Every person in this high pressure, high anxiety world we live in needs a fresh touch from heaven. A helping hand in the time of trouble, a listening ear, someone to help carry the load, someone to guide us through the storms of life.
Wait a minute I just said every person that includes Christians, aren't we supposed to have it all together? Actually Christians need to be revived in this day & age. Revive--to breathe life back into ones soul! Psalm 119:107 "I am afflicted very much; Revive me, O Lord according to Your Word.
That scripture holds the key to true revival THE WORD! Too often we are all caught up in ministry, in being fundraisers to keep our ministry or church afloat. The busyness of life in itself is a curse of monumental size, that sucks our strength & energy & leaves us in such a pathetic weakened state. When we do not start our day in the Word of God we are setting ourselves up for another day of spinning our wheels while going nowhere.
It's good to participate in a church service, to sit under the teaching of Gods Word, to be gathered together with the brethren (like minded believers.) But this is only a part of the whole package. Early on in my walk with the Lord I summed up our four absolutes for a strong Christian walk. Read the Word, pray pray pray, faithful in all things, but without the fourth obedience to Gods Word, the first three can still make you feel as if you are running on empty.
I have heard it stated that 90% of our youth today no longer believe in absolutes. This ties into the post modern society of today. A truth is an absolute & Jesus is the way, the truth & the life! The Bible=the book of instructions before leaving earth. It is to be our road-map to life while here on earth. Personally I find an incredible hunger in the youth of today for something or someone to believe in.
What has the church of today presented to them & I am not throwing stones but the facts are the facts. Pedophiles being behind the pulpit, abuse of every sort to our native peoples, denominations ordaining homosexuals, Christian denominations at odds with one another, our government & denominations condoning & recognizing same sex marriages.
Traditional Christianity hasn't got what it takes. It is like a veneer of Christian customs & culture passed down in increasingly ineffective doses. Getting farther & farther from the source of its original power. Being a Christian is not just a change in our outward appearance, no smoking, drinking, drugging, cursing or swearing, mode of dress or even doing church & carrying a Bible even quoting it (satan can do that.) God looks at the inward person of the heart. We can no longer sit silently watching the adversary destroy our nation & youth.
As representative of Gods kingdom in this world of decay & sin & debauchery our silence has deprived the world of the purifying, healing, redeeming influence of righteousness. In Proverbs 14:34 we read Righteousness exalts a nation! Every nation desperately needs to see a people who are the righteousness of God, a people of prayer who believe their God is all powerful & believe in the power of prayer.
We take physical laws seriously ex. gravity, aerodynamics & so on. We research them, conform to them, cooperate with them. What if mankind took Gods spiritual & moral order just as seriously as His physical laws? No terrorism, no hatred, no discrimination, no exploitation, no abuse of power (nothing corrupts more than power) no divorce, no battered wives, no addiction, no hopelessness & despair, no suicide, no poverty, no pornography, no pollution,no crime, no murder, no war, no sex outside of marriage, no children born out of wedlock, no adultery & this list goes on & on.
You may say that's OK but you do not know the pressure I've been under. My response is when a lump of coal is put under pressure it becomes a diamond. Proverbs 17:3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts. Maybe you've been put down all your life & are filled with guilt, shame which has you in a state of deep depression.
That's what this message is all about. You too can change your circumstances, the way you see yourself & others, BUT not under your strength. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! He strengthens us according to His Word!
I used to love wrestling when I was a kid growing up & especially the tag team matches. One of the wrestlers is being beat up & about to lose the match but he finds the strength to reach up & tag his partner & immediately everything changes. The Holy Spirit is your tag team partner. He is the one who created everything we see in this universe & HE IS IN YOUR CORNER!
You may feel like you're Christian walk has been on a slippery slope or you may not even know this Jesus I have been talking about BUT you can! 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!
I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ still has the power to do the impossible, to change our lives & make us Christ-like. It has taken time for us to get into the state we find ourselves in but if we are willing to do our part it will come to pass! Food for Thought!
Ken Gorham a servant of the Lord
Monday, 20 February 2012
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Pure Worship is Powerful
Last week whether you figured it out or not I was still on the subject of spiritual warfare, it could have been titled "the truth will set you free." When we learn the truth & put it into practice within our lives, we have freedom over both sin & self, hallelujah! That is spiritual warfare at its finest.
King David had the heart of a worshipper, even though his life was anything but perfect. Disfunctional family, accomplice to murder, hung out with a bunch of losers in a cave, hey there is still hope for both you & me. David knew the faithfulness of the Father, that was where he recognized his freedom through Christ.
