Afleveringen
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The condition of our hearts greatly affects how we think, what we say and what we do. Who hasn’t done something you regret because you were angry or hurt?
Jesus gave us a quick way to examine and correct the attitudes of our hearts.
This video will show you how to do a quick 2 minute attitude test. The test is in the activation at the end of the video. Please do it. I believe it will really help you.
0:00 What is the True Condition of Your Heart?
2:41 The 4 Attitudes of the Heart
6:21 Activation - Declaration
7:08 2 Minute Attitude of Your Heart Test
In Psalm 26, David is telling God how he tries to live a blameless life and how much he loves God. Yet, he asks God to examine his heart. “Test me and try me,” he says. “Examine my heart and mind.” David knew that we are often unaware of the true condition of our hearts. See Jeremiah 17:9-10.
The attitude of our hearts greatly affects how we think, what we say and what we do.
Jesus gave us a way to quickly test the attitude of our hearts in a parable.
Your heart is the soil in which God’s Word is planted.
Parable of the Sower and the Seed.
Mark 4:3-9
Jesus is Showing Us The 4 Attitudes of Our Hearts
“The four kinds of soils speak of four kinds of hearts: hard hearts, hollow hearts, half hearts, and whole hearts. With the first soil we see the activity of Satan,
the second, that of the flesh, and the third, that of the world. Bearing fruit is never a problem with what is sown but with the soil it falls upon.” (TPT Footnote)
I review Jesus’ explanation of this parable:
God’s Word never fails. Isaiah 55:11
There is always power in God’s Word. But without faith, we can’t receive from God. Our faith is what activates God’s Word in our lives. (See Hebrews 11)
James 1:6-8 NIV
Guard Your Heart Proverbs 4:23 NIV
Activation – Do a 2 Minute Heart Attitude Check1st Daily Declaration
2nd A Quick “2 Minute” heart attitude check
A. Ask yourself:
Am I feeling or acting: hard-hearted, hollow-hearted, half-hearted, or whole-hearted toward Jesus and Father God right now?
*Hard Hearted – Am I feeling: hatred, offended, angry, cold or indifferent, or unforgiving. Am I rebelling against God, intentionally sinning, disobeying God, or resisting what he has told me to do?
*Hollow Hearted – Am I being a casual, passive Christian? Am I a hearer, but not a doer of God’s Word? Do I walk away from God when trouble or persecution comes because of my faith? Do I have a relationship with Jesus?
*Half Hearted – Am I distracted, pursuing human desires instead of God?
For example: pride of life (wanting to be my own god, to do whatever I want), sexual lust, greed, envy, strife and division, selfish ambition, drug abuse, or idolatry (making something greater than God in my life)? See Galatians 5:19-21.
*Whole Hearted – Am I loving God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength? Am I all in! Living for Jesus and receiving His love?
B. Repent and Replace that influence with God.
Mark 12:30 NIV
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And Matthew 6:33
C. Renew Your Mind: Read scripture that promises what you want or need. And let God fill it.
Use this quick test to discover the true condition of your heart. Then Let God fill your deepest desires as you renew your mind.
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101 Mickey Cohen, Christian Gangster?
**The link to “Loving God” by Charles Colson as promised: https://amzn.to/3z1ryzd This is an affiliate link.
**“The Basics of Christianity for New Christians” from the Graham organization. Course: https://tinyurl.com/4s2m69bj and PDF: https://tinyurl.com/3nhmftyd
0:00 Mickey Cohen’s Story
4:38 Why can’t I be a “Christian” Gangster?
5:28 Jesus’ Requirement to Go to Heaven: Obedience
6:39 We Love God Because He First Loved Us
8:47 Obedience is the Measure of Our Love for God
10:02 Activation: Make Jesus the Lord of Your Life
Mickey prayed the sinner’s prayer. Then friends sent him to Billy Graham where he and his people explained Christianity to him. Upon returning to L.A. he avoided the man who led him to Christ, Bill Jones and went back to his mob friends. Jones contacted him to see what was wrong.
“Jones,” Mickey replied, “you never told me that I had to give
up my career. You never told me that I had to give up my friends.
There are Christian movie stars, Christian athletes, Christian businessmen. So what’s the matter with being a Christian gangster?
“If I have to give up all that—if that’s Christianity—count me out.” [from Loving God by Charles Colson and Wikipedia.]
It’s an outrageous idea – a Christian Gangster.. Yet, many people have the same thought. They want to be a Christian, but continue to do what they used to do.
Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Jesus’ requirement for genuine repentance and salvation is clear. Obedience. There is no salvation without obedience to God.
Ephesians 1:5
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
The saving relationship God offers is adoption as sons and daughters. Everyone in heaven will be a son or daughter of God. No one is grandfathered in. No one is there because what they did. No one is a servant. Everyone will be there for one and one one reason - their relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:19 NKJV We love Him because He first loved us.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV
For Christ’s love compels us, …15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
Our relationship with God, is measured by our obedience to Him. Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:15 NLT
Jesus said that the first and greatest of all the commandments is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30 NIV.
The obedience God desires is heartfelt – obedience because we love Him and want to please Him.
If asked their religion, most Americans say they are Christians. Yet, millions know about God, but no real love for him. Jesus makes it clear: obedience is the yardstick which measures our love for God. Without loving relationship, Jesus has no choice but to say: “depart from me. I never knew you.” Without loving relationship, their destiny is not heaven with God, but hell, separated forever from God.
See James 1:22
Activation
Make Jesus the Lord of your life, pray the prayer on the video from Billy Graham. Then read “The Basics of Christianity for New Christians” linked above.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Things are really tough right now. How can you have joy? You can. God created you to live in joy. The joy Holy Spirit gives you isn’t human, it doesn’t depend on circumstances. God’s joy makes even your worst days better. Let God restore His joy in your life. Here’s how.
As promised, here is the link to Demos Shakarian’s book, “The Happiest People on Earth.” https://amzn.to/3X9Y3Ft This is an affiliate link.
0:00 Joy Restored
1:42 Joy is the normal condition of a son or daughter of God.
2:38 Do You Struggle to Live in Joy
Joy No Matter What
6:02Joy comes from the presence of God.
7:21 Joy From Following God’s Path for Your Life
8:38 Joy Comes From Renewing Your Mind with God’s Word
9:33 Joy is contagious
9:50 Activation
Joy Restored
You are born again, a son/daughter of God. But it will take time for God to restore the ravages of sin in your life. Your soul has been wounded.
After David committed adultery, he repented and wrote: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12
Restore - to bring back to a former, original, or normal condition
Joy is the normal condition of a son or daughter of God.
