Hey church we are in need of your best. God gave his best in giving us his son shouldn’t we do likewise. 

• Colossians 3:23 (TPT) “Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others.”

If you have been following some of my recent posts you would have seen this concept of being faithful to the gifts and talents we have. I am convinced that God’s trying to position the church for a mighty outpouring. 

Will your church be ready? If we don’t have the inter-structure for increase how can God entrust to us more? When the Lord assigns us a task or we have volunteered for a task how well do we perform that task? If you notice I didn’t say the pastor or the head of a ministry  assign the task but in actuality it is the Lord who commits to use tasks that need to be done.

A church is much like a home where in most families there are shared responsibilities. Often we will ask our children to fulfill a task. How do we feel when our children come up with excuses as to why they didn’t do the task in a timely manor or in the manor we wanted it done. 

It is vital that each of us carry a centurion sprit. You might recall that Roman centurion came to Jesus to ask him to heal his servant. He tells Jesus he doesn’t have to go to him but Jesus just needs to speak the word and his servant will be healed

• Matthew 8:9-10.  “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” 

Over my many years in ministry I have seen great people with great potential never receive what was ordained for them to have because they never discovered and implemented the principle of being faithful in little things.

• Luke 16:10 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”
• ”I’ll end with Paul’s speaking about the growth of the church.

 

• Ephesians 4:16 (AMP) “From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish] love.”

Give your all, give your best…

Here is a truth:

• Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

The principle is we all believe based on what we hear. It is clear that all of us are influenced by what we are hearing/listening to. My question is what are we listening to? What are we allowing to affect our thinking?

I am not here throwing stones this morning but we cannot allow the media to shape what we believe. From my perspective we as a nation have been gripped by fear and even the church has been affected by what we are hearing. 

Have we as a people asked the Lord what is He up too?  Have we asked the Lord what should we believe? Have we asked the Lord what we should be saying to people? Are people hearing hope from us or are they hearing something else? Are we being the light he speaks about?

Forgive me but I am tired of hearing opinions. I am tired of the media being “experts” and what they say changes from day to day and much of it carrying a critical spirit. 

Believe this…You are sons and daughters of God anointed to speak and declare what is on His mind, We are to be the trumpet sounding a distinct sound that will change the lives of people we meet every day. Here’s a promise…

• Psalm 81:10 “I am the Lord your God,Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

We can only speak what we believe. So what are you believing?

This is taken from Luke 5:17 where it says that the Pharisees and teachers were coming from all over Israel to see the power of God… Wouldn’t you love to see that happen again?

In Acts 5 we read how God worked through the apostles and people came from surrounding towns to be healed? Do it again Lord…

• Acts 5;12-16 “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

Let’s rewrite this: "through the hands of God’s sons and daughters.” Yes, through each and everyone of you.

Father it says, “the power of the Lord was present - TO HEAL… Would you entrust to your children that same power? 

A few days ago wrote that God had to develop the man/woman to carry the dream. We will look at the ministries of David, John the Baptist and Jesus and we will God’s preparation procedure.
In looking at King David we discover that he was anointed king of Israel as a teenager but didn’t assume that role for almost 15 years. Did we see that? We can have the anointing but it can take time for a person to walk in the purpose for that anointing.
After he was anointed David faced Goliath (we will face our Goliath), he was banished by King Saul, he hid in the desert, he lived on the run, forced out of Israel and fought many battles. It took 15 years to prepare David to become king. Are you being prepared for your destiny?
I also want us to look at the life of John the Baptist:
He grew up in the family ministry (father a priest). At age 14 took a Nazarite vow. At 30 he started his public ministry. His ministry covered a period of 15 months and then was put in prison. John was beheaded 2 years after being put in prison. John spent his entire life being prepared and postponed for a 15 month ministry. 


Then there is the life of Jesus.
Jesus the Son of God but he too needed to grow, matured go through his own maturation process.

• Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Up until Jesus was 30 years old he did no miracles even though he had multiple prophetic words written about him. Is this you?
Then Acts 10:38 occurred and Jesus 3 year ministry begins. 

