START WHERE YOU ARE

“Then Jesus said to then, Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”—Mark 1:17

 

The purpose for Pentecost was not only for empowerment, but also to enable the Christian believer to hear and recognize that God is ever present in our lives.  The early Christians soon learned that through the Holy Spirit that He leads, guides, speaks, directs and orchestrates life events.  The Holy Spirit is still the same today.  He has not left you.  You are not alone.  When you cooperate with God’s presence in your life, He enables you to go beyond your natural abilities to unite with Him in purpose and productivity.   

 

Jesus is still speaking to people just like He did to Simon and Andrew, “…Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).  Peter became a fisher of men and wrote in his second epistle that God “has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3 my own emphasis added).  Notice the tense of the verb—has.  It has already happened.  Be like Moses.  If God lays on your heart to cross the sea, He will enable you to do it.  If it is to build, buy or start something new, He will help you complete it.  You are a child of God who has inherited riches beyond your ability to conceive.  You have been given everything you need—to do what God has called you to do.  And remember that you must start where you are and use what you have.  It is enough when you are following Him.

 

Prayer—Lord thank You for giving to me Your Holy Spirit.  Thank You that Your presence empowers me to do what You have asked me to do with Your help I will begin today to _____________.  Thank You for leading and guiding me and bringing godly people into my life, in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

GENUINE HOLY SPIRIT GROANING PRODUCES GOOD FRUIT

  “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For  we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered.”—Romans 8:26

 

The Scripture tells us that Jesus was friends with Lazarus and his sister, Mary and Martha.  In fact, Jesus spent times with them in their home and eating with them.  However, Jesus was in another town when word reached Him that Lazarus was sick and that his sister’s wanted Him to come and see their brother.  When Jesus arrived Mary came out to meet him, she fell down at his feet crying and saying that her brother would not have died if He had been there.  Then we read a most amazing statement, “Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33 emphasis added).  The word “groaned” as translated here expresses that Jesus was deeply moved, but not necessarily with sorrow.  It was more of a groan of anger at Satan who had caused all the grief and sorrow that He was seeing around Him.  Jesus came to,  “…destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14), and He was grieved to see the pain His enemy had inflicted on those He loved.

 

This is the type of groaning that the Holy Spirit does for us that Paul wrote about in Romans 8:26.  It is not just the Holy Spirit sympathizing with us, but it is the Holy Spirit doing battle for us when we do not know how to pray.  In the case of Lazarus, the Holy Spirit used Jesus to do battle against death and for Lazarus to be released from the grave.

 

Everyone who has the Holy Spirit in them either has, or will have this experience.  The groaning of the Holy Spirit is not just grief but righteous anger and resistance against Satan’s devices in our lives.  Many times Christians do not discern this because they think that they are just grieved over their situation, but the Holy Spirit is moving them into intercession with Him against their common enemy, Satan.

 

Although the groaning of the Holy Spirit inside of you is not uttered, you can react to it with audible groans or physical movement of some kind, like someone who is grieving.  There is nothing wrong with this as long as you do not confuse your reaction with the Holy Spirit’s action.  Notice in Romans 8:26 that you are responding to the Holy Spirit’s silent groaning inside of you.  “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered”. 

 

The genuine groaning in the Spirit is priceless and always produces good fruit in your life, so when this happens, just flow with the Holy Spirit. 

 

Prayer—Father I thank You for the Holy Spirit in my life.  Together Lord, we are doing big business with you—kingdom business, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

 

INTERCESSORY PRAYER IS YIELDING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made of all men.”—I Timothy 2:1

 

The Holy Spirit has ignited the fire in people’s hearts to pray.  Prayer groups are springing up everywhere.  I am encouraged that people are gathering in small groups and through the internet to pray for the great awakening.   My prayer is that the Church does not fall back into the traditional fleshly prayers that are of little effect. 

 

During the early 1980’s, people’s hearts were turned toward prayer.  Intercessory Prayer Groups sprung up within Charismatic groups world-wide.  Teaching on spiritual war-fare became a hot topic in the ensuing years.  The swords of the spirit was banished about, the louder you were the more anointed you must be so the hotter the prayer was, demonic spirits were the vanquished foe; or, so we thought.  What the Church did not realize was that the works of the flesh were in operation most of the time, and very little was Holy Spirit led prayer. 