Psalm 16:11 “in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Adam and Eve were made to be like God – full of joy. So were you.
Christians should be the happiest people on earth. People should be running to us because we are filled with joy.
Do You Struggle to Live in Joy?
Paul wrote: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
Rejoice simply means renew your joy. Renew your joy always. Always? In all circumstances? Yes!! Paul was in jail when he wrote these words.
Think of God’s joy as a river that constantly flows through you. It’s true! Joy is always available. You can drink any time you want. It is always there. The choice is yours, but God’s river of joy never dries up. Rejoice!
This is a key that can unlock joy in your life.
Joy No Matter What
I give 2 examples of Christians showing great joy while in prison (Paul and Silas, Acts 13) and persecuted believers in Philippi (Acts 16).
Joy comes from the presence of God.
Psalm 22:3 and Psalm 16:11
Joy From Following God’s Path for Your Life
Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
In the path God prepared for you, there is fullness of joy – God’s joy. Deep abiding joy. See John 15:10-11
Joy is Restored by Renewing Your Mind with God’s Word
Romans 12:2
Emotions follow thoughts. Have you noticed? Change your thoughts and you change your emotions.
James 1:17 tells us that all good things come from God. Think on these things. Fix your thoughts on the good things and joy will fill your hearts. (see Philippians 4:8)
Joy is contagious. Hang out with people who are filled with God’s joy and you will catch their joy and learn how to carry it. We become like those we spend time with.
Proverbs 13:20
Spend time with the wise and you will become wise,
but the friends of fools will suffer.The same is true of joy, of peace, of love, etc. We literally become like the people we are with.
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0:00 Facing the Impossible
4:20 Hezekiah’s Prayer
5:30 God’s Answer to Hezekiah’s Prayer
7:35 Activation
7:58 1st Don’t respond to the bad news. Be still. Be quiet.
8:26 2nd Take your bad news and lay it before the Lord.
8:45 3rd Don’t begin by praying the problem. Praise and declare who God is. This will
8:59 4th Ask God for His answer!!
There is always an answer:
Faith comes from hearing Jesus. And you can hear Jesus.
Your world is falling apart. You just got bad news, gut wrenching, hand wringing news. What do you do? This video has 4 powerful steps to take when you need God most. Do the step by step activation at the end of this video and invite God into your darkest times.
It was 701 BC. The Assyrians (under King Sennacherib) had just arrived with an army of 185,000 men outside the walls of Jerusalem. King Hezekiah, of Jerusalem, had an army of less than 10,000 soldiers. The Assyrians demanded that Hezekiah surrender the city or be starved by a long siege and destroyed. This story is found in Isaiah 36-37.
Hezekiah prayed that even through it looked like an impossible situation, that God would be glorified. He prayed the whole world would that God did it. God saved them.
After he prayed, he received God’s answer from Isaiah, the prophet.
Isaiah 37:33-5 NIV
God said there isn’t going to be a battle! Not one arrow will fly. No siege ramp. No starvation. God, Himself will defend the city. For his sake. Through this God would be glorified.
God’s Promise Fulfilled
Isaiah 37:36-38
Activation
Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV
When you get a bad report: a “dear John letter”, a foreclosure notice on your house, notice you are being sued, or whatever the bad news, do what Hezekiah did.
1st Don’t respond to the bad news. Be still. Be quiet. Immediately reacting and talking about bad things opens emotions of fear and anger.
Psalm 27:1
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
You got the bad news, now wait for God’s reply.
James 1:20
2nd Take your bad news and lay it before the Lord.
Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you
Isiaiah 37:14-16
3rd Don’t begin by praying the problem. Praise and declare who God is. This will bring new perspective to your situation, push back fear and activate your faith.
4th Ask God for His answer!!
Hezekiah asked the prophet, Isaiah to hear God for the people. Today, we hear God. He speaks directly to us through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Ask “God, what is your provision for me in this.”
There is always an answer:
Isaiah 65:24 NLT
I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
Jeremiah 33:3 NIV
Faith comes from the experience of hearing Jesus.
Romans 10:17 NKJV
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
“Word” here is “rhema” – which means “the spoken word of God.” Rhema words are the messages Jesus gives us by “quickening” scripture, impressions, pictures, the still small voice we hear at times, and the other ways He speaks to us.
Isaiah received a rhema word from God in answer to Hezekiah’s prayer.
You have been given the gift of hearing Jesus.
John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
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Walking in the authority Jesus gave you, releases God’s power over demons and influence with people. Learn to walk in your authority as a believer.
Authority means “power to command” devils. It also means “the ability to influence thought, opinion, and behavior.” (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary) Jesus gave you His authority to have power over devils and influence with people.
0:00 Walking in Jesus’ Authority Releases God’s Power
0:45 The Day Demons Came to Church
3:54 What the Bible Says About Your Authority
5:03 Even The Winds And The Waves Obey You.
6:19 Agatha’s Intercessors and the Typhoon
7:44 Activation
The Day Demons Came to Church
I tell the story about the morning a demon possessed woman came to our small, country church and how through using the authority Jesus gave us, she was delivered and born again. This scene wasn't in Hong Kong or China, where I had several encounters with demons, but in a small, country church in the Northeastern U.S.
Some people will struggle with this story because I openly talk about demons and some Christians really don't believe in them or that we have authority over them. They are real. But we don’t need to run away from them. We have authority over them. The Bible says so.
Matthew 10:1, 7-8 NIV
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, a drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Luke 10:19
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.
And after Jesus rose from the dead, he told his disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Matthew 28:18Then he told them to go in that authority and make disciples of all nations.
Even The Winds And The Waves Obey You.
Jesus was sleeping in a small boat as he and the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee. A violent storm hit them. The disciples were terrified the boat would sink. They woke Jesus up.
Mark 4:39-40 completes the story. “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.”
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Jesus expected them to take authority over the storms of life. Us too.
Agatha’s Intercessors and the Typhoon
Dick Eastman tells the story of Agatha Chan, a prayer leader in Hong Kong, whose intercessors took authority over a typhoon which turned away from Hong Kong at the last minute. They were praying to Dick’s prayer conference could be held. I was at that prayer conference.
God’s plan from the very beginning was to give you and I the authority of Jesus, to be used for God’s glory and to destroy the works of the devil. God has never changed His plan. You have Jesus’ authority.
ACTIVATION:
You need to believe that your simple faith brings all the authority of Jesus rushing to help you. When you exercise this authority, you release God's power. Go, walk in the authority Jesus gives you. Be bold. Command the storms in your life to go away. Walk in Jesus’ authority, releasing God’s power into your life and the lives of those you love.
