Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him
Jesus said that "if you have faith the grain of a mustard seed you shall tell this mountain to be removed, and tossed into the see, and it will be removed and tossed into the see". Wow that's powerful! Faith is a powerful thing. There is even a place in the Bible where we find that Jesus could not do any great work because of the people's lack of faith. So it isn't surprising to me that one of the things we find most under attack from the enemy of our souls is faith.
Satan is a liar, and He is the accuser of the brethren, and when we go through trials and tribulations he tends to use those things as moments to rattle our faith. To rob us of our joy of faith in Christ. We live in a world where faith has become a rarity.
As powerful as faith is, doubt can be just as powerful. It was the Israelites doubt that God would actually bring them into the wilderness into the promised land that actually kept them from entering into the promise land! They felt abandoned by God. However if they would have had faith, the wilderness wouldn't have lasted long at all.
Here is what to do to preserve your faith:
1.) PRAY IN THE HOLY GHOST! Jude 20: 20But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost... The Bible says that praying in the Holy Ghost builds up your most holy faith. When you pray in tongues The Spirit is making intercession for you (Romans 8:26). This affects your faith positively because who knows what to pray for you better than God? God is actually praying for you when you pray in tongues! Your heavenly prayer language confuses the devil, so he can't hear your prayers and mess with your faith anymore. Your spirit also gains strength because God is having His way as you pray in the Holy Ghost, and your faith recieves a major boost!
2.) PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! Not only pray in the Spirit but just pray in general. The more you pray, the more God reapays! James 5:16 says Confess your trespasses[a] to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. When you pray you are talking to God, and when you are talking to God you are reminding yourself that God is there and He is listening. And since the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much, the more you see God mightily answer your prayer, the more faith you will have!
3.) Repent A lot of times we find ourselves having a lack of faith in our life because sin hinders our faith. Sin hinders our prayers and sin hinders our worship. The first part of James 5:16 says to confess your trespasses, and the Bible also says if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Repentance is not only confessing, but also turning from their sins. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says 14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. God has promised to hear us from heaven and heal our land, if we turn from our wicked ways! When we turn from our sins and turn towards Jesus we can feel His power moving through us again, giving us the power to walk away from sin and towards righteousness. This is a huge faith booster!
4.) Fill Your Mind with the Word of God Hebrews tells us the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword... the Word of God has a way of piercing through darkness. When our faith is running low, we must fill our mind with what God has already promised us. When the devil tells us that we are defeated, think "We are more than conquerors" or "you have overcome the wicked one, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world". When we feel the doubt that God loves us read or think "God commendeth His love toward us; that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us". If there is a lie in your head attacking your faith there is a promise from God in His word to counteract it. When Jesus was tempted by Satan saying "do you really think you're the Son of God..." Jesus responded "Shut up devil, for it is written". A lot of people will tell you to have more faith you have to positively self talk, but don't just say anything, make sure it is in the Word! When it's in the Word, satan can not win.
5.) Fight to Hold On to Your Faith Paul said fight the good fight of faith. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. Faith is depicted in the Bible as something precious that must be visciously held on to, so when that old liar comes around trying to attack your faith, get such a strong grip on your faith that he can't pry it out of your hands. Even if it doesn't make sense right now, hold on to your faith, and it will only prove you right!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Holding Back
Acts 5:
3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
4Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
7And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
9Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
10Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
Ananaias and his wife are guilty of a crime against God I think a lot of church folk are guilty of. What they did was they had taken a part of what they had, and kept it from God and His work. They went out, sold a posession, knew that they should have given all of it to the church, but decided they wanted to keep some for themselves.
I wonder how many reading this (I'm not pointing fingers, I'm guilty too) when God gave you the Holy Ghost, When God saved you, When God bought you with His own blood, said "oh Jesus, I love you, I'm going to give you everything, you can have all of me" and you have not done it. Like Annanaias and his wife we hold back when God wants all of us.
Too many of us would rather hold on to sin, then be completely submitted to God. Too many of us would rather hold on to our posession, or what we think is ours, then giving everything to God, who deserves it.
1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us that we are not our own, we were bought with a price.
JESUS DIED FOR YOU! When we have areas of our life that are not God's, or are not of God, we are telling Him, sorry Jesus, you didn't pay enough for me, I'm too expensive for you. Your death on the cross wasn't good enough to buy me. I don't know about you, but I don't want to face the Lord on judgement day and tell Him the price He paid for us was only enough for part of our life. You only paid enough for Sunday and Wednesday. No way!
We all have had times in our life where God required something of us we weren't willing to do. When we first get saved it's all nice and easy, but if you really consider Him your father, He's going to ask you to obey Him. He knows what's best, He's trying to save you from destruction. God will never ask anything out of you, or ever ask you to let go of anything without good reason. Give the creator of all the universe some credit.
Alot of times we want to give God the way we dress, but not the music we listen to. We want to give God the things we watch on TV, but when he starts telling us to dress modestly we say no. We want to give God tithes but when He lays on our heart to give offerings we hold it back for ourselves. We want to give God our lives for a calling but aren't willing to make sacrifices for that calling. We want to give God the easy sins, but not the ones that are hard to let go of.
God is calling you today, hold nothing back, give it all.
3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
4Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
7And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
9Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
10Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
Ananaias and his wife are guilty of a crime against God I think a lot of church folk are guilty of. What they did was they had taken a part of what they had, and kept it from God and His work. They went out, sold a posession, knew that they should have given all of it to the church, but decided they wanted to keep some for themselves.
