I wonder if we sometimes get so wrapped up in our situations that we forget who we are walking with on our journey from earth to glory. Martha did when her brother Lazarus got sick. They sent word to Jesus, but He did not come. In fact, He intentionally waited. When He finally came, Lazarus had been dead and in the grave for four days. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21 ESV).
Like Martha, our faith is tested by what we go through, and there are times when it's easy to loose faith even if it is only briefly. We may question God. Where is He in my time of need? Why is He not answering my prayers? Why do I or those I love have to go through this? Please know today that through it all, and in His grace, mercy and love, Jesus is perfecting your faith.
Martha quickly recovers and in the next breath she says to Jesus, "But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you" (John 11:22 ESV). In all appearances this seemed like a full recovery of her faith. After all, didn't she say the right thing? Maybe she did. Maybe those around heard her comment, and they thought, "What a person of faith!" Sometimes we can say the right words but be dying inside with lack of faith. Despite her words, Martha's faith was still deficient, and Jesus would need to perfect it a bit.
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:23-26 ESV)
Jesus got right to the point; He wanted Martha to see that no matter how bad the situation, He is the resurrection and the life. Nothing changes that -- absolutely nothing. Jesus spoke a word that day and called her brother out of death and back into life. Lazarus came walking out of the cold, dark tomb in response to Jesus' command. Death was defeated, and life came forth out of the darkness.
Beloved, no matter how dark your situation may be today and no matter how little faith you may have, Jesus is still the resurrection and the life. He walks with us, and He talks with us. He leads us, and He guides us. He is our shepherd, and we know His voice. It's the voice that brings calm in the storm and calls life out of death. May we say as David said, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalms 23:4 ESV)."
Let Jesus bring comfort to you today in the midst of your crises. In His grace, mercy, and love, He is perfecting the faith that He has already deposited within you. He knows just what you need and the time that you need it. He is never late. He is always right in time.
In over two decades of teaching, preaching, and pastoring, I have taught parishioners that any time you read a promise in the Bible, you need to start looking around for the conditions to obey in order to receive the promise. If you do your part in obeying the Scripture, God does His part, and the promise will be realized in you. It's a central theme throughout the Bible. The "Bible Promise" books that have been so popular over the years leave the conditions of the promises of God out, leaving people standing on the promises, but ignorant to the conditions to obey in order to receive them.
Now we have a book that explains how to read and understand Scripture finding the conditions that lead to fulfilled promises, and it is written by a friend and mentor of mine, Robert P. Holland, who has been pastoring since 1965. First a word concerning Pastor Holland, and then I will talk more about his book which I have completed reading and highly recommend for all those who are serious about understanding and receiving the promises of Holy Scripture.
Pastor Holland is one of my heroes of faith. I have known him for two decades and had opportunity to sit under his ministry for a short season prior to pastoring my first church in the early 1990s. Pastor Holland has a keen understanding of Scripture that is reflected in his life. He portrays the image of Christ more than any other person I have had the privilege of knowing. His ability to communicate and teach the Word is a gift given to us by God. Those who have had the privilege of sitting under his ministry have not experienced a famine of the Word under it, and have instead been given a bountiful feast that brings growth in the Lord.
I just finished reading his book, Some Understand 1 + 6 = 7, and highly recommend it. The book begins with an explanation of the title which is fundamental to the 44 chapters which follow. In each chapter, which Pastor Holland refers to as "Wisdom and Promise workshops", a Scripture promise and its conditions (Pastor Holland refers to as "Wisdom") are identified and proper exegesis, application and exhortation is given.
For those who will read the book, I believe that the Holy Spirit will bring attention to the areas of life where proper wisdom is not applied, and where promises are not being realized, allowing for proper application of Scripture to take place. I"m sure that every reader who has a desire to please God and live for Him will be able to properly apply wisdom and receive promises as they prayerfully read and glean from each chapter.
