The Faith Of A Child

Recently my daughter Linda sprained her right ankle really bad. It was visibly swollen to about twice the size of her other ankle and she was in quite a bit of pain. I treated it as anyone would, I put an ice pack on it for a few minutes then coated her ankle and foot with Icy-Hot and wrapped it with ace bandage. I tell you that to tell you this. What happened next was absolutely amazing and beyond that. I placed my hand on the ankle and prayed. I knew something was taking place and I kept on getting this feeling that the Lord was fixing her ankle. When asked how it felt she said it didn't hurt as much. I explained that faith sometimes needs an action for us to get our healing. What this means is to try and do what you couldn't do. We can say all day long how strong our faith is, but unless we take a step in it, it's just words and that will not get the job done.

So she stood up and did a few different things like stand on her tip toes, which she couldn't do and as she did this the pain went away more. I asked her then to walk around her room. She did and in less then five minutes, her limp was entirely gone and she was running the length of the house, Praise God. On this very night Linda received a miracle. It was by her stepping out in faith that she received her healing. God honors our faith but especially so when we walk in it instead of just talking about it. Our words without actions to demonstrate them are just words.

This is where the enemy will try to put up emotional stumbling blocks all over the place. He knows that if he can stop us from stepping out in faith because of fear, stress, or doubt he can block us from getting our victory. The sure fire way to defeat the enemy is to be so familiar with God's word and His promises, that there is no room for doubt in our minds. The enemy can only win when our guard is down which occurs as soon as we begin to become lax in our prayer life, and study of Gods word.

I've heard others say it and I've said it myself at times "having faith is so hard". Well, I have learned some things since saying that. The most important of those things I've learned is that we make having faith hard. Jesus said in Mark 10:15 (Amplified Bible) Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all. So having the belief and faith of a young child is what we’re supposed to have. This is why having faith, seeing miracles and healings is so uncommon in our lives.

We don’t have childlike faith. Adults are always trying to figure it all out. How did that person get healed? How did that storm miss my house? Why didn't I get that job? These are frequently heard questions and the answer is the same for all of them. We’re not supposed to understand how it all works. God is a mystery, how he does things is beyond our understanding, and I personally have come to accept that and be ok with it. Maybe we’ll get the answers when we go to Heaven, but I realize that I don’t need to know how the master does his work.

The end result of being able to accept not knowing how God works is this. I can think more like an eight year old now than when I was actually eight years old. Most of us were forced to grow up to soon. Everybody wanted to be older than they were until they hit thirty, and then they all want to go backwards and we can’t.

My thinking is that the devil knew that if he could get us to desire things that older people had, like cars, money, independence and even alcohol, we would lose interest in being children. Right at that moment we lost our childlike perception and our childlike faith. Is it any surprise that that the majority of Playstations, Xbox’s and Gamecube’s are owned by people in their forties? They’re trying to live out the childhood that they missed out on the first time around.

We need to ask Our Father to restore our ability to think like children. Not to act like children, just think like them. When we do, our ability to have faith in the portions that we should have will grow faster than we can comprehend. Our ability to see healings and miracles will also grow exceedingly fast. Then events that seem uncommon now will become commonplace in our lives. The impossibilities of God won’t be so impossible anymore. Thank You Jesus!

Please pray this with me.

Father God, you created us in your image and you call us your children. Before we can be great men and women of God, we must first be great children of God. So Father I pray that you would restore the childlike thinking to all of mankind. Bring us to that place God, where we can take the words Born Again to a whole new level. We want to see your miracles as everyday occurrences God and we need to see from a place of faith only available to a childlike heart and eyes. Father I pray for the future generations that they would be able to overcome the deceit of the enemy and not grow up too soon. A healthy childhood becomes a healthy adulthood and I know your will is for us to have health in every way.

This and all things I ask in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

May God Bless You All








“The Sharpshooter”

Communication Breakdown

You know those times in life when you lose communication with a friend or a family member? When this happens we'll usually think of the person occasionally but not call for whatever reason (usually it just feels awkward). Sometimes it takes a long time for us to put our egos, pride and other obstacles aside. Once we've done that we're able to get back in contact with the person we fell out of contact with. The strange thing about this is that very seldom do we actually know why we fell out of contact in the first place. We don't just do this we people. This happens between us and God and I'll go right ahead and place all of the blame on us humans, because God is perfect and none of us are.

