Prayer for Others Transforms Us, Too

"A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another, or the community will be destroyed.  I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me.  In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner.  That is a blessed discovery for the Christian who is beginning to offer intercessory prayer for others.  As far as we are concerned, there is no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity or strife that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer.  Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Get the Soil Good!

May is a month of miracles!  Believe it.  God is moving and doing things.  This summer is going be full of the supernatural!  I can't wait.

I encourage you to get ready before the blessings come...so that way you'll be able to steward what the Lord pours out.  Go read my blog entitled "How's Your Soil?" for a more in-depth look at what I'm talking about.  Here's the gist:  you can control how your heart is, and how you receive what God gives you.  If your heart (the soil) isn't ready to fully receive and nurture what is deposited, then it probably won't grow to full fruition.  Therefore, GET YOUR SOIL READY NOW!!!

If you are ready with good soil, then trials/persecutions/trouble/heat won't steal the word that has been deposited into your heart; nor will they steal your joy!  Instead, your faith will rise up and God will move to honor His word.  It's the truth.  Let's all get ourselves ready.

Father God, reveal to us the things we need to change and get rid of.  Help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to put away those things that need to go, and get rid of the things that separate us from You.  You are better than anything and Your love is more valuable to us than anything else.  We love You and praise You, and we thank You for loving us in spite of our sin.  Thank You for sending Your One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place for our transgressions.  And thank You for new life in You through Your Son.  In Jesus Christ of Nazareth's Mighty and Magnificent and Holy Name, Amen!!!

If you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, ask Him into your heart today.  Here is a prayer you can pray to God, and give the meaning to it as you pray it.  God will hear you, and you will be forgiven of your sins:

God in Heaven, in Jesus Christ's Name, I pray to You.  I confess I'm a sinner in need of a Savior.  I ask you to forgive me for all of my sins.  I am truly sorry for my sins and turn away from them and walk towards You; I will seek after You now.  Jesus, I ask You to please come into my heart and be the lord of my life.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  I confess Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.  I believe that He died for me and took my sins upon Himself.  I believe that He was buried and then came back to life--He conquered death!  Therefore, I have eternal life through Him!  Thank you for saving me, Jesus.  I love You, and thank You for loving me.  In Jesus Christ's Name, Amen.

You just made the best decision you've ever made!  You are literally a new creation!  Now go and let this prayer be the first step in your new life.  Find a Bible and start reading it.  Find a Bible-believing church and start going.  Pray to God everyday and ask Him to come into your heart more and more.  I'm so glad to now call you a brother, or a sister :)  May God bless you as you start your journey towards knowing Him more.

Love in Christ,

Adam

How's Your Soil?

Easter is a glorious day—people come in mass to churches, and more importantly, many commit their lives to Jesus Christ.  Halelujah!!  What happens after that is what I’m talking about today.

In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus is telling a parable about a farmer scattering seed.  The seed in this parable is the message of the Kingdom of God, and the various kinds of soil are the hearts of the people who hear the message preached:

“Then He told them many things in parables, saying:  “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  He who has ears, let him hear.”

Jesus then explains exactly what his parable means later in the same chapter (verses 18-23):

“Listen to what the parable of the sower means:  When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is the seed sown along the path.  The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.  The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.  But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it.  He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

You want to be the one that has the seed fall on good soil…you don’t want to be any of the other ones :)  This alone is a great thought for the day.  If nothing else, go back and read the above verses and make sure your heart is one that is full of good soil so that any seeds already planted, and those seeds still to be planted in the future, will be nourished to grow to maturity and not die out.  If you recently received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and/or got a fresh word from God, then MAKE SURE that the seed just sown is like the one that falls on good soil.  Examine your heart and pray for growth and perseverance.  Continuously ask the Lord to help you and pray for more faith.  He will do it, I promise.  Amen!!!