There have been some great books that I have read that I commit to reading again. With this book, I plan to incorporate it into my daily discipline of reading, studying, and meditating on Scripture, by reading a chapter each day for a while to come. In the days ahead, I will also be tweeting (@Gregory_Johnson) some quotes from the book and posting some quotes on my Facebook page (GregoryAJohnsonPage).
I encourage you to get a copy of the book today, read it, and let God speak into your life as you discover the wisdom and promises that God would have you receive. The book is available as a paperback and as an ebook on Amazon. Click here and get your copy today - Some Understand 1 + 6 = 7: Finding Wisdom and Receiving Promises.
The trouble with nearly everybody who prays is that he says "Amen" and runs away before God has a chance to reply. Listening to God is far more important than giving Him your ideas.
Lord, let the thick skin that covers me not be a hindrance to you. Pass through it. My eyes, my hands, my mouth are yours. This sad lady in front of me: here is my mouth for you to smile at her ... This smug young man, so dull, so hard: here is my heart, that you may love him, more strongly than he has ever been loved before.
- Madeleine Delbrjl, Missionary and activist (1904-1964)
Pass through my thick skin Lord, and touch others with your grace, peace and love.
I don't know about you, but I find myself having to intentionally work at listening more and speaking less, questioning myself "am I a slow learner, or just struggling with the human nature?" I'm probably a slow learner if no one else, but me, has to work on these.
Instead of being slow at learning, maybe the slowness can shift to my human tendency of getting angry. In dealing with these and other inheritances of the human nature, I thank God for prayer, the Holy Spirit that dwells within, and God's grace.
...And of course, I thank God for His Word which guides us to proper behavior.
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. ~ James 1:19, NLT
Know that you are loved,
gaj
Posted by: Rev. Gregory A. Johnson AT 10:35 am
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I pray God's grace and peace for you in 2011. May it be a year of realized goals and dreams abounding in ever increasing spiritual blessings that impact not only your life, but also the life of those in your sphere of influence.
I just completed writing my first book and it is available on Amazon. The title is "The Characters of Christmas: God at Work in our Lives".
In this simple and easy to read book, I attempt to take the characters of Christmas – Mary, Joseph, Herod and the Magi – and bring to the readers attention that nothing is impossible for God, God’s plan for us is best, God delivers us from evil and God is at work in our lives. I call these God themes. God themes are found throughout the Bible. Although the word “Christmas” is in the title of this book and I use the characters of Christmas throughout, these God themes are relative to us during any calendar season or any season of life.
My prayer is that the words written will encourage, strengthen and build faith in each reader. May God open the windows of heaven and pour out all of His spiritual blessings on each one as they read.
The book is only available as an e-book. You can read it on your Kindle or you can read it on you Windows PC, Ipad, Iphone, Mac, Blackberry, Android or Windows 7 phone by downloading the FREE Kindle reading apps. Click here to download the FREE Kindle reading apps.
Click here to get your copy of The Characters of Christmas. Please be one of the first to read it and post a review for it on Amazon.
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, "Everyone is looking for you." And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:35-39 ESV)
Prayer is priority in this paragraph of Scripture, but there is a deeper meaning than what appears on the surface that I would like to articulate to you.
First of all, notice that Simon (Peter) is beginning to take a leadership role as a follower of Christ. Notice also that Peter has the right heart. Peter sees all of these people in need of healing and in bondage to evil and he desires to see them healed and set free. Peter is beginning to get a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is all about – love, grace, peace and freedom with race, gender, health and economic equality for all. He still does not fully understand, but he is getting a glimpse of it and he desires that people experience the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. So Peter and others with him go looking for Jesus. They know that Jesus is the answer, but He has disappeared! What were they to do with all of these people that still needed healing and deliverance?
When Peter finds Jesus praying, He couldn’t believe it. The actual Greek here has tones of a sense of hostile pursuing. It was like Peter was saying “What are you doing here? Everyone is looking for you! Don’t you know that there is still work to be done? People are in need!”
