A Word About Prayer

I have been asked what is REAL prayer? Well it's like I always say...

What does God's Word say?

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." [Matthew 6:5-21] ESV

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." [Phil. 4:6-7] ESV

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." [James 4:8-10] ESV

So... What do I say... Well?

Prayer is the practice of the presence of God. It is the place where pride is abandoned, hope is lifted, and supplication is made. Prayer is the place of admitting our needs, of adopting humility, and claiming dependence upon God. Prayer is ...the needful practice of the true Christian. Prayer is the exercise of faith and hope.... Prayer is the privilege of touching the heart of the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Father, in Your mercy, and Grace hear our cries and prayers. Amen.
Until the next Blog. May God bless you.

What do REAL Christians do?

Simple Really Pray!

Men used by God to liberate His people, slay giants, restore life to a dead boy and bring sight to the blind. The "miraculous power of God" demonstrated through their lives came, not because of the words they uttered, but because they had consecrated their lives to God, humbled themselves before Him, trusted in His provision for sin, and chose to seek and do His will with all their heart and without compromise.

Therefore God forgave their sins, offered His strength in their weaknesses and -- through the Holy Spirit in them -- put prayers in their hearts that expressed His will. Because these men took time to know His Word and will, God "spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11) No less amazing, He called David "a man after My own heart, who will do all My will." (Acts 13:22)

That's what we Christians do... for anyone.
So why does this upset some people? Why do they feel offended? I haven't hit anybody with a bible yet...durring prayer!

Limiting God

There are many people these days that have reached a place of hopelessness and are giving up, I know I've been there, but we must never let them give up. We must continue to give hope to the hurting and lost, otherwise we are Limiting God. The Lord had me write this so that we could all see that giving up does have consequences.

Giving Up Has Consequences - We limit God:
When we say we are giving up on someone, we are saying that we are giving up on God and thereby limiting with we will allow Him to do.  God the Father created everyone on this earth. Let's see.

 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  (Gen. 1:26-27)

The Word says that God created man in His own image after His likeness.  Would God give up on His own image?  Father God believes in His own creation.  We who are born of God should desire to see all walk in the image after the likeness of God and allow the Christ (anointing) in us to bring them to that place by breathing life into them.

He did not put man in a class.  He said man was created in His own image and that means that even the unsaved were created in His image. This includes prostitutes, drug addicts, gamblers, murderers - everyone... sinners including me.  The point is God created everyone. They may not look or act like we want but that does not change what the Word says.  They are potential family and that is the way we should see it.  God sees each one as a part of His family.  We know that the Father wishes that none perish but we know according to the Word that some will perish.

We as Family members of God the Father should never be quick to give up on anyone.  Love will keep seeing them the way the "Word" sees them. We are totally opposite of the way the world is.  The world always talks failure but the Kingdom of God always speaks Life into another.  The world gives up on people but God does not and neither do we.  He always sends hope.  If we do not give the lost and hurting hope we are doing exactly what the world does.  Hope is the blueprint of a person’s life.  We create that blueprint within them.

We are talking of God’s creation - the Kingdom of God and not a man made system.  We know that the day of wrath is coming upon the Earth and many will not make it, but God will continue giving them the choice to be saved and the choice to change.  It is their choice but if we continue believing and praying for God’s people things will change.

Many have been given nothing but hopelessness.  Every direction they turn people turn their backs on them.  We are to be their Faith.  We have to believe for them.  If we give up on them and they have no Faith, God cannot move in their lives because He moves on Faith and therefor we limit God if we don't move in Faith.  Someone has to stand in the gap on his or her behalf.  The one to stand in the gap is you and me, the born again believer.  Jesus stood in the gap for us.  He never gave up.  His love for us drove Him to the cross.

 “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.  For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.  When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

(Matt. 8:8-10)

The Lord keeps showing more in this scripture.  The centurion did not believe for his healing but for another person.  He had the faith for another person to be healed.  It doesn’t say whether the servant believed to be healed or not.  The point brought out was that the centurion was standing in the gap believing on someone else’s behalf.  The servant was healed.  The centurion gave Jesus something to move on. Faith was activated.

This shows if we continue speaking God’s Word in Faith for someone it WILL manifest, maybe not as quick as we would like, but the Word does not return to the Father void.  His Word puts pressure on the person and circumstances for which you are standing in the gap.

If we say that a person is not going to amount to anything, we are going against God’s Word and speaking the opposite of the Word, and "Really Limiting God".  When we speak opposite of His Word, we are saying that we have given up on God and given into the god of this world, the producer of hopelessness Satan.

My encouragement to you is to never give up on anyone.  See them the way Jesus sees them and Love them the way Jesus loves them.  We are separate from the way the world thinks and sees people and must act accordingly.

God the Father will show you how to pray for His people.  If there is someone in your life that seems to have had everyone give up on them be the one to stand in the gap and bring forth fruit in their lives.

Ask the Christ to show you if you have given up on anyone because of the circumstances that you see for that person, repent and change your thinking.  Our Heavenly Father forgives you.  Change the news in the life of that person.  Give them that blueprint.

It is neither God’s nature to give up, but it is His nature to give.  If you are born of God that is to be our nature as well, or we limit God.

God Still Hears and Still Heals

There is power in God’s Word! Psalm 107:20 tells us that He (God) sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. God’s Word created the earth. He spoke into existence the sun, moon, stars, land and water as well as the flying, creeping, and every kind of creature, and then finally, the first man and the first woman. Do you think there is anything too hard for Him to do…to fix…to heal?

