Living in God's Power

How to release God's anointing in your life?  

When things you do happen with ease, it's God's ability coming on you to enable you.  Too many people struggle.  God wants to oil the body.  He wants it to work with ease.  Too much stress and pressure will keep things from being easy.  There are not enough people enjoying their walk.  It's IT IS TIME TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE.  People are miserable because they aren't doing what God called them to do, but what other people ask them to do.

God wants every Christian to get in the place where God wants them and function there and not be MAD about being put there.  God's anointing can be on you, but if you don't get into His timing of it, it will still make you miserable.  You may have gifts but not produce any fruit..and then you wonder why.  When God calls you to do something and it's not breaking forth, it's probably the timing.  The key is to operate in your gifts in HIS timing, not yours.

When God's timing is right, you don't have to labor to use your gifts.   Learn to be sensitive to the anointing.  There may be things you "can" do doesn't mean God's anointing is on you to do it.  You need to learn the difference between ability and anointing.  When God is anointing you to do something, you will be able to do things you couldn't do on your own.

What are we anointed with?  The Holy Spirit.  Christians were given the Holy Spirit by Jesus, this is the anointing that we either claim or don't claim.

If you are a Christian, you don't belong to the world anymore.  You belong to God.  He sets you apart and will use you for a specific purpose and not let you get messed up with things you may want to be involved in.  We have to die to self to get to this place.  Every single one of us has a part and a purpose and a destiny, a gifting and a calling.

Let God bring us to a point to be an empty vessel so he can fill us and use us to His glory.
It would glorify God if we just make ourselves available.  He may not even use us today, but be happy to be empty and ready.  God anoints us for purpose. 

Say:  "I am anointed by God".  Say this several times a day and go out in the world and make a difference.

God, I pray for you to empty me of myself and let me see clearly what you have anointed me to do.  I only want what you want me to do.  Help me to understand what it means to be anointed by God with his Holy Spirit.  Help me to learn when it's your timing and when it's not.  I surrender to you today. Amen.

Word Made Flesh Devotion

 Word Made Flesh

John 1:1-18                                                                                                                            

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and  is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Thoughts:

The Word is the creative power of God which encompasses the wisdom of God. He who is all became a human being and dwelt among us.  God with us, Emmanuel.

Martin Luther said: "If you truly believe that the Word became flesh, that the logic of the universe became a human being that belief is powerful enough to drive demons and devils away from you.”  Luther goes on to say that when God took the flesh of a human being, that proves that God is well disposed to us, that God has favor towards us. I like the way Martin Luther thinks.  If the Word became flesh then God connects with us at our deepest levels He didn’t choose to stay in the heavens and be separate but to dwell among us.

I believe John is saying before something was created, there was a plan.  I believe before the world began, Christ was the logic of God, the mind of God, the brilliance of God. Did He exist before measured time began? Who is this word of God for whom all things are made? Who is this light that shines in the darkness? Why would God wish to become a human being?  Before there was matter, before there was light and life, there had to be some logic to it.  There was a master plan.  For those who believe, the Holy Spirit/God/Jesus indwells in us, in the flesh. 

God loves us that much, to come and be with us in every part of our life if we allow Him to.  Words cannot express how exciting that is, that the God of all creation loved me enough to come in the flesh and die in the flesh so that we could be joined together in unity!

Questions:

·         Do you believe that the Word is powerful enough to drive demons and evils away from you?  Have you ever had to use the Word to defend yourself from an enemy attack?

·         Do you really truly embrace that in Christ, God became man. Lived, died, rose again for our salvation and lives with us through the Holy Spirit. That He was from the beginning and is now and ever shall be. That He loves us eternally?

·         Do you believe Jesus was a part of the plan from the beginning?  Why?

Prayer:

God of eternal light, sometimes we become to accustomed to the darkness. But you pierce the darkness with the light of your word. We are grateful that you reveal yourself to us in many ways.
Amen.

God's power

Where to put God first?

Whatever you put Him first in your life, will be blessed

5 places

F - Finances - If you want God to bless your finances, you MUST tithe.  God must always get paid first.

I - Interest - hobbies, interest, recreation.  Give God consideration in all your interests.