Notice how Jesus responds to Peter. Jesus said "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." Jesus is showing through His words and actions that He was not following Peter. He was not doing it Peter’s way and He was not on Peter’s time schedule. Peter was called to follow Jesus. Jesus says here that His main focus is to preach the same sermon in every town - “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15).”
Peter would eventually learn to follow. It would not be an easy lesson, as it’s not an easy one for most of us, but he would learn to follow Christ. And when he does, he will reach his full potential in the Kingdom while using his words and actions to reveal the Kingdom to others.
Follow Jesus friends. Follow Jesus. Don't expect Him to follow you. If you do expect Him to follow you, you will be highly disappointed.
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, "Everyone is looking for you." And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:35-39 ESV)
Prayer is a powerful privilege given to us by God. Prayer is the opportunity to communicate to Him all of our burdens and anxieties while receiving from Him strength, endurance and direction for the journey that He has in front of us. Preaching and ministering at the point of need are important, but they will become powerless and ineffective without prayer. Prayer must be a priority in every Christ follower. In fact, if we don’t pray, we are not following Christ because He prayed and left us that example to follow.
We can learn much from this paragraph of Scripture.
We learn that although the needs of people are great, we can not neglect prayer to minister.
We learn that there are times that we must get alone in a quiet place to pray.
We learn that there is a time to pray and a time to work.
We learn that prayer is a place to refuel and refocus.
We learn that prayer is a place to receive direction and confirmation.
On the first Sabbath of Jesus’ earthly ministry recorded in the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus ministers all day and late into the night. He performs an exorcism in the Synagogue (Mark 1:21-28), a healing in a house (Mark 1:29-31) and numerous healings and exorcisms in the streets of Capernaum (Mark 1:32-34). He has to be physically tired, as although He is the Son of God, He is ministering on earth in a human body as the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus gives us an example to follow. As the Son of God He reveals His Kingdom to us in words and actions as He heads towards the cross to take God’s judgment of our sins upon Himself. He has to be physically tired after such an eventful day so He gets off by Himself and prays.
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, "Everyone is looking for you." And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:35-39 ESV)
There are still some in our day who believe that going to a doctor or taking medicine is a lack of faith. It is not. There have been many parents who have been tried in court because they prayed, but they refused to take their child to a doctor or give them medicine when it was an option to them, only to result in the child’s death. That is not faith. Faith is taking full advantage of every process of healing that God has made available to us. Medical professionals, medical procedures and medicine are instruments of healing that God has made available to us in our day and we can exercise our faith by allowing God to bring healing to us through these processes.
Jesus helps us so that we can help others. As we follow Him, our faith grows in His ability to meet not only our needs, but also the needs of others. As our faith grows, we are quick to reveal His kingdom to others through our actions. We pray and have faith, but we also put our faith into action.
I’m excited to announce that Grace Zagga Martin in Lira, Uganda, has been credentialed under Loving God Fellowship as a commissioned minister. Grace is 33 years old and started following Christ in 1988. He has a call of God on his life to be a pastor and we are pleased in helping him with his calling.
Please pray for Grace, his ministry and the people of Lira, Uganda.
Even when our faith is immature and deficient, God does a work that only He can do. And through it all, God still loves us and is perfecting our faith as we focus our attention on Jesus and follow Him.
In Acts 12:1-11 we are told of how the Apostle James was killed and Peter was placed in prison awaiting his death. After Herod Agrippa I saw that beheading James pleased the people, he decided to do the same to Peter and He had him put in prison. Because Herod was now observing the Jewish law and trying to win favor with the people, he would not put Peter to death during the Passover season. He would wait until afterward and do to Peter in front of all the people what he had already done to James. In the meantime, he would hold Peter prisoner and make it impossible for him to escape or be freed by assigning four squads of soldiers to guard him. Each squad consisted of four Roman soldiers and each squad would have a six hour shift. Two soldiers would be chained to either side of him and two soldiers would guard the door. There was seemingly no way Peter would be able to escape, but God sent an angel to deliver Peter out of the prison in the middle of the night. As Peter followed the angel, he was set free. Peter was still in a daze from it all and when his mind finally cleared, he realized that he was supernaturally delivered by God and saved from death.
