From Emotional To Equipped

Sincere Christians learn not to build their faith on passion, enthusiasm, excitement, dancing and shouting. Why? Because these emotions are not lasting. They are of the flesh, which does not become converted when we are born again. These emotions will let us down every time and cannot stand against the onslaught of demonic assault. 

Emotional displays have no lasting value, neither do they store up riches in heaven. So, once we shout, once we feel some passion, once we experience a touch of euphoria, we have our reward. It's in the flesh and it's fleeting. It's based on how we feel and emotional excitement. While an intense, outward display of worship, praise and appreciation is sometimes needed, there is no foundation in it.

There can be necessary healing and deliverance in emotional outbursts and praises. I needed them very much after a lifetime of oppression and depression. Often, new Christians and Christians who have not grown need to have those initial releases to move forward. There is a point, however, that as we grow in God we move past the need to be so outwardly explosive in worship. We can still relate to and appreciate others who are at that point of Christian growth, but the majority of our power begins to be built up inside.

This emotional power that turns inward becomes concentrated in the heart, the mind and the spirit. Inwardly is where the true battlegrounds against the devil exist. When we begin to understand this truth, we are no longer compelled to expend precious energy in outward displays. We realize that outward expenditure is based in the flesh and leaves us nothing to rely on when we are in the trenches of spiritual battle. A built up mind, heart and spirit can work with God's mighty weapons of warfare as we become less emotional and more equipped. 

These thoughts came to me after listening to this message by Dr. Dale C. Bronner, pastor of Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral. He is such a good speaker, knowledgeable, quietly powerful, succinct and anointed. I'm sure you'll be blessed by this message.

Dr. Dale C. Bronner is a bishop, church planter, author, conference speaker and leadership trainer. He is the founder and senior pastor of Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral. He was consecrated as Bishop by the International Communion of Charismatic Churches. Bishop Bronner resides in Atlanta, GA, with his wife, Nina, Pastor of Worship and Arts at WOF. He is the father of five and grandfather of eight.

Praying For Those Who Irritate Us

Do you ever have annoyed, frustrated or angry thoughts about anyone? Do the attitudes or behaviors of some people send you into a fit? Are you tempted to have ill will towards those who have misused or mistreated you? 

Have you ever had fleeting or lingering thoughts of wishing problems or misfortune on others? Do you ever find yourself fussing and arguing with yourself about the life that someone lives? I could go on and on and if you profess to have never had any of these types of thoughts or feelings, then you are probably not human. 

I have been on a track for a couple of years now where the Holy Spirit reminds me to stop and pray for these persons. You see, it's not just a matter of us crushing the offending thoughts. While that is an intense and worthy process, it's not enough.

Crushing these thoughts essentially buries them but they are not dead. They are like seeds that can sprout again. God gets to the root of the problem so it can be killed. He wants us to do more than bury unpleasant thoughts about others and generate benign thoughts about people who incense us. 

Our Father God does not want us to suffer any more thoughts that sprout from roots of malevolence. He wants us to be free of malignant thoughts, no matter how mild or fleeting they are. It's a matter of immediately confessing and accepting forgiveness through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Our Savior, and then stopping to pray for the person. It doesn't have to be a long, intense prayer. It can be brief but it should be heartfelt.

When we turn our growth over to God we begin to recognize opportunities to grow. The Holy Spirit prompts, prods and pricks us when a chance is available to do it God's way. It begins from within, where the roots that need to be purged are. God is precise. He wants it all dug out, every offensive thought that hinders. That still, soft voice of his Spirit will remind us. All we need to do is obey, like I did this morning.

The way that God does it for me is to say in my spirit, Did you pray for her?, during or after a hostile thought. He'll say in my spirit, Have you prayed for him?. He won't say I'm wrong for the thought or that I know I should not have been thinking that.

My Father understands why I had the thought and I sense his loving kindness and his mercy. Now, when thoughts like that come, I end up stopping what I'm doing and praying for the person. If I can get on my knees I do. I offer a quick prayer of forgiveness for myself and blessing for the person.