 

Intercessory Prayer is not about the prayer list, how loud or quite someone prayers, or how many demons are bound or loosed.  Intercessory Prayer is about Jesus.  Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).  Intercessory Prayer is about yielding to Jesus so that He can work through you.  Intercessory Prayer is much more effective when we yield to the Lord, it is much easier, much less effort is required, and much more is accomplished, in a shorter amount of time.

 

Let me ask you a question.  Who is the intercessor?  You?  Me?  No, it's Jesus.   "He is the great high priest…and He is ever living to make intercession for us" (Hebrews 4). So it is He who is the intercessor. Scripture tells us that, "God looked for a man to stand in the gap" and that HE FOUND ONE (Isaiah 59:16). His name is Jesus.   

 

Everything that goes to God must be initiated BY God. It's Jesus by His Spirit that works through you as you yield to Him in your praying and interceding.  You make yourself available and His Spirit will move on you, in you and through you. When it's Him it's not hard. The anointing comes on you and you may weep over China, or Korea. As He moves on you, you may declare some things, you may speak scriptures, you might speak in tongues, you may dance, you may sing, or you may laugh.  BUT IT LIFTS because it's not you, it's Him.

 

Religious Spirits can turn Intercessory Prayer into false burdens that allow the spirit of battle to operate instead of the Holy Spirit.  The false burdens makes it feel like it is all up-to-you—Your Responsibility to fight every foe.  Jesus has won the battle!  IT IS FINISHED!  Yield to the Holy Spirit. You personally can not change anyone or make anyone do anything.  It is only the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people and governments that can bring about a change.  Jesus didn't run around Jerusalem, or Galilee or Bethany trying to meet every need. He did what the Father told Him to do, no more and no less.  And as a by-product, there were miracles and deliverances that were awesome and God got the glory. 

 

Remember, God never anoints what you do; He anoints what He does.  It is yielding to the Holy Spirit as He moves through you.

 

Prayer—Father today I yield to the Spirit of Truth who teaches me and guides me into all truth. Lord show me if I have had a false religious spirit of battle instead of Your true spirit of prayer.  Today I repent of any false burdens and false responsibilities in prayer.   May the truth of your intercessory heart beat within me as I yield myself to You to pray, supplicate, make intercessions, and give thanks for all people, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

PEACE IS A PROMISE TO EVERY BELIEVER

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”—Isaiah 41:10

 

Jesus told the early disciples that they would experience problems and that they could have peace in the midst of the turmoil, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  Many years ago, I heard an observation about Christian life that makes a lot of sense.  We all are either heading into, going through or coming out of a trial in our lives.  No one gets through life without a struggle because the refining of our hearts is done through fire.  True lasting peace can only come through Jesus Christ.  It does not come through some person, some thing, some possession, some job, some vacation, some event, or some arranged peace between political allies.  It can only come through a personal relationship through Jesus Christ.  All these other ways are only an illusion—a mirage, and will soon fade because they are not real. 

 

Have you ever been through a difficult time in your life and were able to have a peace that you could not explain?  I have experienced this.  My husband went in for minor surgery and was in the operating room being put to sleep when the doctor’s thought that he had a heart attack.  I was notified what had happened, and that they were trying to stabilize him.  I immediately had a sense of peace, it was like a bubble surrounded me, and no report could sway me that he was not alright.   Had I not been a Christian I would have been petrified of what I was being told.  Instead, God gave me a promise in His Word and I rested in that promise, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1).  I refused to be swayed and said, “My husband’s heart is not troubled it is at peace.”   Years later, my husband’s heart is still at peace with no trace or evidence of a heart attack.  “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

 

God’s peace is available to anyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  Peace is a promise to every believer and it is your Heavenly Father’s desire for you to have peace, not only through a difficult time, but in your every day life.  His peace is to be the constant state of being for the Christian and is not dedicated by circumstance—good or bad.   Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 145:27).   This is what our Heavenly Father wants for His children—that they walk in peace even in the midst of the storm in their every day lives.

 

This does not mean that sometimes we might feel fear or anxiety; but, for the person of peace, the Holy Spirit’s presence quickly calms the fear and anxiety, and then that person begins to feel the power of the Holy Spirit speaking calm and assurance to their heart. 

 

A deep genuine God-given peace can be the norm for the believer.  It is what God desires for you and me.  God does not desire that your soul be in turmoil, but hat your heart be anchored in peace.

 

Prayer—Father I thank you that my heart is fixed, trusting in You.  I thank You for the Peace that passes all understanding to keep my mind stable and focused upon You.  Holy Spirit I ask You to strengthen and help me to keep my eyes upon Jesus and not the turmoil around me, in Jesus’  Name. Amen.