*     *     *     *     *

If you want to trek a little deeper, then let’s continue.  Let’s look specifically at one part of this parable Jesus spoke.  Here is Matthew 13:5-6 again:

“Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.”

Think for a minute about a seed being planted and the role that the sun plays in the process of it growing.  The sun comes to nourish the seed, does it not?  The sun’s rays are critical in the process of the plant growing to become fully mature.  But its nourishing rays also bring heat.

“…But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched…”

So here we have something interesting.  That which was designed to bring forth more life caused death.  That’s tragic.  But where does the fault lie?

“…and they withered because they had no root.”

The sun itself is not to blame for the scorching and withering of the budding plant; it is the fault of the soil!  The soil was shallow and, thus, the plant had no root.  Here is how Jesus stated it in the verses you read above:

“The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.”  (verses 20-21)

It seems to me a parallel is made between “the sun” in Verse 6 and “trouble or persecution” in Verse 21.  If I am right in making this parallel, then it follows that trouble or persecution can play the same role as the sun—intended to bring forth more life, but can ultimately bring forth death.  The result, life or death, is determined by the soil on which it falls.  WOW!

So we should not blame the sun, nor trouble, nor persecution for us losing hold of what the Lord has planted in us by His Holy Spirit.  The sun will shine, trouble will happen, and persecution will come.  We have to accept this.  And we have to be aware that what is in us cannot become fully-grown without enduring the heat which accompanies the life-giving, nourishing rays.  We cannot control when the sun shines or when the troubles come, but we can control this:  making sure our hearts are ready to receive and nurture that which is planted in us. 

Oh Lord, by Your grace, tender our hearts and increase our faith to receive what You have to give.  Strengthen us by Your love, show us Your goodness, and continually grant us Your mercy.  In Jesus Christ’s Holy and Mighty Name, we pray these things to You, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The Only True God, The God of Israel.  Amen!!!!!

I'm Having Isaacs

One of the hardest things I have to do is not push so hard that I end up messing things up. When I want something to happen I want it to be done as quickly as possible and in the most excellent way possible. When I know something should happen, I see no point in waiting. Anybody else?

Well the hard part is this: it seems that some things take time. And I hate that. I see all this time transpire between a dream and reality, between a desire and fulfillment, between a promise and the manifestation of the promise…and I can’t help but to think that a lot of that time is wasted. All of that time sitting around and waiting could be used to pursue other dreams if the initial one would hurry up and happen. If you know me at all, you know I hate wasting time.

One thing I can’t push though is God’s timing. I don’t understand why I feel urgency with a promise He has given me and it seems as though that urgency isn’t shared by Him. I have no clue why sometimes a promise will come in an instant and sometimes it takes a lifetime to realize. The very fact that I don’t understand it makes it all the more frustrating!

There’s a million different ways to possibly explain why things take a long time…maybe God is waiting on me to do ‘x’, or maybe my character can’t handle this yet, or maybe He wants to see if I believe Him, etc, etc, etc. Whatever the reason may be, the bottom line is this: the thing I am hoping for is not happening yet.

So I’m left waiting and hoping and trusting and believing in God’s promise…which I’m SO ready to watch happen, but for some reason it is taking longer than I think it should. It is in these times where I try to remind myself not to push so hard. I can’t make the promise of God happen in my life. I can, however, make imposters of that promise if I’m not careful. Let me explain using Abram from the Bible.

Abram had a promise from God that he would be made “into a great nation” (Genesis 12:2), that he would have offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5), and that the promise would come to fulfillment through his own son (Genesis 15:4). Abram tried to have children with his wife, Sarai, but was having no success. Sarai comes to the conclusion that the Lord is keeping her from having children, and suggests that Abram sleep with her maidservant, Hagar, so that they could build the family through her. So Abram married Hagar as well, and she became pregnant.