We should forgive the persons for whatever it was that made us offended, vindictive, judgmental. They may not even know us but we know of them and God is not pleased with our thoughts. He wants better for us. Sometimes, the source of our rancor is in our minds or we are just in a bad mood. At other times, our spiteful thoughts can be justified because of real, hurtful events and experiences. 

Whatever the source of these types of troubling thoughts, we don't have to suffer brushing them under the rugs of our minds where they can trip us up later. We can go further and be cleansed of them. Rather than pretend that you never have thoughts like these, submit to God and allow His Holy Spirit to help you. It will make all of the difference in your spirit, attitude and growth. Be pruned! Be purged! Be strengthened!

 

Being A Positive-Minded Christian

Living a successful Christian life and doing things God's way requires a positive mindset. Walking in the Spirit requires a positive mindset. Being transformed by the renewing of our minds through reading the Word daily requires positive mindsets going in. Allowing our faith to be increased by God requires positive mindsets. Make no mistake, for wonderful changes to come about, we have to start with positive mindsets. We have to believe! That is positive-mindedness. 

Have you been negative-minded when coming to God in prayer? Were you raised in a negative-minded family? Have your trials and troubles in life fostered a negative mind in you? Are you so tired of life, so tired of praying, so tired of hoping that your mind is now negative to God's possibilities? Well, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Guide and will restore positivity and faith in us if we let Him.

Allowing the Word to sink in as we read it daily will prune us. We are the branches of Jesus Christ and we have to be regularly trimmed in spirit and attitude. This cutting process will convert and transform our negativeness to the positive-minded position that we need to be in to receive from Our Heavenly Father. 

Are you eating and drinking The Word daily? Are you reading around in The Bible rather than reading the same old scriptures that are tired to your mind and heart? Are you ensuring that you are getting a balance of The Word rather than reading The Lord is my shepherd or Our Father, which art in Heaven everyday? Are you becoming familiar with more obscure scriptures? It takes the entire Word, Old and New Testaments, to transform us and round us out to positive thinking, feeling and behaving. 

Choosing One Day Of Rest

We are often reminded that God rested the seventh day after he created our world and Adam and Eve. How often do we follow his example and the admonition of the scriptures? We should be more pro-active in enjoying a day of rest each week because the spiritual blessings are many.

It is good to have one day per week when we totally wind down. A day when we don't do all of the stuff that we usually do becomes a day of renewal. Christians feel that Sunday is that day. We use that day for special worship-of-God activities, special Sunday meals and peacefulness.

Some people have to work on Sunday, so they choose another day of rest. Some Christians choose to set apart Saturday for special worship and renewal. It's not so much the day but the obedience to God and the scriptures that blesses us. 

Like with fasting, our minds are brought back to the knowledge, every hour of that chosen day, that we are honoring God through sacrifice. Throughout that day when we think of things that we want to do but shouldn't, we are reminded that we are sacrificing and that Jesus Christ sacrificed for us. We draw closer to God on this day of rest.

Whatever day you choose, be sure to do something different than what you usually do, something restful, peaceful and calm. Cultivate serenity, tranquility and elevated worship. Use it as a prayer-building day. Be refreshed, restored and renewed one day per week, not just spiritually but physically as well. The blessings will be abundant!

Hebrews 4:1-11

Deuteronomy 5:14 

Exodus 20:10, 23:12

Genesis 2:2-3

Happy Christian Monday

God made this day.

No matter where we are or what we are having to do, Monday does not have to get us down.

We know a Father who has our best interests at heart and who provides for us a hope and a future! Because of that, we have much to look forward to.

Choose happiness today and find things for which to be glad. Count them one by one, for they are many. Cultivate gratefulness and joy will follow.

Happy Godly Monday!

 

 

Image Credit: Thankful Thirteen

I Feel Optimistic Today Prayer

 

Dear Heavenly Father:

I feel optimistic today! 

Let not my optimism come through fleshly feelings because my flesh is unreliable. I refuse to walk in the flesh.

I pray that my optimism comes through confidence in your right hand of righteousness, discernment of your angels surrounding me and comfort from your Holy Spirit. 

