Pass or Fail

Pass or Fail

Saturday our men’s prayer  had what one might call question and answer day. We had many good question and answers, but there was one question that stood out.

Why do I fail so many of God’s test?

I being the leader of failure the past week with a laptop that is sick and in a coma. Trapped inside that laptop is all the stuff I have been working on, then there is all that stuff I have out there in cyber-space I need to be working on, and at work ##@#/ ##**/ and *&*@@#!

I am the King of Failure!

NIV James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This was not the answer we were, I was, looking for. We, I, have heard many a sermon on this passage of Scripture and none was filling the void in the question. No religiousestly and christaneeze could answer this big hole in that question.

Why do I Fail God’s test?

So we prayed!

NIV Mark 9: 23-24

“If you can?” said Jesus, “Everything is possible for him who believes!”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

Without testing there is no belief.

God’s testing is not a pass or fail test,

the Test is to help us believe.

So we prayed!

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God Dreams

God Dreams
NIV Jeremiah 29:11-13
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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah is talking to the people of Judea about the coming judgment that is about fall upon them. For seventy years they will live in captivity in Babylon, after which time they will return to their land.
Yet how does this verse come alive in our lives today?
Is there a promise in it for us?
Do you think Ezra just woke up one day and said I think I want to rebuild the temple without God first giving him that dream?
Did Nehemiah just say today I think it is a good day to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem?
What about all the other men who shared the dream with Ezra and Nehemiah and did their part in God’s dream?
Who gave them that dream?
Who gave Joseph his dreams?
What about Abraham when did he say, I think I will leave my homeland and go and become a great nation in which the world will be blessed?
Who gave Jacob the dream at Bethel?
Our Lord is the Father of Dreams.
Our Lord has wired men to do big things.
What dreams do you have for yourself?
Do you think our Lord God has a dream for your Life?
We all have dreams we want to come true in our lives. One thing I have learned is this: My dreams for my life are like a pre-school play in comparison to the dreams God has for my life. Do You know what? God’s dreams come true if we just embrace them and let God work them out to His glory.
Jesus has given me a dream, all it is to get men to pray together in unity, in One Accord, and as One in Jesus. The amazing thing is here in Hardee county Florida, of the ninety plus churches the pastors, elders, and deacons of these churches all think it is a good ideal to pray. Yet they still have no time to get together and pray, oh they are so busy doing God‘s work! What they try to do is make me fit into a vision they think God has for my life, without even praying with me. They have no interest in the dream that God has given to me and have no heart or desire to see if they might be apart of it. Oh they are more than happy to pray at me but not with me! No time to busy! Well I have never stopped praying for them and I will always have the time to pray with them, they know where to find me. I will never stop reaching out to them and I will keep hanging around to ask them to join me in prayer till the Lord moves me on.
Do you know what dreams God has given to you?
If you do let us get together and pray and then get to work!
If not then it is time we pray together until each one has a dream that is so big that there is no earthy way we can do it without God. It was not one man who rebuilt the temple or one man who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. It was many men who were in One Accord, in One mind, and of One heart, that did their part in God’s dream to make it happen. The walls of the Church in America need to be rebuilt, let us get together pray and get to work on God’s dream.

When We Cry Out

When We Cry Out
NKJV Mark 4:35-41
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 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. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
I know there has been many sermons on this passage of Scripture, but this is not going to be one of them. Let me take you back to some twenty-three years to a time in my life when I first began my relationship with Jesus. I had wrecked my life to the point I could no longer go home to my now ex-wife and children and was going to soon to be divorced. My sin had been forgiven but the consequences of my sin still had a price to be paid. I should have been homeless and alone, but God found me a room with a single bed. In my mind, I still believed I had a relationship with my children but the courts had placed a restraining order to keep me from contacting them. I was only maybe a few hours old in Christ and there was a storm raging in my life. I was a mess I had not slept in days and my mind was in turmoil with anger, fear, and a sea of depression was tearing at my soul. I knelt beside that little bed and began to cry out to the Lord. I cried out maybe much like the disciples did that dark stormy night. I was in the mist of a tempest and my boat was about to sink and I was sure I was going to die, so I cried out to Jesus. I told Him everything my sins my fears and about how alone I was. In a short time Jesus, the Holy Spirit, came into the room and wrapped His arms around me. I heard Him say to my heart and soul “Peace be Still.” Like the wind, my soul and heart obeyed and I fell asleep there on that floor in His arms. The storm still raged on in my life for some time, but in my heart and soul His Peace remained as He spoke Peace be Still.
A few days ago, a friend of mine met me where I go to pray each morning before we start work, which is not unusual of him. This morning he greeted me with the news that his mother had a heart attack, was in the hospital, was going to have test, and may need surgery for what we did not know at this time. He prayed first and I do not remember what he said in his prayer but I could see he was in a storm. Then I prayed I do not remember what I asked of the Lord but at some point, my prayer went like this: Jesus we are in a storm and we are crying out to You. We are not sure what Your plan is but in this pain, we know that good things will happen. If it is Your will that his mother be healed in that You shall be glorified my Father. We also know that if she is called home much good can come of this too. I have seen families brought back together, and old family scars healed. Out of loss much healing has come. Father we know that even though we are in this storm we will reach the other side. Please my dear Father speak into my brother’s heart the words you speak to me, Peace be Still. Even if the wind keeps blowing and waves crash over the side of our ship hear us as we cry out to You and speak the words Peace be Still and like the wind did so many years before are souls and hearts shall obey. Amen
After a second or two of quite with heads bowed He said your prayer was prefect and I could see Jesus had spoken to him Peace be Still.
In the storms of our life if we just cry out to Jesus he still speaks the words Peace be Still.

 

Prayer is Work

Prayer is Work
NKJ Philippians 2: 12-13; “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines work:
1. bodily or mental effort exerted to do or make something; purposeful; activity; labor; toil
Is prayer work?
Does prayer require a bodily or mental effort exerted to do or make something?
Is prayer purposeful?
Is prayer an activity?
Is prayer labor or toil?
Prayer is work and prayer will take a great deal out of the man, who prays, but the grace of God refreshes him with joy and the presence of our Lord is peace. Work done by a man in a human torrent of energy has little reward to God’s Kingdom. Work done wholeheartedly and in unbroken contact with the living Jesus Christ will be recorded for all eternity. In Nehemiah’s time all the men who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem names have been recorded for what they done, recorded FOREVER. Nehemiah 3
Work’s reward is that which brings Glory to our Lord and Savior.
Is prayer the noblest action of the human soul?
Is prayer the key to an enduring life?
Is prayer the spiritual process where by faith we can find access to the immeasurable riches of our inheritance in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Is prayer man’s endeavor for forgiveness?
Is prayer man’s endeavor for strength?
Is prayer man’s endeavor for new obedience?
God uses men whose prayer is in One Accord and men who will unite in work for the Lord. Somebody once said God feeds the sparrow, but God never throws the food in the nest. Men who are Christ like and wise, will never make prayer a substitute for work, or use work as an excuse not to pray.
God works in answer to prayer.