I wonder how many reading this (I'm not pointing fingers, I'm guilty too) when God gave you the Holy Ghost, When God saved you, When God bought you with His own blood, said "oh Jesus, I love you, I'm going to give you everything, you can have all of me" and you have not done it. Like Annanaias and his wife we hold back when God wants all of us.
Too many of us would rather hold on to sin, then be completely submitted to God. Too many of us would rather hold on to our posession, or what we think is ours, then giving everything to God, who deserves it.
1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us that we are not our own, we were bought with a price.
JESUS DIED FOR YOU! When we have areas of our life that are not God's, or are not of God, we are telling Him, sorry Jesus, you didn't pay enough for me, I'm too expensive for you. Your death on the cross wasn't good enough to buy me. I don't know about you, but I don't want to face the Lord on judgement day and tell Him the price He paid for us was only enough for part of our life. You only paid enough for Sunday and Wednesday. No way!
We all have had times in our life where God required something of us we weren't willing to do. When we first get saved it's all nice and easy, but if you really consider Him your father, He's going to ask you to obey Him. He knows what's best, He's trying to save you from destruction. God will never ask anything out of you, or ever ask you to let go of anything without good reason. Give the creator of all the universe some credit.
Alot of times we want to give God the way we dress, but not the music we listen to. We want to give God the things we watch on TV, but when he starts telling us to dress modestly we say no. We want to give God tithes but when He lays on our heart to give offerings we hold it back for ourselves. We want to give God our lives for a calling but aren't willing to make sacrifices for that calling. We want to give God the easy sins, but not the ones that are hard to let go of.
God is calling you today, hold nothing back, give it all.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
For the Bros: FLEE fornication and youthful lusts.
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.2 Timothy 2:22
Flee also youthful lusts:but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
I don't know why, but I felt lead to remind all my brothers in Christ out there, it is VITAL that we flee fornication and lusts.
Fornication and lust - for men at least- is the most deadly sin, b/c it is a more addictive sin than most, and impossible without complete relience on the Holy Ghost to stop committing once you have.
Let's face it dudes, we got a problem. I just want to tell it plain. When the Bible talks about the law of sin being in our members, there is one member in particular that is more strong willed than any other member. It will bring you down, and will destroy you, if you don't let God have control. You know what I'm talking about.
Now listen, Im just gonna put this out there- I AM SICK AND TIRED of seeing young men and even seasoned men of God- ruining their ministry, forfeiting their anointing, and giving up on their calling, because their either fornicating or lusting after women. Women are hot, I agree, but seriously, the flames of hell are pretty hot too! So in case I am not being plain enough, let me spell it out for you.
1.) DO NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES watch pornography! Statistics show that over 25 million americans view pornography a day. The top 2 viewed websites on the internet are pornography sites, above even facebook! Not only are you committing sin by lusting after women you don't even know and are not married too, and sending yourself to hell, it is highly addictive. Take it from me, I will be transparent in telling you I struggled with pornography for 7 years before God used a trustworthy man of God and good friend to help me get saved from this destructive force. Chances are, 99% of men in your church have viewed pornography at some time. Studies show porn users are angry, violent, and abusive. This is not the type of man you want to be.
2.) Young men: If you find a girl you like, even if you believe she is the will of God for you, and there are signs and lighting from heaven, do not get too serious until there is a ring on her finger!! Seriously just trust me, this is going to save you alot of trouble.
3.) If you didn't listen to me in step 2, or you already have a girlfriend, (once again this is for young men only) DO NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES go anywhere where you two can be alone. Come on man, you don't wanna 'just talk'. Ain't a dude alive that wants to just talk. There is a whole lot less of a chance, I don't care how good of a kid you are, of "stuff happening" if people, especially her dad, your mom, or your pastor is around. Unless... of course... you want to get shot.
4.) If you have been sexually active with someone that is not your wife, I don't care if you two really messed up and your having a baby, you need to repent and stop doing it. If you aren't married, fornication is a sin. It doesn't matter if you've fornicated before or not. In fact, if you guys aren't committed, you should probably seek guidance from your pastor, be upfront with him, and tell him what you are struggling with, it would probably be a good idea to break up, too... if you think heaven is worth it. Think about it like this, you are cheating on your wife, even if you think the person you're with is your wife, your wife is the only one meant to be sexual with you. She is the only woman God says, "ok you can lust after her all you want, go crazy". She deserves you brand new, not used.
*edit*4.5) I was going to add this earlier but did not have the time. Dude, do not undress a woman with your eyes!! Jesus said that is the same thing as committing adultery with her in your heart! Like I said before, it doesn't matter how hot she is, hell is hotter. Making your you know what happy for a moment isn't worth your calling, ministry, friendship with sisters in the Lord, or anything God has for you! Do not even go there, just don't even think it. Seriously, control yourself!
5. ) I could say alot more, but the Bible already said it perfectly, FLEE also youthful lusts, FLEE fornication. If your walking down the street and someone pulls a kinfe on you, your not gonna look at them for a minute and think "hmm... are they really gonna kill me?" or "boy that knife looks really nice". Your gonna run away. Be careful what you watch, who you hang out with, where you go, and what you listen to. If you wouldn't watch it, do it, go to it, click it, read it, think about it, stare at her, with Jesus sitting right next to you, don't. Cuz guess what... Jesus is watching, and he knows the very thoughts of your heart.
God is looking for men that are pure in heart to use in his kingdom. If your heart is stained with a lust problem, you will not make it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