My optimism is through my faith from walking in the Spirit. 

When I am out of the Spirit, show we the way to return to the Spirit so that my Godly optimism may abound. 

I thank you that I have a hope and a future and that my way grows brighter everyday!

In Jesus' blessed name I pray.

Amen!

 

Dr. Charles Stanley On Can Prayer Change God's Mind?

In the video below, Dr. Charles Stanley, of In Touch Ministries, answers prayer questions such as:

• Why pray if God's mind is already made up about what he will do?
• Why pray when God already knows what we want?
• Can we change God's mind through prayer?
• If God knows my needs, why should I pray?
• Does God's eternal plan depend on our prayers?

His lesson will give you faith in your prayers. It will help change your mind about giving up on your prayer life or compromising it.

 

 

Loving & Letting God Repay

Don't hate and don't retaliate. We don't know the reasons why God allows us to suffer unfairness, mistreatment, harassment, persecution and other types of attacks, but he always has a plan for us.

The Word encouragingly tells us that all things, not some things, all things work together for good to those of us who love him, who are the called and always according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 We also understand that the good will of God towards us, while primarily for the World to come, is also for our present place of habitation. Luke 18:30

It is Our Father's will that some of the good that is built through trials and tribulations come to us during our present, earthly life. All things work together for good but some we will receive after we leave this dying world. In Hebrews 11:13-17,39-40, we read a summary of faithful Believers who journeyed through a life of commitment to God but left this world not having received the promise despite all that they endured.

One thing is sure. God does not and cannot lie. Every jot and tittle of his Word will come to pass. Matthew 5:18 We can have faith that none of our endurance, suffering, sorrow and tears will be wasted. If we are faithful to God and determine to not hate those who show hate towards us, and not retaliate against those who are malicious towards us, we will eventually receive good through their ill will and hurtful actions.

So we, as faithful followers of Jesus Christ, choose not to hate and not to retaliate in thought, word or deed. We choose to love (with God's love because our flesh cannot love with purity) and let God handle the repayment and vindication against those who offend. I will repay, says Our Father regarding those who are on a mission to malign others. Romans 12:19-21 Our rewards, both here and in the New Heaven and the New Earth, are worth waiting for through Godly endurance of all that he allows. We choose to love and let God.

Blessed Wednesday! Focus On The Positive!

God's will includes living our lives to the fullest no matter what circumstances we are in. There are many ways that we can more appreciate what God has done and live more uplifting, fulfilling lives. Giving thanks and reaching out to help others helps us to focus on the positive that serving God through Jesus Christ brings into our lives. Even though it is very difficult sometimes to feel positive, God's knows our hearts and will help us if we ask. 

We are so used to working things out for ourselves that we have been trained to not ask for help. We forget that despite how things have been or are for us, God cares about every little thing that concerns us. Just because he doesn't always change our difficult circumstances doesn't mean that he does not care. His plans are just so perfect and his blessings so great that we can't perceive them in advance.

The cares and troubles of this life easily get us down. Some of us have many more struggles than others, so we often feel hopeless and alone. Despite this, our compassionate and kind Father in Heaven is always near to help us to focus on the positive that is available to all who love him and believe in salvation through The Lamb, his precious Son, Jesus Christ.

Help is always near, through The Father, who knows everything about us, through The Son who is ever interceding for us, and through The Holy Spirit, who is given to all Believers as a comforter and a guide.

Dear Father: Increase our faith, restore unto us the joy of our salvation, uphold us with your free Spirit. Help us. We love you with a perfect love in our reborn spirits and nothing can separate us from your love. Thank you, Father! 

 

Jesus The Christ Arose And Is With Our Father

Happy Easter!

We celebrate Jesus Christ of Nazareth's obedience

to the Father and his love for us!

 

He was separated from his Father for a period in time,

all for our salvation.

We remember his selfless act and how he submitted,

because his Father asked him to.

For God so loved us that he sacrificed His Only Son,
so that whoever believes on Him should have everlasting life.

I hope your Easter is full of joy and peace

and a new commitment

to Christ Jesus.