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Jesus’s Word, the supernatural Word of God, literally goes into the darkness, finds you, opens your eyes to the truth, lights your way out of the darkness, and fills your life with light so you can see and know God. In this video, we will define the Biblical concept of “abiding” and you will see How Abiding In God’s Word Brings You into the Light and Sets You Free.”
0:00Abiding in Christ
2:41 Abiding in Jesus’ Word, His Love, and His Joy
3:45 Abiding in Jesus’ Love
4:45 Abiding in Jesus’ Joy
6:12 How Abiding in Jesus’s Word Will Set You Free
6:31 *Understanding
7:16 *Wisdom to Make Good Decisions
7:40 *Power to Set You Free
Jesus used grape vines to explain the Biblical concept of “abiding in Christ.”
John 15:5 NKJV
Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
This is a beautiful picture of our relationship with Jesus. He draws everything we need from God. Even though we are connected to the vine (to Jesus), it is our heart hunger, our desire that reaches out and receives what we need from Christ.
Abide– to stay, to remain, to wait, to continue in a place, to live in a place
Abiding is drawing from Jesus; it is receiving and trusting Jesus to provide everything we need.
John 15:4 NIV
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
John 15:6 NLT
Abiding in Jesus’ Word, in Jesus’ love, and in Jesus’ Joy
John Piper points out that John 15 specifically mentions three things that we are to abide in as we abide in Christ:
1. Abide In Jesus’s Word
John 15:7 NIV
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
2. Abide in Jesus’ Love
John 15:9-10
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love;…
Abiding is relational. This isn’t just discipline. It is romance.
3 Abide in Jesus’ Joy
John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Psalm 16:11Let's focus on:
How Abiding in Jesus’s Word Will Set You Free
1. Satan keeps men in darkness by blinding them to the truth
2 Corinthains 4:4 NIV
2. God’s Word Brings Light of Revelation – Understanding from God
Psalm 119:130 KJV
The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV
3. God’s Word is a Light to Guide our Choices and Decisions in Life
Psalm 119:105 NKJV
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
4. The Word of God Has Power to Save Your Soul
James 1:21 AMP
John 17:17 NIV
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
5. Daily Living God’s Word Sets You Free
Satan’s authority over the earth was stripped from him over 2,000 year ago, but he still deceives us today.
John 8:31-32 AMP
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Abiding – Jesus’ personal promise to you is that as you abide (as you live daily in His Word, reading, memorizing, declaring, obeying, and praying His Word) you shall know the truth.... and the truth will set you free. Satan’s deceptions will be broken and revelation light will flood your life.
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Why do you get out of bed in the morning? What makes your life meaningful, rewarding? We all have questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives. Only God has compelling answers. This video reveals a surprisingly simple way to know God’s purposes and His plans for your life.
0:00 God’s Plans for You are Personal and Specific
1:12 How to Know the Specific Works God Has For you
3:16 “Watch to see where God is working and join Him in His work.” Henry Blackaby
6:08 Paul & Silas Example
8:21 In My Life
9:17 Daily Assignments From God
As promised, here is a link to Henry Blackaby’s life-changing book: “Experiencing God.” https://amzn.to/4bmoDiS This is an affiliate link.
God Has Plans for You – Specific, Detailed Plans
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
God’s plans for you are specific and personal to you.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
How Can You Know What These specific Works are?
1st we need to surrender our lives to God so He can give meaning and purpose to our lives. We need to be born again and we need to surrender our daily lives to Him.
2nd The next step is to pray and ask God for direction.
Like many people, I wanted a big vision and detailed plans for what to do and how to do it. God doesn’t give us that. He gives us the next step..
Finding God’s Plan Once You Have a General DirectionPastor Henry Blackaby’s church felt God called them to establish a student ministry on a local college campus. There were thousands of students on this campus. Yet for almost 2 years they tried and failed to establish a Bible study in the dorms.
He writes, “One Sunday, I pulled our students together and said, “This week I want you to go to the campus and watch to see where God is working. If God shows you where He is working, immediately join Him!” They asked me to explain. God had impressed on my heart two Scriptures: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God” (Rom. 3:10–11) and “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).
I explained, “According to these passages, people do not seek God on their own initiative. When you see someone seeking God or asking questions about Christianity, you are witnessing God at work.”
3 days later a young woman approached one of the students from Blackaby’s church and asked if she could help them lead a Bible study. From this a vibrant student ministry grew that impacted the lives of hundreds of college students.
From “Experiencing God,”
We see this in the lives of Paul and Silas
In Philippi, they looked to see where God was working.
Acts 16:13-15, Luke writes:
1”3 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.
Paul looked for people who already believed in God, but did not yet believe in Jesus because they didn’t know about him. Lydia became a Christian and helped them launch the church in Philippi.
Look to see What God is Doing.
Wherever you are, look to see what God is doing.
We get our assignments from God daily.
God guides us step by step.
Psalm 37:23, Proverbs 20:24, Jeremiah 10:23
Do the Activation
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00:00 We Need God to Guide Us
2:17 God Wants to Guide You
3:19 6 Common Reasons We Don’t Hear God’s Guidance
3:30 #1 We don’t believe God will talk to us
5:09 #2 Sin
6:21 #3 Intentional Disobedience – Doing What we Want to Do
7:44 #4 You Don’t Have Because You Don’t Ask
8:31 #5 Confusion
9:27 # 6 Discouragement And giving up
10:55 Activation
*We Need God to Guide Us
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
Proverbs 16:1, Jeremiah 17:9-10 NIV
Do not lean on your own understanding. Ask God.
God Wants to Guide You
Jeremiah 29:11
God’s plans are specific and personal to you.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
God's Plan is for You to Walk with Him – guided step by step
Psalm 37:23, Jeremiah 10:23, Proverbs 20:24, Proverbs 16:9
6 Common Reasons We Don’t Hear God’s Guidance
#1 We don’t believe God will talk to us.
I’ve taught courses about hearing God 3 times – online twice, and to a group of university students. There were Christians in each of those classes who said they had never heard from God. By the end of each course, every single person had heard God multiple times.
God is speaking to you.
Isaiah 65:24 NLT, Jeremiah 33:3 NIV,
You can hear God.
Jesus said: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27.
Faith comes from the experience of hearing Jesus.
Romans 10:17 NKJV, Hebrews 11:6 NIV, Romans 8:14
#2 Sin
When we approach God with sin in our lives, we have no confidence. It affects our faith. Our consciences bother us. We need to get rid of our sin to boldly (with great faith) approach God for help.