R - Relationships -  Bring Him into the center of all your relationships.

S - Schedule - Give Him the first part of every day.  You give him the first consideration in all your decisions.

T - Trouble - Need to turn to God first, when you have a problem.  PRAY first.  Don't pray LAST.

Live in His Kingdom, live BY His power.  God does not bless self-reliant people.  He blesses people who are submitted to Him but are God - Dependent. God does what you expect Him to do.  God doesn't give us what we deserve,  He gives us what we needs.  The more we depend on God instead of yourself.  God can do more in ONE week than we can do in our entire lifetime.  That's why it's never too late to surrender to God.

How do I get God's power in my life?

1.  Praying - prayer is the connection to God's power.  Much prayer, much power, little prayer, little prayer, no prayer, no power.
2.  Taking risks to obey God.  If you do what God is telling you to do, God will pour out His power in your life.  We only grow when our faith is being stretched.  If you aren't taking any risks, you don't need any faith.

Don't wait to be confident.  DO IT AFRAID.  Do the thing you fear the most.  Move ahead in spite of your feelings.

God does a miracle when you take the first step, the moment you step out in faith.  God is waiting on you for a miracle....if you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.  Never be afraid to get out on a limb, that's where the miracle is.

What do you know God wants you to do that you haven't done yet?  What is scarying you to death?  That's the very thing God wants you to do, step out in faith and let Him show you a miracle.  Don't give up.

God, I ask you at this moment to bring to my mind that which scares me the most that you want me to do...put in my mind where you would have me step out in faith.  Let me go forward bolding and with faith be a part of the miracle you want to do in my life so I may give you all the glory.  Amen.

*notes from Pastor Rick Warren's "Connecting with God, The Prayer of Fulfillment, Part 2".

How do I live for God's Glory?

How do I live for God's glory? 

Who's glory are you living for?  Yourself? Your spouse? Your parents?  God says I want you to live for MY glory.  People are not fulfilled because they give first class allegiance to second class causes.  Then the causes betray them.  God did not put you on earth to live for others, but to live for HIS glory.  Only God is worthy of your first class allegiance.

Don't live for your job.  
You won't be fulfilled.

Don't live for approval.  
You won't be fulfilled.

Don't live for money. 
 You won't be fulfilled.

Don't live for sex.  
You won't be fulfilled.

One thing worth living for:  THE GLORY OF GOD

Four steps on how to live for the Glory of God.

1. Show love to everybody.  Love people the way Jesus loved.  Learn to love people the way God loves people.  "Warmly welcome each other, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you. then God will be glorified."  Simple hospitality glorifies God.  Can you be nice to people? If you want God's power in your life, do something you are afraid to do.  You can accept someone without approving everything they do.

2.  Use your abilities to serve everybody.  God did not give you your talents for the benefit of yourself, they are for the benefit of other people.  1 Peter 4:10.  I want to live in your kingdom, by your power and to your glory.  If I don't use my talents, I cheat others.  God is glorified when you use your talent to serve others.  The more you help others, the more God pours out to you.

3. Share the good news with everyone.  Find a church where it's safe to bring your friends. The only thing that's going to last for eternity - is God's family.  A thousand years from today there won't be a Microsoft or a United States.  No earthly kingdom lasts.  God's word and people are the only thing that will last forever.  

4. Do you want to live a fulfilled life?  Each morning sit on the side of your bed and pray one sentence, "Father, today I'll be in by 4".  What does that mean?  Father, today, I will live in your kingdom (I'll put you in my schedule, finances, relationships -you're #1), by your power (gonna take risks, pray all day and hang on when I feel like giving up), for Your glory (show love to everyone I meet, share my talent with everyone I meet, share good news of compassion and mercy and be a part of your family).

Will you do it?  Will you "be in by 4"?  

Father, I want to put you first in any area of my life, in my troubles, my finances and my schedules, I want to live by your power, help me to spend more on you and less then myself, give me the faith that are necessary to grow and help me to not give up and get discouraged.  Dear God, I want to live for your glory, I want my life to be a blessing to others.  I want to serve others, share the good news who don't even know you.  Help me to do all these things, in Jesus name, amen.

