediately shut him down, saying that if God wanted to save the heathen, He could do it alone. Fortunately, William Carey did not listen.

Carey believed that the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18–20 was a binding command on every generation of Christians. Eventually, he took his family from England to India. There he began to evangelize the nation. Over time Carey translated the Bible into dozens of languages for the people of India. He and his colleagues founded a college whose primary goal was to train indigenous ministers. William Carey is widely hailed to be the father of modern missions.

Why is it essential to know church history? Because God has often used obscure people to do great things in His kingdom. These people often lacked connections, finances, and education, but God was able to use them to change lives. How will you let God use you?

Posted on

Take God at His Word

“Faith is believing that God means what He said.”

 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

John 15:7

 3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Jeremiah 33:3

 Victory Action

I choose to act according to my belief that God’s Word lives in me and that He meant what He said.

Posted on

Lacking Nothing

When I first started my church here in Fort Worth, I had an older couple in our church. The husband was known to be stingy and didn’t want to tithe. His wife secretly gave the tithe out of her grocery money and would always try and give something in the offering. In the early years of our church, offerings like hers sustained us because we didn’t have a large attendance and were needing to make payments for upgrading the structure we were in at the time.

Eventually the husband’s job took them over to Midland, Texas and so they left. Soon after we had a large need for lumber and supplies. I purchased the lumber and sheetrock on short term credit, trusting God would supply. It wasn’t but a couple days that a check came in from this lady with the exact amount we needed! It turns out that she had heard God tell her to sell her old used car and give the money to the church. You know, it wasn’t but a few days later that she received a call from a friend who wanted to gift her with a brand new car! This woman gave a significant seed out of obedience, and look what God provided for her!

Years later her daughter came to talk to me after her parents died. She was like her father, someone who complained about giving, but she made a comment to me that was profound. She said, “You know I would always tell mom that she was giving too much money away, but she never had any lack. I don’t know how it came in, but she always had enough.” Praise God! A seed planted in faith can produce a multiplied harvest that will leave you lacking nothing!

Posted on

Draw Close to God

“Our actions reflect our relationship with God.”

1Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1 John 5:1-3

 3 Here’s how we can be sure that we’ve truly come to know God: if we keep his commands.4 If someone claims, “I have come to know God by experience,” yet doesn’t keep God’s commands, he is a phony and the truth finds no place in him. 5 But the love of God will be perfected within the one who obeys God’s Word.

1 John 2:3-5 (TPT)

Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; 2 and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (AMP)

We become like those we spend time with. We can pick up mannerisms, habits and attitudes from people just by being with them over time. That is why our relationship with God is so important. When we spend time with Him we will start to display His character. Our faith will grow. Our words will change. Our lives will become a mirror image of Him and others will see Him in us. Who do people see when they look at you?

 Victory Decision

I will grow my relationship with God by spending time with Him today. As I do I I believe my actions will reflect His love to those around me.

Posted on

The Good Fight of Faith

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichol’s book, “How To Chart Your Course Of New Beginnings.”)

As we study the life of Abraham, we realize we all need new beginnings.  We all desire them, but how do you navigate the unknown?  Charting your course is a 100% faith deal that is based on the Word of God.  This is not hype, positive thinking, or mind over matter.  It is simply getting a promise of God and remembering that the Bible said, “Therefore it is of faith . . .” (Romans 4:16).  I have been a pastor many years, and have experienced many things.  I have been in the trenches with people that were hurting.  I have been with precious people that felt that their world was being challenged.  People face a lot of challenges, but I believe with every fiber of my being that God has a new beginning for them.

In Acts 27 Paul faced shipwreck and possible death. In the midst of the storm God sent an angel with a message for Paul that he would survive the trip.  Eventually the ship would run aground and he would be forced to swim to an island to survive.   I believe even as it was with Paul, if your ship goes down, you are still going over.  You have to lock into that kind of faith mentality.  Not all ships make it.  I wish I could tell you that everybody’s ship makes it, but I cannot.  I will tell you this, even after the ship went down, Paul was able to safely make it to the shore.  As a result, Paul had an island-wide salvation, healing, and Holy Ghost revival.  He did not need the ship to do it.   You see, the storm destroyed the ship but it did not take Paul’s faith.  He refused to let the storm steal his faith in God’s Word.  He refused to let the shipwreck ruin the rest of his life.  Even when he was washed ashore, the challenge to his faith was not over.  In an attempt to keep warm the survivors started a fire.  When Paul laid the sticks he had gathered on the fire, a poisonous viper came out and attached itself to his hand.  Immediately he shook off the snake into the fire without suffering any harm.  No matter how greatly blessed we are, our faith will continually be challenged.  But the bottom line is, if we do not quit, we win.

Posted on

Get a hold on the Word

“Standing on the Word means knowing what God said.  It means getting the Word in your spirit, and staking your life on it.”

16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.  17If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  18But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.  19Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.  21Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.  22Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  23And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.  24Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.  25He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.  26Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.   28Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Daniel 3:16-26, 28

Victory Confession/Decision

I believe God is a miracle working God and my deliverer. I choose to put the Word of God in my heart daily so when I need to stand my faith will be strong. I trust God!

Posted on

From a Vision to a Cause

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichol’s book, “The Secret Power of a Cause.”)

What exactly is a vision?  A vision is a compass providing steady guidance along the path that God is leading you.  It is a divine point of reference that steadies you, keeps your eyes off of present circumstances, and allows you to see the prize ahead of you.  When difficulties arise, the vision reminds you of your future success.  The Bible has many things to say about the importance of a vision.  Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”  Without a vision, there is no sense of direction.  The vision is vitally important to the believer but does not guarantee success.  The problem with a vision is that it can be put on the shelf.  It is optional.  If the glamorous vision becomes too difficult to achieve, it can easily be put aside.  A vision is needed, but there is something more.

In Acts chapter 26, Paul is testifying before King Agrippa about his encounter with Jesus.  He tells the king about how Jesus changed his life and how he knew he had to accomplish what God wanted him to do.  A vision was birthed in his heart on the road to Damascus.  In verse 19 of chapter 26, Paul tells the king that he had “not been disobedient to the heavenly vision.”  Paul kept the vision before him.  He knew his duty was to spread the good news and his vision kept him on track.  His vision provided a reference point that encouraged him to continue “pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14).  Paul was given a vision on the road to Damascus, but somewhere along the way, there was a shift that took place.  He knew his vision would not come to pass unless he went to work.  God’s vision to Paul on the road to Damascus became a passionate cause.  His vision became a cause.