1 John 3:21-22, James 4:7-10 NIV, Hebrews 4:16 NIV
It is Our faith that gives us victory. 1 John 5:4
#3 Intentional Disobedience – Doing What we Want to Do
James 4:2-3
#4 You Don’t Have Because You Don’t Ask
Psalm 105:4, Jeremiah 29:13
Matthew 7:7-8
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
#5 Confusion
1 Corinthians 14:33 NKJV
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace…
See Philippians 4:7 NIV
Don’t do anything when you are confused. Wait on God and Pray through to peace.
# 6 Discouragement And giving up.
God promised Abraham he would become the father of many nations. Abraham was 75 at the time. 9,125 days later, God fulfilled that promise when Sarah bore him a son. She was 90. Abraham was 100.
Hebrews 10:35 NASB
Hebrews 6:12 NIV
… imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
There are other reason you may not hear God, but these are 6 common reasons.
Activation:
Use this as a checklist. If you need guidance from God and aren’t hearing him clearly, ask these questions:
1. Do I have faith to believe God will talk to me about this?
2. Father, is there sin in my life?
3. Am I intentionally disobeying God? Am I doing what I want to do, not what God wants me to do?
4. Am my passive or indifferent about this or am I actively pursuing God and his answer in this area?
5. Am I confused here? If so, pray through to peace.
6. Am I waiting with faith and endurance? Biblical patience means that your faith is actually getting stronger as you wait. By faith and endurance you will receive God’s promise.
7. Have I done the last thing that God showed me to do in this area? In my life overall?
8 Finally, father, is something else keeping me from hearing you? Please reveal it to me and remove it. Thank you, father. I surrender to your will, knowi -
This video contains a secret to joyous Christian living that I didn’t discover until I had been a Christian for decades. I sincerely want to save you years of struggle and pain. I believe this spiritual truth will empower you to live a victorious Christian life.
00:00 My story – alcoholic to Christ
4:14 The Key to Deep, Lasting Change: Your Desires
5:15 Desire Fulfilled is a Tree of Life
6:56 It’s Your Choice
8:12 Delight in the Lord and He Will Fill Your Desires
8:31 Activation
A. My Story
I met a lot of Christians from all over the world. And I discovered a pattern. Many believers are born again, but not transformed.
God can transform your heart in a fraction of the time and without all the pain that I experienced.
Romans 12:2 NLT says, “Let God transform you into a new person.”
So, How can I Be Born Again, but Not Transformed?
The Key to Deep, Lasting Change is Your Desires
You see, sin is the fruit of us filling our desires by ourselves for ourselves.
God gave you desires that will draw you to Him.
Philippians 2:13 NLT
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
The purpose of these desires is to drive us to God. God made us with desires only He can fill. He made us to be incomplete without Him. If you ever feel empty, incomplete, or inadequate it's because you are - without God. God doesn't want you to feel that way. The desires he placed in you draw you to Him. He fills the deepest desires of our hearts through relationship with Him and with other believers.
Desire Fulfilled is a Tree of Life
Proverbs 13:12 NASB
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
There were 2 trees in the Garden of Eden. Adam & Eve ate forbidden fruit. They wanted to be like God through their own effort. It was the first sin. And Satan has trapped million of people in the same sin over the thousands of years since. The fruit looks good, but it leads to death not life.
God created us to live for more than our selves.
Our lives are not our own. 1 Corinthians 16:9 NIV says: "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price."
Jesus paid the price for our sin when he died for us. God now offers each of us the choice to live with Him, as a son or a daughter.
It's Your Choice
Others choose to go their own way and live for themselves.
Ephesians 2:3 NIV
When I was an alcoholic, I turned into one of the most selfish people on the planet. When I craved alcohol, I would do almost anything to get it. I didn't care about God, about friends or family or anything but filling the all-consuming desire for alcohol.
The irony is that by pursuing what I wanted, focusing on my own self-centered desires, I was sentencing myself to a life of unfulfilled desire. No alcoholic or drug addict ever has enough of his drug of choice. No one who pursues power, fame, wealth or any of Satan's twisted desires ever has enough. Like a dog, chasing it's tail, Satan keeps people running meaninglessly in circles until we have wasted our lives.
When I turned my heart to God, he healed the desires, the emptiness within me, that drove me to alcohol.
Psalm 37:4 NIV
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
The one thing that will save you years of frustration and pain is to turn your heart to God and let Him fill the desires of your heart. Once your desires are filled by God, the sin that you continue to struggle with will fade away.
Activation
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This video is for everyone who has or will struggle with sin that you just can’t seem to break free from. You and I are no match for sin. But Jesus is. How did Jesus deal with sin? That is the answer you’ve been looking for. That answer is in this video.
Several viewers have written me asking how to deal with repeated sin after they are born again. We try and try to eliminate these areas of failure in our lives using self-discipline, but sometimes we just can’t. Then, we don’t know what else to do.
00:00 A Video for People Struggling With Sin
0:39Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery
2:48 Jesus => A New Way of Dealing With Sin
4:59 Obedience From the Heart
5: 23 Go to the Root of Your Sin - Desires
6:19 It’s Not Enough to Stop Sinning – Pull Out the Root, the Desire
8:58 Activation
For practical help applying this approach to dealing with your sin read: Tony Stoltzfus, “The Invitation: Transforming the Heart through Desire Fulfilled” https://amzn.to/3QHCTuq [This is an affiliate link.]
How Did Jesus Deal With Sin
In John 8, the religious leaders brought Jesus a woman caught in adultery. The law required her to be stoned to death. Jesus's response?
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” He accusers left, one by one.Jesus asked, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.”
Imagine a culture where people were ready to pick up stones and kill someone who broke the law. But that was the culture Jesus lived in.
Jesus came for the purpose of destroying that culture by replacing the old covenant of law with a new covenant of “grace” – undeserved favor and forgiveness from God.
Jesus accepted this woman as she was - in her sin. He loved her (love forgives). She is guilty. Yet she is freed. And forgiven. And loved. Jesus, by his action and his words affirmed her value, her worth as a woman.
Jesus gave her the very desires that drove her to adultery in the first place: desire to be loved, valued, accepted, to belong, to be significant. Jesus filled the desires of her heart.
Then, only after Jesus had met the desires that drove her to sin, did Jesus ask for obedience. In verse 11, He said, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus asked her for obedience from the heart: obedience because she felt loved. See John 14:15 NASB (Jesus)
Jesus He began with the root – the desire that was driving this woman. What human desire drove her to the point that she would risk her life to fill it?