When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, "It is his angel!" But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Tell these things to James and to the brothers." Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. (Acts 12:12-19 ESV)
The church survived without a church building for three hundred years. There were no building funds. There were no campaigns to pay down building debt. There were neither maintenance invoices nor utility bills to pay. Instead, Christ followers met in houses and existing facilities. At this time in Jerusalem, the church had grown to large numbers and was meeting in many houses in the city. Upon his supernatural deliverance from prison, Peter went to John Mark’s mother’s house. Many believe that this was the house that held the upper room where Jesus had His last supper with the disciples the night before His crucifixion. This was probably the house where Peter met with other Christ followers regularly and was the people he was most familiar with as Rhoda knew his voice. In any case, Peter went to where he knew people would be meeting in the middle of the night to pray for His safe release.
Prayer has always been a quality that identifies the church. Christ followers are praying people and follow the example that Christ gave as He walked this earth ministering at the point of need. Jesus took the time to pray and the disciples, seeing that this was a priority in Jesus’ life, asked for Him to teach them how to pray.
Faith is exercised as one communicates to God and asks for his help, guidance and intervention. A person prays believing in God and believing that He can do the impossible. Those who met in this house knew that Herod had beheaded the Apostle James and was planning to do the same to Peter the next day at the conclusion of the Passover. They were praying earnestly for him day and night knowing that God could deliver and in this case, it would take God.
Peter knocked at the gate indicating that this house had a courtyard which was typical of the bigger homes of that day that could accommodate many people. Rhoda goes to see who is knocking. Upon recognizing Peter’s voice and without opening the gate and letting Peter in, she goes back inside tell the people it was Peter. The people thought she was out of her mind! Anyway you look at this it is humorous. Their prayers had been answered. Evidently they had enough faith to pray knowing that God could deliver Peter out of this seemingly hopeless situation, but their faith was deficient in realizing that God was willing to deliver Peter. Even though their faith was deficient, God moved on their behalf and supernaturally delivered Peter from the chains of bondage and certain death.
Beloved, we have been supernaturally delivered from the bondage of sin and saved from death by Jesus Christ. Some may doubt our deliverance and that doubt may come from some who have prayed for our deliverance, but nevertheless we have been delivered! We didn’t do anything to deserve it. It was all God pouring our His amazing grace upon us. We were bound in the chains of sin and held captive in its prison. But Jesus set us free. And when Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed!
Not only is God able to deliver and set the captive free from the power of sin, God is willing. All Peter had to do was follow the angel the Lord sent out of the prison he was held captive in. We have been given Jesus to follow. All of those friends and loved ones that you are praying for, God can and he will deliver as they follow Jesus out of their prison. Keep praying for them. Pray earnestly for them. God will do in an instance what no person could do in a lifetime.
If you are held captive by the power of sin today, I encourage you to follow Jesus out of that prison. As you fix your eyes on Him and follow Him, He will break every shackle that binds you. He will lead you out of darkness and despair. He will take away your hopelessness and give you a reason for living. He will truly set you free!
Beloved, as we follow Christ and keep our eyes fixed on Him, our faith will grow because He is the founder and the perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). When our faith is immature and deficient, God still loves us. He does supernatural things in our life and in our circumstances regardless of the size of our faith. And as He does, our faith grows. It is simply Jesus perfecting our faith.
It is possible for us to grow to such a point in our faith as to rest in times of trouble knowing that God is in control of our life as we follow Christ on this journey from earth to glory. He is directing our steps. He is making a way where there seems to be no way.