• “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

Jesus spent 30 years being prepared to change the world, His ministry lasted only 3 years.
Do we need long ministries or ministries that are filled with power? I just remembered that John the Baptist in his 15 months baptized over one hundred thousand people.
Learn to rejoice in the preparation process…

Perhaps better stated hold onto the dreams God gives you. It’s 4:10am on Sunday morning. As I sat to hang out with the Lord and wondered if he would give me something to write? I immediately had the story of Joseph come to my mind, You can go read the account in Genesis 37.

The story goes like this: Joseph was 17 years old when he had a dream about his future greatness. How awesome is that? The first mistake he made was to tell his brothers who despised him.He is sold into slavery, falsely accused of sexual misconduct, then thrown in prison. how long was Joseph in prison? It was some where between 7-9 years, that includes 2 years after he interprets the dream of Pharaoh’s butler and wine steward, Even Joseph manipulating didn’t expedite the early release from prison.

So how long was it between him getting the dream and the fulfillment? It was not quite 14 years Joseph. How long have you been waiting for your dreams to be fulfill? Why did it take so long? I was given a dream/word when I was 20 years old that I would have my own church. Twenty-two years later that word/dream was fulfilled. I had another word/dream that I would travel the world that occurred 25 years later.

I can’t even begin to tell you of all the circumstances that occurred during that time including liven on the floor for 3.5 years in agony with a back injury. Why? Why did Joseph go through all those circumstances? Because God had to develop the person to carry the dream.

We read this in:

• Psalm 105:16-21 (NLT) “He called for a famine on the land of Canaan,  cutting off its food supply. Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them—Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. Until the time came to fulfill his dreams  the Lord tested Joseph’s character. Then Pharaoh sent for him and set him free; the ruler of the nation opened his prison door. Joseph was put in charge of all the king’s household; he became ruler over all the king’s possessions. 
  
  
  If you are waiting for your dream know this GOD IS PREPARING YOU FOR THE DREAM… GOD IS AT WORK IN YOU!

Philippians 2:13 (AMP) “For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.”

Hold onto your dreams…

In Jeremiah 32 Jeremiah is in prison for giving a prophetic word that didn’t go over very well. So here he is in prison and God tells him to buy a field for the future.

Think for a moment Jeremiah is in jail for nothing he has done wrong. I wonder what Jeremiah was thinking? How about his emotions? There are all kinds of prisons we can find ourselves in, emotional, mental, etc.

So Jeremiah is in prison and God sends him a word. I wonder if in our prisons we have the capacity to be able to hear from God? What was the word he sent? You’re going to get out of prison? No, he tells him to buy a field. God shows up and tells him to buy real estate. That’s nuts living in a war torn country and knowing Israel is going to be taken over by Babylon; it doesn’t sound like thee optimum time to buy property.

Do you know what Jeremiah did? He trusted in the prophetic he received and he bought the field. The field represents the future. No matter where you are today God has a word for us and He has future for us.

Be encouraged if you fell locked up God has a word for you. If you listen carefully it might be something that is totally out of the box. Know this you have a future, IT’S AN AWESOME FUTURE…   

• Jeremiah 32:2 “For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison”

 

• 6 And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 7 ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it 8 Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. 9 So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. 

In the middle of chaos God will step into your prison and speak about your tomorrow.

• Luke 24:50 “And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.”

As I read this morning I lifted up my hands and I began to declare blessings over all of you…

Father, these are your children. Pour you love and affection over each one of them. Reveal yourself, make yourself know. Open as Paul wrote their eyes of understanding. Father, show us your ways. Make clear our path. Comfort and encourage those who are hurting, discouraged, dismayed and disappointed.

May your voice become louder and clearer to all of us. Help us discern what are “good” thoughts and what are “God” thoughts. Help us discern what You are doing and what the devil is doing. Make all the crooked places straight. 

Father, bless your children. Watch over them and pour upon them a fresh anointing. Give us the grace that we need to face all the circumstances in our lives as well as the grace we need for others and for ourselves. Grant us the awareness of your presence and then the willingness to walk in it…

Blessings from 6 Damascus Road