A desire for sex?
Sex is the outward sin, but what would sex give her? What was the root desire? Love, Acceptance, approval, significance, love…. These are all desires each of us have. These are things that we all need. And if we don’t have them, we will go to extremes to get them.
This woman risked her life to fill the emptiness of her heart – her heart desires.
Go to the Root of Your Sin
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden,
What causes us to do what we do?
The truth is we often don’t know why we do things. As Paul said in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
The answer is that desires are what drive us.
Pull Out the Root
When self tries to take God’s place and fill the desires of our hearts, selfishness twists God-given desires into sinful pursuits.
Let Jesus fill your heart's desires.
Do the ACTIVATION -
You are much greater than you know. This video reveals your true identity: who God says you are and releases you to walk in your true identity. "Remember who you are. Don’t compromise for anyone, for any reason. You are a child of the Almighty God. Live that truth." - Lysa Terkeurst
00:00 Discover Your Hidden Identity
0:49 Gideon Discovered His Identity
2:42 God Corrects Moses’ Limiting Beliefs
5:18 God Defined Moses and Gideon’s identities by His presence.
6:16 William Carey’s Story
8:47 Your Identity is in Christ
9:12 “The voice you listen to is the voice that defines you.” Jonathan Helser
10:22 Activation
**Gideon Discovered His Hidden Identity
Jesus appeared to Gideon as an angel and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
Gideon told Jesus that God wasn’t with them.
14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
God’s answer to Gideon’s identity questions:
16 “I will be with you” and “you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
**God Corrects Moses’ Limiting Beliefs
Exodus 3:1-12 NIV
God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. God sent him to rescue Israel from Pharoah and the Egyptians.
11 But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
God’s answer:
12 “I will surely be with you,” God said.
God Defined Moses and Gideon’s identities by His presence. That is your identity too!
Gideon, said I’m the least of the least.
God responded “I will be with you.” “Go in the strength you have.”
“Who am I to do this,” Moses asked.
God replied: “I will surely be with you.”
**William Carey’s Amazing Story
Willie never had higher education. He was a humble cobbler. He stuttered. And his wife was insane.
Church leaders rejected his idea to take the Gospel to India. Churches in England weren’t sending missionaries in the 1700’s.
Someone said, “Face it, William: you’re unfit.” He stuttered, “B-b-but I c-c-can p-p-plod!”
For 11 years he studied Greek, and Hebrew and other languages on his own. He finally was accepted as a minister. Finally, in 1793 he went to India.
William Carey ministered in India for 7 years before he had a convert. He plodded on. After 20 years, he only had a small number of converts.
By the end of his life he had translated the complete Bible into 6 languages and parts of the Bible into 34 languages. He had established India’s first college, 45 teaching centers, and a school for girls (unheard of at that time.) In India, he is still revered as a man who loved India and helped the people.
Today, we call William Carey the “Father of Modern Missions.” Today, there are over 27 million Christians in India. And his early critics were right: he was totally unqualified. But, like Gideon and Moses, God went with Him.
All God needs is a man or woman willing to let God give us our true identity and to step out in the strength we have, knowing God’s might and power will go with us.
Your Identity is IN CHRIST - John 15:5 NIV, Philippians 4:13
With Jesus – we can do anything.
Without Jesus –We can do nothing of eternal significance!
** “The voice you listen to is the voice that defines you.” Jonathan Helser
Gideon didn’t know who he was until Jesus revealed his identity to him. The same is true of Moses, and the same is true of you.
Colossians 3:3 NIV
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Ephesians 1:11 MSG
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for
Activation Prayer -
You probably know someone who became a Christian and over time, literally became a new person. Their life was transformed. Yet, we all know Christians who have been Christians a long time, yet still aren’t much like Jesus. This video answers the question: “What can you do that will enable God to transform you into a totally new person?”
00:00 It is in God’s Presence We are Changed
1:40 Meet God in His Word
3:50 The Word and The Holy Spirit Work Together to Change us
6:40 Be Transformed by Renewing Your Mind With God’s Word
**Romans 12 Transformation
7:01 Step 1. Surrender every part of your life to God.
7:20 Step 2. Reject ideas of this world. And Renew Your
Mind with What God Says
8:35 Step 3 Then You will know God’s will
9:14 ACTIVATION: Disciplined Reading and Desire Reading of Scripture
2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB
But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
What changes us? Being in God’s presence. As we spend time with God, his glory is reflected in us, we are changed into His image. He changes us to be like Him.
In the Old Testament, Moses spent 40 days on a mountain with God. When he returned to the people, he was noticeably changed. He radiated with the glory of God. Exodus 34:34 NASB
We don’t have to go to a Mountain to Meet With God – Just Open His Book
God has given us a book that literally carries His presence.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
For the word of God is alive and active.
It’s true. People throughout the world tell of God encounters while reading this book. People hear His voice, feel His presence, or somehow realize that He is real and He loves them.
The Spirit and the Word Working in Our Lives
Hebrews 4:12
Be Transformed by Renewing Your Mind With God’s Word
Romans 12:1-2 describes the process uses to sanctify you.
1. Surrender every part of your life to God. Romans 12:1
2. Reject the philosophies and ideas of this world. And Renew Your Mind with What God Says – His Word and His Presence. Romans 12:2 NIV
Transformation is the inside out change that only God can do.
3. Then we will know God’s will. Romans 12:2 NIV
Activation
Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Every morning, Jesus is knocking on your door, waiting for you to open the door and let Him into your life that day. You do that by opening your Bible to meet with Jesus.
Action Steps
1. First thing every morning, open your Bible and meet with God. Expect Him to speak to you through his Word. Approach the Bible looking for a deeper relationship with Jesus.
2. Disciplined Reading – Have a Reading Plan (e.g. Psalms & New Testament, etc.) and read every day. If you show up, God will too!
3. Delight Reading – Read scriptures God has given to you as promises or used to solve problems in your life. Read these verses to delight and thank God.
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We live in a world full of takers. We honor those who have the most money, fame, power or prestige. God’s kingdom is just the opposite. God rewards givers. Givers receive from God when they give with all their heart.
00:00 Take a Step and God Will Meet You With What You Need
4:07 Give and it Shall Be Given to You, Pressed Down, Shaken Together and Running Over
6:66 Activation: Apply this Spiritual Principle to Your LifeI share a story about being badly hurt by the betrayal of a friend and how I couldn’t forgive that friend until he “gave” an act of forgiveness to the friend.