In the Old Testament we read how the worshipper's led the armies of Israel into battle,why? When we believe that God is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscience (all knowing) & omnipotent (all powerful) He is worthy of our praise & worship in every situation we face. It was important in their eyes to show God their faith that He would be with them to bring about victory in battle and it is the same for us today.
Worship has to be a lifestyle not just something that happens when we are in church. Praise is to take our focus off the busyness of life we face in our day to day life while worship directs our focus to God's Word. True worship is a continual focus on the Lord & the things of the Lord. Knowing full well He & only He can direct our steps to accomplish the things in life He wants us too. Our part is to have a listening ear & thankful obedience.
Every good thing in life comes down from the Father of light. That in itself should bring us to worship Him, not for the things He does but just for who He is. He is our creator, our healer, our deliverer, our provider, our peace, our all in all.
God has made a way for all of mankind to reconnect to Himself, wow. He gave us His very Son to be the Sacrificial Lamb of God that would take away the sins of this world. Not just your mistakes & mine but all sin for all time & all we have to do is receive Jesus as our Lord & Savior. The grace that God disposes upon us is freely, has the ability to change us & take us from glory to glory in service unto Him. All because of what Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary, glory be to God!
As we live our lives focusing on God & His Word all hell shutters, because it knows it has lost its power over us, we are free. God is soooooo good & worthy of all of our praise & worship for He alone is worthy. I had a bumper sticker on one of my old cars "God said it, I believe it, that settles it! When you live that out people see it, because you become the light in this dark sin filled world.
Traditional Christianity just wouldn't cut it because it is focused upon outward change while God Himself looks at the inward person of the heart. There is an old saying "you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cant fool all of the people all of the time!" To this I add "And you cant fool God at all, fool!" People see right through traditional Christianity & its facade.
They want something that is real & JESUS IS REAL! They want truth & He is the way, the truth & the life & bless God we have the opportunity to present Him to them.
Our worship of God has to express more than just our love for Him, it also has to express our submission to His will. Not obedience because we have too but because we want too, in thanksgiving for who He is in our lives. Food for Thought!
Ken Gorham a servant of the Lord
King David had the heart of a worshipper, even though his life was anything but perfect. Disfunctional family, accomplice to murder, hung out with a bunch of losers in a cave, hey there is still hope for both you & me. David knew the faithfulness of the Father, that was where he recognized his freedom through Christ.
In the Old Testament we read how the worshipper's led the armies of Israel into battle,why? When we believe that God is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscience (all knowing) & omnipotent (all powerful) He is worthy of our praise & worship in every situation we face. It was important in their eyes to show God their faith that He would be with them to bring about victory in battle and it is the same for us today.
Worship has to be a lifestyle not just something that happens when we are in church. Praise is to take our focus off the busyness of life we face in our day to day life while worship directs our focus to God's Word. True worship is a continual focus on the Lord & the things of the Lord. Knowing full well He & only He can direct our steps to accomplish the things in life He wants us too. Our part is to have a listening ear & thankful obedience.
Every good thing in life comes down from the Father of light. That in itself should bring us to worship Him, not for the things He does but just for who He is. He is our creator, our healer, our deliverer, our provider, our peace, our all in all.
God has made a way for all of mankind to reconnect to Himself, wow. He gave us His very Son to be the Sacrificial Lamb of God that would take away the sins of this world. Not just your mistakes & mine but all sin for all time & all we have to do is receive Jesus as our Lord & Savior. The grace that God disposes upon us is freely, has the ability to change us & take us from glory to glory in service unto Him. All because of what Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary, glory be to God!
As we live our lives focusing on God & His Word all hell shutters, because it knows it has lost its power over us, we are free. God is soooooo good & worthy of all of our praise & worship for He alone is worthy. I had a bumper sticker on one of my old cars "God said it, I believe it, that settles it! When you live that out people see it, because you become the light in this dark sin filled world.
Traditional Christianity just wouldn't cut it because it is focused upon outward change while God Himself looks at the inward person of the heart. There is an old saying "you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cant fool all of the people all of the time!" To this I add "And you cant fool God at all, fool!" People see right through traditional Christianity & its facade.
They want something that is real & JESUS IS REAL! They want truth & He is the way, the truth & the life & bless God we have the opportunity to present Him to them.
Our worship of God has to express more than just our love for Him, it also has to express our submission to His will. Not obedience because we have too but because we want too, in thanksgiving for who He is in our lives. Food for Thought!
Ken Gorham a servant of the Lord
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