This is where they messed up. God had already ordained marriage to be between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:19-24). In their efforts to find a way to make the word of God come to pass, they violated the marriage covenant. They reasoned that the word of God was true, but since it was taking too long to happen then they should try something else.

The error here is not in trying. Partnering with God in seeing His word culminate is usually a good thing. A large amount of the time, God’s promise coming to pass in your life will require effort and movement on your end. And if something isn’t working after a while, then it only makes sense to seek out other possible ways of going about things. However, the error happens when our reasoning trumps the word of God. “How did their reasoning trump God’s word?” you ask. This is how: they overstepped a boundary previously established in attempting to make the word happen. They let their own ideas supersede their faith in seeing the word come to pass. They regressed into only seeing the word come to pass in ways they could understand. When getting pregnant didn’t work for them within the confines of what God had laid out, they decided that they could conceive via another woman. Their faith only went as far as their understanding and reasoning could take them.

To make a long story short, Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, gave birth to Ishmael. After Ishmael was a teenager, God again told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4), and this time the Lord specifically indicated that his wife, Sarah, would conceive even though she was very old and beyond the age of child bearing (Genesis 17:15-16). Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Isaac. When Isaac was still very young, Sarah demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away. Abraham obliged after the Lord assured Abraham that it was through Isaac that his “offspring will be reckoned” (Genesis 21:12). Thus, the Lord honored his word and opened the barren womb of Sarah in her old age…blowing the minds and the reasoning of everyone.

If we aren’t careful, we can push past God’s timing. Though we may make something happen it may turn out to be a copy of the promise, not the real thing. We can definitely try different things in partnering with God to see His promise come to pass, but let us be very mindful to stay within the confines of what He has laid out. Also, may we all (especially me) embrace the fact that we don’t understand everything about how God’s promise plays out…that our reasoning is not big enough to grasp the ways of our Creator. As much as I hate waiting, I much rather wait on God’s timing than end up with duplicates. I’m having Isaacs.

What is God Doing NOW??

One of my favorite Bill Johnson quotes is to “keep your eyes on what God is doing…do not focus on what He has not done yet.”* Though most of us instinctively turn our thoughts to what we wish God was doing in our lives, we must make it a point to rejoice in the things He is doing/has done for us already. When we focus on what the Lord is actively doing in our lives, it keeps our eyes and hearts in the right place…it keeps us from becoming cynical, builds our faith, and keeps a lot of anxiety at bay.

Today, I urge you to take some time to recognize and praise the Lord for what He has already done for you and what He is doing for you right now. Thank Him for it, and pray for more! I’m not sure what He is doing in your life right now, but I know it’s good! Here’s what He’s doing in mine:

- Providing supernaturally for me in every area of need, and He will continue to…provision in everything!

- Fresh revelation constantly

- Creativity to write music, lyrics, arrangements…letting me “have my own song”

- Stirring up new wells of love and parts of me that are completely new

- Bringing unity to believers in this city and region

- Giving me the privilege to be a part of a sold-out group of people who are genuinely hungry for the presence of the Lord, and for His will to be done

- Placing people in my life that are edifying and that listen to the Lord

- Bringing people here to become world changers via the Arise Worship Internship

- Prospects of a future partnership with a national organization to affect countless young lives for the Kingdom and to push them into their calling more effectively

- A soon-to-be-recorded EP completely backed by a growing global non-profit organization

There’s much more than that. The Lord is good! Of course there are things I’m still waiting on and looking forward to, but the present is so great! Sometimes I get caught up anticipating ‘x’, or thinking about what things will be like once ‘y’, but I remind myself to just stop and look at what God is already doing. It’s huge. All kinds of blessing. Thank you, Jesus, for everything! I love You. Bless it more, Lord. Let more come, and thank You, Lord, for all that You’ve done, and what You are doing right now. In Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s Holy Name, Amen.

*a paraphrase from the Bethel Supernatural School of Ministry DVD Session 1001: “Introduction to First Year”; not a direct quote :)