Luke 6:37-38 says:
37Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
“Give” it says in Luke 6:38. I needed to give something. So, I called my friend. I called and acted as if the betrayal had never happened. We talked about everyday things – just small talk.As I talked with my friend, the forgiveness I was still struggling to find, suddenly dropped into my heart. I remembered all the years of our friendship, the memories we have together, and I remembered why I love this guy. And then it was easy to forgive.
Forgiveness is not an emotion. It’s a decision followed by an action. Act first, and the emotion will follow. We step out in faith, and God gives us what we need, to do what is right. I gave my friend a second chance and God restored our friendship and gave me peace, forgiveness, and love for my friend.
Before I took a step, I was unable to forgive, even though I was trying. After I acted, taking just one step toward forgiveness, God flooded my heart with forgiveness.
There is a powerful spiritual principle at work in Luke 6:38. We give to God and he gives more to us. Much more. I took one small step toward forgiveness, a phone call reaching out to my friend. God ran to me and filled my heart with memories of a long friendship and filled my heart with the forgiveness I had been trying to get on my own. It was an amazing experience.
Give and it Shall Be Given to You, Pressed Down, Shaken Together and Running Over
This principle is proven true in many contexts in scripture.
In finances, in relationship with God and in relationship with others.
I share several stories of God’s supernatural provision during the 12 years we lived in Hong Kong.
2 Corinthians 9:6 says:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Activation: How to Apply this Spiritual Principle to Your Life
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Human failure is our reality. God’s forgiveness and restoration is our greater reality!! At the last supper the disciples argued who was the greatest. Jesus told them he would be arrested and they would all abandon him. Peter said, “not me.” Jesus told him he would deny Christ 3 times before dawn. Yet, in the middle of all this, Jesus assured the disciples that their reward in heaven would be great. These verses teach us that God’s grace is infinitely greater than our sin.
00:00 Jesus gives the disciples grace
2:53 Grace is Grater than Human Failure
3:45 Satan wants to sift you like wheat
4:07 All men fail God
4:22 The Blood of Jesus is greater than our failures (Romans 3:22-25)
4:53 Made righteous not by what we do but by what we believe
5:24 Human love is conditional; God’s love is not.
5:52 Angry Christians
6:37 jesus is our Righteousness (Romans 8:1, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
7:16 Saving Faith (Faith working in love, Galatians 5:6)
8:15 Grace that is greater than our sin
8:25 What God sees when he looks at you
9:08 When we return to the Lord, He restores us
9:30 ACTIVATION
Jesus was having a last meal with the disciples he loved, when they began to squabble about who was the greatest among them. At the same meal, Jesus told them they would all abandon him. Peter said, “Not me.” Jesus told Peter he would deny knowing Jesus 3 times before dawn.
In the middle of all this human failure by the disciples, Jesus assured them that their reward in heaven would be great!!
All men fail God. Repeatedly. Every single one of us. In our lives we are sifted by struggles, problems and brokenness. We fail. We run away from God. We sin. We fall short of what God requires. And the blood of Jesus covers and removes our sin, our flaws and our failures.Romans 3:22-25 NKJV
We are made righteous not by what we do but by what we believe.Romans 8:1 AMP
2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB
Saving Faith works in love.
Faith that saves and makes us righteous and holy is faith (believing and trusting Jesus and Father God) because we know they love us. And our natural response to receiving their love is to love them back.
Galatians 5:6 NASB
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
The Galatians had fallen into the trap of trying to obey the requirements of the law to sustain their salvation. Paul corrected them. It’s not your performance that makes you righteous, he is saying. It is your faith flowing from your love.
We must come to a point in our lives that we truly believe that grace (the favor we have from God because he loves us and for no other reason) is greater than our sin.
We must come to a place where we accept the amazing truth that when God looks at us he doesn't see our performance (what we think, say or do) and our many failures and flaws. No, God sees every born-again believer as being "in Christ." When God looks at us, He sees Jesus' perfect life of love and sacrifice. We are "In Christ." Our lives are no longer our own. We have accepted Jesus' offer to join, to unite our lives with His.
And just like the disciples, God knows that our flawed humanity will cause us to fail Him. We will sin. We may even turn our back on God for a season. But he reminds us that there are great rewards for us in heaven. And, like Peter, God restores us.
Peter, who had denied Jesus three times, was the apostle who spoke to the crowd on the day of Pentecost and led 3,000 people to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Peter had been restored to his true identity.
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In the book of Mark, Jesus was interrupted 35 times. People asked Jesus to come teach, to heal the sick, to cast out demons and raise the dead. He said, “Yes.” Jesus had discovered that God’s frequent interruptions weren’t interruptions at all. They were God’s opportunities. They were God’s plan for his life. The same is true of you and I. We need to learn how to live like Jesus: to live letting God interrupt our lives.
Jesus was interrupted during meals, while teaching crowds, while walking down the road, even when he was trying to just get away from the crowds and spend time with God. People crowded him, grabbed his clothes (Mark 5:27-28) and invaded his personal space. Two Blind men even burst into the house where he was, apparently uninvited (Matthew 9). Jesus healed them. Four men tore up the roof of a house to lower a sick man down so Jesus could heal him. (Mark 2) Imagine the dust and debris falling on Jesus, as they ripped up the roof above his head. That was outrageous. But Jesus didn’t get upset. He healed the man.
Jesus’ didn’t just patiently endure all of this, a fake smile pasted on his face. He genuinely felt the pain of the people. He had compassion on them. He felt God’s love for them and He loved them by serving them.
00:00 Jesus lived an Interruptible Life
1:36 God Used Homeless People to Teach me to Be More Interruptible
5:15 God Wants to Be Part of Our Daily Lives (scriptures)
7:11 Interruption is God’s Invitation
9:14 Activation
*God Highlighted Homeless People to Teach Me to Be More Interruptible
I tell stories of how God taught me to be more interruptible by highlighting homeless people everywhere I went last summer and fall.
These people were assignments for me. Holy Spirit kept pointing them out. I learned to immediately respond.
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*God wants to be a big part of our lives – every day. He has specific plans for us. He has works prepared for us to do – things that were planned long before we were born. Ephesians 2:10 GNT, Psalm 37:23 NKJV, Proverbs 16:1 ESV, Proverbs 19:21 EXB, Proverbs 20:24 NIV, Jeremiah 10:23
The highest life, the most rewarding life we could possibly live is the life God planned and prepared for us. Our role is to live interruptible lives, completing God’s assignments and living the lives God planned for us to live.
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in” Life Together”:
“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God."
**Interruption is God’s Invitation
*to come closer to God, to know his heart for people.