*notes from Pastor Rick Warren's sermon "Connecting with God, The Prayer of Fulfillment, Part 3).

The Parable of the Sower

Sower                                

Matthew 13:1-8, 18-23; Mark 4:3-8, 14-20; Luke 8:5-8, 11-15

The Sower parable is about our heart condition (soil) and how we are responding to the Word of God (seed). Are we going to be unresponsive (the seeds that fell on the path), impulsive (the seeds that fell on to rocky ground), preoccupied (the seeds that fell into the thorns) or responsive (the seeds that fell on good soil)?

I have sown many type of seeds in my 18 year adventure with God.  I think we all start out as the sower where their seeds fell on the path and birds ate them.  It has taken time for me to understand how to “root” my heart into the Word of God.  The bible was so hard for me to understand, I felt like I needed a secret decoder ring to help me figure out what it was saying.  But you know, that was the enemy keeping me from the truth, and I couldn’t tell you when exactly the Word of God all started becoming clear to me, but I will tell you I never stopping KNOWING that it was important. 

I kept surrendering parts of my life, allowing my flesh (sin) to die and giving God access to all my darkest parts and somehow, someway, through the grace of God, the Word became alive.  Now, if someone had told me that 5 years ago, I would of thought, “wow, I want that to happen to me”. You know…I believe God knew my heart and knew deep down I really wanted to be rooted in His word.  It doesn’t happen by accident though.  It didn’t “fall on me”.  I pursued, prayed, studied and kept after God knowing in my heart of heart it was the end all answer to what I needed to be worthwhile to God.  My desire to please God was more important than giving up sin or my time (due to laziness) to study the Word.  I still battle the knee jerk nature to want to entertain myself first and study “later”, even this morning, I almost fell to that temptation instead of doing this devotion, but I said to myself, “God is more important, and when I study His Word, and have it fresh in my mind – it makes the difference in the day of how I treat myself, how I treat others and how useful I am, so I’m going to my God my priority”.   I confess, I don’t win this battle every day (today I did), but sometimes I don’t.  I try to focus on my progress not on whether I’ve “arrived”. 

The bottom line for me is, I don’t want to throw my seeds on the path to be eaten by birds, or on rocky soil.  I don’t want to be preoccupied with the world that the seeds are distorted with worldviews (thorns).  I want to be ROOTED and I want to produce a good, healthy harvest.  For God, for myself, for my family and friends, I want to be “fruitful”.  The desire to bring Glory to God in all the things I say and do (I know it’s a big goal!) is what motivates me to keep pushing through and deepen my roots.

I found these 4 steps in how to make your seeds fall on good soil from a Mars Hill sermon and I wanted to share.  The notes in the parentheses are my thoughts.

• Follow the Holy Spirit (find where the Spirit is moving and be a part of it)
• Hear and hold fast the the Word (really hear it, ask God to help you understand it, ask people who you know understand it for help)
• Have an honest & repentant heart (every time you slip up - and you will - repent immediately to God and to the person you may have sinned against.  Don't let time go by or it will get harder, or you could just plain forget!)
• Cling to Christ w/perseverance and patience (Always, ALWAYS talk to Jesus whether things are good, say thanks, or things are bad, ask for help and understanding.   Be patient, we think we are in a hurry but it takes time for roots to grow so don't give up.

Father God, I thank you for Jesus and this parable.  He gives me a clear picture of what type of “sower” I want to be.  You give me your Word to study so that I may be a sower who sows on good soil (my heart) so that I may be fruitful with this life you've given me.  I thank you for all your grace, mercy and many chances for me to be able to even get this far with my understanding.  I thank you for answering my prayers when I asked for help in understanding your Word when it seemed so foreign to me.  Thank you for opening my eyes, thank you for allowing me to serve your purposes.  Please continue to renew my heart (soil) and allow me to become further rooted in your seed.  I only want to have the heart of Jesus, thank you for allowing me to transform.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.


*The bold words are from Mars Hill Church sermon notes.

Scriptures:

Matthew

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred,sixty or thirty times what was sown.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Mark:

3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Luke:

⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”

When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. ¹⁴ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. ¹⁵ But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.