There are numerous cases of people being ill, deciding to put their faith in God and being healed. Some people no longer have seizures; others have had tumors disappear, leaving doctors scratching their heads. Some have even claimed to have missing limbs grow back. God heals when the time is right. If it is His will, God will do healing miracles; the Lord Jesus said "to who believeth will do greater works than that I do." A couple of times in the Gospels, Jesus was in an area where people knew Him from when He was growing up. This caused these people not to believe in His miracles, and the Bible says He could not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

The same is true for us today. When we don't trust God and are hardened by life, we become unable to receive or even see the miracles around us. In the Bible God heals people like He raised Lazarus from the dead He made the lame to walk and caused the blind to see. He still heals people today through prayer. God identifies himself as the God of healing in Exodus 15:26 where He says, "I am the Lord who heals you (Yhwh Rapha)." When you get a cut on your finger it heals. When you get a bruise it heals. Most of the healing that takes place in the world is done with out the use of science or medicine. God created our bodies to heal themselves. So yes, God does still heal.

Do you think that your circumstances – whether suffering with a headache or cancer, a son on drugs or a pregnant daughter, a wayward husband or a nagging wife, an empty bank account, loss of job or a pending home foreclosure – are beyond God’s ability to handle?

Think again!

Bible Prophecy

Everyone on the Internet is interested in what the future holds. Only in biblical prophecy do we have any assurance of what will truly take place however.

God has given us a roadmap to what the future holds for humanity. It is not easy to understand prophecy however, just as many Jews missed the coming of Jesus despite all of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Him. Fortunately the Bible has an abundance of passages that clearly do tell us what will take place in the future.

Every time a major disaster happens, some people get swept up in wondering whether we are facing the end of the world. The wise student of prophecy keeps a close eye on Israel and the Middle East as they play an important role in prophecy. Today the pieces may be coming into place for the return of Christ but we cannot know for sure. All we can truly know is that Christ's return may come at any moment and that we have signs to look out for.

Prophecy scares some people but it should give us hope. We know that God wins. Jesus is victorious over sin, death, and Satan. No matter what confusion people may have about prophecy, we can all rest assured in this fact.

Hologram of Prince Charles?

The Hologram of Prince Charles was created by Musion Systems to project a life-size, three-dimensional image of the Prince onto the stage of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. "His Royal Hologram" as he was dubbed by press, delivered a powerful speech on the environment to the world's leaders before vanishing into thin air. By using the Eyeliner System instead of attending the summit in person, he significantly reduced his carbon footprint, saving an estimated 20 tons of carbon waste.

Reduced his carbon footprint...hmmmm...right...

                                      

Simple really; Job 27:9-10

"Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?"
 (Job 27:9-10)

When it's the darkest, when it's the hardest to praise Him, that is when you need to praise Him the most, because praise is that blinding light from heaven that dispels the darkness and banishes your enemy.

October is Pastor Appreciation Month

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, sad really, it's kind of like waiting for Valentine's Day to say I love you. Please let us remember not to wait until next October!

"Pastors, when we are all called together in God's Great Kingdom you will understand just how much you meant to us because you showed us the Lamb", Peter Dugas.

All too often the Pastors are the "Unsung Heroes" in the enemy's direct line of fire. They are the Earthly Shepherds helping to keep the church, Christ Body, in ...motion. They bear the daily heartaches and sorrows of the church family, managing the finances, budgets, staffing, carrying the burdens of leadership, and continually deal with overwhelming odds of... coming through for their flock... 24/7. Year in. Year out. Talk about being tireless, stretched, dedicated, and committed. By the Grace of God Thank YOU!

Sometimes we never truly see our pastors as just another human being with their own personal needs as well. They step out with Accountability, Credibility, Integrity, depending on prayer to Jesus our Lord. They seek His guidance from His Holy Spirit, completely alone sometimes, walking in the darkness with the Lord rather then in the light of this world. They put on the Whole Armour of God... (Ephesians 6:10-1) Every single day!

Ever wonder if maybe, instead of chipping at our Pastors' armour, the flock should be helping to polish it? I know I should.

"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us..." (Romans 12:3-7) KJV

As I have read the letter "R" in the word Pastor "R= Remember, the most effective pastors are not the great preachers, outstanding administrators or learned scholars. They are ministers who love people and wish to relate eternal truths in a compassionate way."

Seeing how this is "Pastor Appreciation Month", I felt the least I could do is say PRAISE GOD!!!!! for each and every Pastor that You have sent my way, I pray many a blessing God, send your way.
Thank you Pastors, THANK YOU!

Pastors, when we are all called together in God's Great Kingdom you will understand just how much you meant to us because you showed us the Lamb. My Pastors I have been blessed with knowing you over the years. You have ALL been great mentors, preachers, teachers, counsellors, and leaders, and a shining light for God's Word. I am honoured to call you a Pastor and a "Friend". It's clear you do your service for the Glory of God and not the thank you's, BUT, Again... THANK YOU!!! Praise God!! Amen!!

P.S.- One last thought for today... If the Pastors (Shepherds) feeds the flock, I pray the flock feeds the Shepherds as well.

"A Child of God"

This Blog, "A Child of God", is a Christian Ministry devoted to spreading the Inspired Word of God our savior the Lord Jesus Christ. My goal as "A Child of God" is to bring some subject matter that can be shared in thought provoking ways through media and other insightful messages.

So let me put the call out - to all - who want to become, "A Child of God."

When it's the darkest, when it's the hardest to praise Him, that is when you need to praise Him the most, because praise is that blinding light from heaven that dispels the darkness and banishes your enemy. What has God had to say to you as - "A Child of God?"

How can I become "A Child of God?"

Answer: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).