*to overcome evil with good. You and I can’t overcome all the evil in the world, but we can stop for the one person in front of us. We can make a difference in their life. We can love and care for them the way Jesus would.
*Interruption is God’s invitation for you to be transformed to become like Jesus. –A life lived for Christ is a self-less life. It is a life dedicated to others. God’s interrupts us to transform us into new people. (see Romans 12:2)
*It’s an invitation to open your eyes to see as God sees. You will develop fresh awareness of people, problems, and God – his power, his love, and his faithfulness.
*to hear God and immediately obey God. Developing a habit of immediate obedience is a powerful thing.
*to learn to love – it is through serving that we learn the true meaning of love. Matthew 23:11 NIV: The greatest among you will be your servant.
*to learn humility. Living interruptible will empower you to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” Philippians 2:3 NIV
*an invitation to the Joy of loving and serving others. Such joy!!
Ecclesiastes 9:7 NASB
Activation- Learn to embrace God’s interruptions and to create margin (time, energy, and resources) for God to interrupt you. -
You may feel the weight of world on your shoulders right now. You may be overwhelmed by fear, drained and defeated by what has happened to you. Jesus wants to lift you from under your circumstances and seat you far above them with Him. From there, He will teach you how to pray and overcome whatever you are struggling with.
The prayer activation at the end of this video WILL enable you to pray above your circumstances. Do the activation.
The Phone Call In The Night
This video begins with the story of an emergency phone call in the night (a person’s mother’s heart stopped) and how fear and hopelessness try to take control. God has answers to your fear and despair.
Hebrews 4: 16 NLT
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
You approach God’s throne as a much-loved son or daughter, to receive His compassion, His love, and grace (his favor) to help you when you need it most.
You remember Psalm 100:4: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.”
As you praise and worship God, His peace will come and fill your heart.
Now you’re ready to pray.
Jesus, how are You praying for my Mom? What do you want me to know about this situation?”
You wait. When anxious thoughts again try to come, you just gently praise them away. When Jesus speaks, it may be a picture in your mind, a still small voice, a Scripture or an inner knowing that you recognize as Him. You wait, confident Jesus will answer. You’ve done this before – many times.
You have the faintest impression – a picture of a heart beating. And a wave of peace washes over you. You have Jesus’ answer. Your mother will live. Somehow, in your spirit, you know that now.
You pray with faith, not an ounce of fear.
Romans 10:17 NKJV promises: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” You heard God and your faith cannot be shaken.
What Just Happened?
Our physical life is limited to the earth. But we are spirits. We live in a body and we have a soul, but we are spirits. When we were born again, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus….”
Ephesians 2:6 (NIV)
When we pray, we go to Jesus – boldly approaching His throne of grace and mercy. What is Jesus doing in heaven? He’s interceding for us.
Hebrews 7:25 (NLT)
When He answers, then I know how to pray. I’m not praying to Him; I’m praying to God with Jesus. And I KNOW that prayer will be answered because Jesus has told me how to pray.
Activation
Life’s problems can quickly overwhelm you. You weren’t meant to live crushed under the devil’s feet. John 16:33 NIV
Think of a situation or problem that is weighing you down and stressing you out. Follow these 4 steps.
**1st Step. Accept Jesus’ invitation to “come up here.” Rise above your situation by heartfelt thanksgiving and praise. Psalm 100:4: ““Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.”
**2nd Step. Draw Near to God and Resist the Devil.
James 4:7-8 NIV
**3rd Step. Join Jesus’ prayer meeting. Ask him how to pray.
*Sometimes, how we see a person or situation is the problem.
Jesus, show me how you see _________ (a person, situation or problem). Let Jesus show you His perspective.
*How are you praying, Jesus? What is Your provision for me in this?
* Approach Jesus knowing there is always an answer.
Philippians 4:19 (NIV), 2 Peter 1:3 (NLT)
**4th Step. Once you know how to pray, you will be able to pray in faith. And God will answer your prayers. 1 John 5:14-15 (NIV), Matthew 17:20 (NIV) -
One of the greatest stories of God’s faithfulness in being with us when we need him most is a story many people don’t know.
It happened 800 years before Jesus came to earth. Israel was split into two Kingdoms, Judah to the South and Israel to the North. Israel was an ungodly nation, let by King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel. Yet, God was faithful to his people in Israel. God gave Israel Elijah and then Elisha as prophets to lead and protect Israel. Aram, a Syrian nation, had attacked Israel in a series of raids.
2 Kings 6:8-23 NIV tells the story:
8 When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”
9 But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” 10 So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.
11 The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?”
12 “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”
13 “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.”
And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” 14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.
16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”
17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
18 As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please make them blind.” So the LORD struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.
Elisha led them to Samaria and the king.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”
22 “Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.”
23 So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.
The king of Aram wisely decided to leave Israel alone after this. You would leave a nation with a god that powerful alone too!
I Will Never Leave You or Forsake You
Like Elisha’s servant, you may be outnumbered by your enemies, facing an impossible situation right now. But like Elisha, God is on your side. Throughout scripture, God again and again tells his people, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
No matter what you are facing today, here is God’s personal promise to you: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them [your enemies or circumstances], for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 [added for clarity]
This promise is repeated in Joshua 1:5, 1:9 and in Hebrews 13:5.
The same promise is made in different words in Isaiah 41:10 ERV:
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Activation
Do the activation to deal with fear and anxiety in your circumstances. Declar -
Rick Warren’s son succumbed to depression and took his own life. Rick was surprised to get letters from people his son had led to Christ. In God’s grace, even broken people bear fruit for God.
00:00 Matthew Warren’s Tortured Life
2:41 We’re all Broken
3:47 Jesus Will Never Reject You
4:17 Your Faith In Jesus makes you holy Before God
5:00 Peter and Paul were Broken People Just Like You and I
8:02 When You are Weak, Then You Are Strong
8:58 Your Greatest Ministry Will Come Out of Your Greatest Pain
9:43 Activation
Jesus will Never Reject You
Matthew 12:20 says of Jesus, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out…” You may be spiritually, physically or morally bruised, your light for God sputtering, smoldering, about to go out, but Jesus will not reject you. He will bless you and bring you to Him.
Your faith in Jesus justifies you (makes you holy, righteous) before God.
Romans 3:20, 28 NIV
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Ephesians 3:8-9 NIV
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.
Justification is the exchange of our sins for Jesus’ righteousness when we believed in Jesus.
We are all broken people.