For the early followers of Christ there was a season after Saul became a Christ follower (Acts 9) in which they experienced a freedom from oppression and persecution brought on by the religionists of their day. It would not last long though. King Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of the King Herod of Jesus’ birth, in order to gain favor with the Jews began to observe their ways and practice their law. He had heard them complain of Christ followers spreading the message of Christ and how it threatened their religious tradition. He decided to display his hand of power against the radical Christ followers in order to win more favor with those who were merely religious.
About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, "Dress yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
(Acts 12:1-11 ESV)
James here is the disciple of Jesus, son of Zebedee and brother of John, not to be confused with James, brother of Jesus and author of the book of James in the New Testament. James, John and Peter made up the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples while He ministered on earth. Why James would die and Peter escape is a mystery of divine providence. Peter still had much to accomplish as he would author two epistles of the New Testament. James would complete His mission and be the first of the disciples to join the glorified Christ.
After Herod Agrippa I saw that beheading James pleased the people, he decided to do the same to Peter and He had him put in prison. Because Herod was now observing the Jewish law and trying to win favor with the people, he would not put Peter to death during the Passover season. He would wait until afterward and do to Peter in front of all the people what he had already done to James. In the meantime, he would hold Peter prisoner and make it impossible for him to escape or be freed by assigning four squads of soldiers to guard him. Each squad consisted of four Roman soldiers and each squad would have a six hour shift. Two soldiers would be chained to either side of him and two soldiers would guard the door. There was seemingly no way Peter would be able to escape.
Notice what the followers of Christ did. They prayed for Peter, but it was not a half hearted prayer mouthed through sleepy lips. It was earnest prayer. The oppressive hand of Herod was powerful, but not as powerful as earnest prayer that releases divine power that destroys strongholds and sets the captive free (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Beloved, earnestly pray for those you know that are held captive by their troubles. Prayer is our spiritual weapon. Pray earnestly.
What catches my attention the most today from these paragraphs of Scripture is what Peter was doing in the midst of his troubles. He was asleep. That is an indication that his faith had grown to a point where he was able to rest in the midst of his troubles. He could not always do that, but now his faith had grown to a point where he could. He trusted God fully and understood that God was in control of his life as he followed Christ. He was at peace. He did not fear death as he realized that to be absent from the body would mean that He would be present with our Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Beloved, I believe that is the faith God desires to develop in each of us. It’s a faith that will inspire our earnest prayers for those that are held captive by their troubling situations and seemingly hopeless circumstances. It’s a faith that allows us to rest in the middle of the greatest storm that life brings our way knowing that God is in control and He can either calm the storm or get us through it.
Supernatural deliverance came to Peter that night. It was an undeniable miracle that happened in a fashion in which no person could take the glory. It was all God. Peter rested. God delivered.
Beloved, allow your faith in God to produce that same rest in you today. God knows the difficulty that you are in. He knows what you are going through. He has lifted up others who are praying earnestly for you. He will make a way where there seems to be no way. He will make the impossible possible. Trust Him. Rest in Him. He will do the rest.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you yourself shall be the miracle.
Prayer and Scripture is the conduit for God's revelation. Be patient though. It's in the waiting that you learn Scripture and receive His strength. His strength gives you the endurance needed to do that which is revealed and Scripture is the litmus test as to the authenticity of the revelation.
Pray.
Read and learn Scripture, especially the New Testament, since Christ came and fulfilled the Old.
Wait.
Strength for endurance will come.
Revelation will come and it will be confirmed through Scripture.
The resources of heaven are made available to us through prayer.
Divine communicated happens through prayer. We see evidence and examples of this throughout the Word of God.
Continual rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving is the will of God for each of us.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(1Th 5:16-18 ESV)
Because of this, we have available an online resource that facilitates being prayed for and praying for others at LGF online. It is interactive and is a place where people all around the world list their prayer requests, praise reports and any questions about prayer.
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