Did Jesus reject Peter and throw him on the scrapheap of humanity when Peter denied Christ 3 times in one night? No! In fact, Jesus restored him. And on the day of Pentecost, when power from heaven fell on Christians for service to God, who spoke and won to Christ 3,000 souls that day? Peter!! (See John 18, 21, and Acts 2)
Did Jesus disqualify Paul who had imprisioned and killed Christians as he zealously tried to protect the Jewish religion? No! Jesus went after him. He wanted Paul’s brilliant intellect and his religious zeal to be used to establish Christianity, not destroy it. A murderer and persecutor of the Church established churches throughout Asia. And God gave Paul the privilege of writing 2/3 of the New Testament – the most read, most influential book in the history of the world.
What God did for them, he has done for you. By faith in Jesus, you are made righteous before God.
When I am weak, then I am strong.
God will use your weaknesses to strengthen others. In our weakest times, God reveals His strength. He becomes strong in and through us, even as our strength fails. See 2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV
Your Greatest Ministry Will Come Out of Your Greatest Pain
Rick Warren concludes, “Your greatest ministry will come out of your deepest pain. I say that from experience. There's not a week go by that somebody famous calls me with either a mental illness issue or a suicide issue, and I'm talking about from the highest of the highest people, personalities in politics and in celebrity. And Kay and I did not ask for this ministry of ministering to families with mental illness and ministering to families struggling with suicide of a family member. I didn't want that ministry, but it's one that God gave us, and I'm not going to waste the pain.
You're going to go through pain in life; just don't waste it. If you're going to go through pain, you might as well use it to help somebody else out.”
See Rick Warren's interview with Matt Crouch of TBN where he discusses this in detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUbog65dP4
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What voice are you listening to? This video explores how despite negative voices in our lives we can actually possess every spiritual blessing in heaven through Jesus Christ. There is a life-changing activation at the end of this video. Please don’t just watch the video and walk away. Do the activation at the end and let it change your life.
0:00 You’ll Never Make it – False Words from an authority figure in my life
4:13 What voices are you listening to?
4:40 Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm
6:11 In Christ, In Him, In whom scriptures are your true identity.
8:01 Activation
I almost listened to an angry teacher who told me not to waste my time applying to university as I would never make it through. Years later, I went to night school and eventually got a doctorate in law and for years I taught in universities around the world.
What voices are you listening to?
We all have had negative voices in our lives. Maybe an overly stern father, a local bully who terrorized you as a kid, or your own voice relentlessly tearing down your self-esteem. Satan uses those voices to steal our identity and our destiny.
If you listen to the voices of this world you will never become who God already made you to be.
When you were born again, your life was united with Jesus’ life. Your spirit was made holy and forever united with His. Your identity from that point on was not who you are, but who you are IN CHRIST.
Everything Jesus has becomes yours. This is the promise of Ephesians 1:3. NIV
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Every spiritual blessing in heaven is yours because of the life you now share with Jesus, the union you have with him. God blessed you with every spiritual blessing. God gave you those blessings. No man or devil can take them away.
This happened because your whole life is lived as a branch connected to Jesus, the vine. The life of the vine flows into the branches. Jesus’ life, all the spiritual blessings of heaven, naturally flow into your life. Not in heaven someday, but here, on earth, how. (See John 15)
Bible teacher and author, John Stott, wrote:
The expressions “in Christ,” “in the Lord,” and “in him” occur 164 times in the letters of Paul alone, and are indispensable to an understanding of the New Testament. To be “in Christ” does not mean to be inside Christ, as tools are in a box or our clothes in a closet, but to be organically united to Christ, as a limb is in the body or a branch is in the tree. It is this personal relationship with Christ that is the distinctive mark of his authentic followers.”
In Christ, In Him, In whom scriptures are your true identity.
In Christ you are made holy and set free from guilt and shame.
Romans 8:1 NIV
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…
In Christ you are loved.
Romans 8:39 NIV
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Christ you are made complete.
2 Corinthians 9:10 NASB
and in Him you have been made complete
In Christ, you have all the promises of God. Every spiritual blessing in heaven is yours in and through Jesus.
2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Activation
Do this! Life changing!
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The Secret Of True Lasting Joy Is Not To Seek Joy For Yourself But For Others.
00:00 Esther – a joyful servant
2:56 “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”
4:43 Faith that Doesn’t Give up on People
5:52 Activation: Find True, Lasting Joy by Seeking Joy For Others
She was almost 80 when I met her, an ordinary-looking woman, but she had such joy I did a double take. Her name was Esther.
She had been crippled, walking with a walker for over 10 years when God supernaturally healed her as my pastor prayed for her. She came to know him as few of us do.
I came to know Esther well as she, our friend Gladys, Karen (my wife) and I went door to door in our small town and offered to pray for the people who lived in every home. We went every week until we had covered every street in our town. It took months.
Esther as she listened to people with rapt attention. She connected with them. People opened up to Esther. They could tell she really cared.
Esther prayed from intimacy with the Father. She and God approached God as a much-loved daughter would approach her Dad, knowing he wanted to give her what she needed. She just talked to Him. It was so real and so personal. Her prayers made God real to those she prayed for.
Karen and I moved to South Florida shortly after that. The next time we saw Esther, she was in a nursing home. We had talked a few times on the phone. She was always upbeat, but we were concerned about her. We shouldn’t have been.
Upon arriving at the nursing home, Esther had rolled up her sleeves and gotten involved. She helped with social activities. She visited people who never had visitors. And she prayed, oh she prayed for the residents of that home. She prayed for their souls. She prayed for healing. She prayed for whatever people needed.
Esther moved into that nursing home not as just another resident, but as a servant of God sent there to bless the people in that home. And she blessed them as her servant heart. We saw it firsthand. We asked and Esther told us stories of what God was doing in the home. And we praised God together.
Esther had health problems, but she didn’t want to talk about those. They weren't on her radar. She was wrapped up in the lives of her family and her new friends at the home.
I believe some of greatest people in heaven will be some of the most humble people here on earth.
The best definition of humility I've heard is: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” Rick Warren
C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, described true humility:
“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. … you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”
Lewis just described Esther' life. Humble, cheerful and enjoying life so easily. Can you imagine going to a nursing home and visiting an old friend, only to find out she had more joy than you did? We didn’t need to worry about Esther. We needed what she had.
Esther had discovered that The Secret Of True Lasting Joy Is Not To Seek Joy For Yourself But For Others.
Matthew 23:11-12 AMP says:
But the greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be raised to honor.
The key to Esther's life, her consummate joy, was a servant heart. She was one of few people I've met who truly didn't live for herself; she found joy in living for others. - Laat meer zien