When this communication breakdown occurs between us and God, it can happen for many different reasons. Sometimes we get ashamed at something we've done and we don't feel worthy of a relationship with God. Other times we might be mad at God for not answering prayer when WE wanted it done. Someone may have lost a loved one in an accident. Another reason is laziness and this one is probably the most common. Once we've lost communication with God many things change. Everything in our lives is drastically affected by our separation from "Our Heavenly Father". We leave the door open for satan to come in to our lives and really make a mess of things.

As Christians, we can't afford to be lazy with anything especially our relationships with God. Without him we are lost. When this communication does breakdown we need to realize it right away and pray for restoration of the relationship. If we fail to do this, time marches on and marches faster than we think. The longer we wait to fix the broken relationship with our Father, the harder it becomes to push yourself to do it. The problem at that point is on us again. All we have to do is ask for forgiveness and restoration and God will provide it, however we have the hardest time asking sometimes.

The human race is strange like that. We’ll stay in broken dysfunctional relationships that might even be abusive with other people. That’s unbelievable to me and we’ll come up with every reason imaginable for our staying in that situation. Our relationships with God and with Jesus are the healthiest relationships we have, but we take so long to fix them when something goes wrong. It’s like eating. Many people won’t touch food that has the word health associated with it, but you’ll find the same person in the local waffle house having their daily dosage of trans-fats. We don't always do whats best for ourselves.

The point here is this. At times our thinking is backwards. We will invest time in things that aren’t worth it and the things that require and deserve our utmost attention don’t always get it. We need to fix that and quickly. Whether we are ready or not Jesus Christ is coming back and soon. I know in my own heart that this is so. I don’t need someone with the gift of prophecy to tell me that one. Find your Bible, blow the dust off of it and see how much it lines up with events in the world today. I’ve asked this before and I’ll ask it again now because it IS that important.

If Jesus comes back tomorrow, are you ready. Is your soul clean? Would he know you or would he deny you? To those of you that are currently experiencing a breakdown in communication with our Lord God. Take a moment and fix things now. Ask the Lord for his forgiveness and to guide every step you take from this moment on. Then you will know that you are safe. Then once you’ve been forgiven. Tell someone else that you know needs to get right with the Lord. Save a life, Jesus saved yours.

Let us Pray.

Oh Lord God you are awesome. The grace you hand out to us is beyond our understanding. Father I thank you that you never leave us, even when we pull away from you. Lord God you could easily reward our stubbornness with punishment, but instead you say “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. Father I pray that you would forgive us for allowing our communion with you to break down. Guide our every step Lord God from this day forth. Come into our hearts and fill us anew. Father God, I pray for those that have lost contact with you, that you would send your Holy Spirit to be with them and to heal their hearts Father. May we never ever forget that our salvation is a gift from you and not something we can earn by works?

I ask this in Jesus name

Amen

God Bless You All








“The Sharpshooter”

When the word of God is spoken.

When the word of God is spoken, power is released into the area that the speaker is in. In a church setting, when the word is being preached the atmosphere in the church changes. Attitudes change, panic relaxes, peace comes upon us. In an outdoor setting the same thing happens. In fact no matter where the word of God is spoken there is change. That change causes preparation in our hearts, for us to repent and receive what God has and wants for us.

The power that is contained in God’s word is what causes these changes. Everybody has there favorite translation of the Bible and each of us likes a certain Evangelist on television or a Pastor in a church. We all have our preferences of how we want to here God’s word. That in itself is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. We need to listen closely whenever the word of God is spoken, regardless of who the speaker is, because it’s God’s word we’re listening to, not the person speaking them. The speaker that we don’t care for may be the one that has a profound word for us.
God is not going to conform to the ways of this world for anyone. We are to conform to Him and Him alone. The fact that we even want to dictate who ministers to us and how, tells me that there is too much of us in the picture and not enough desire for God which means we are not doing as we are supposed to. Here is an example of what I’m talking about.

There are people who will listen to Joel Osteen but these same people won’t listen to Benny Hinn. There are people that will listen to Joyce Meyer but not John Hagee. This is like saying that you will listen to Peter but not Paul. This is not what we are supposed to be doing. We are to listen when the word of God is spoken regardless of who the speaker is. If you have found a preacher that you connect with really well, that’s a wonderful thing, but don’t discard others just to listen to that one. Each time I hear God’s word being spoken, I listen really close, because I don’t want to miss what may come forth.

Everyone speaks and thinks differently, so that means that if you had 100 people explain the same verse in the Bible you’d get very different explanations of that one verse. That’s not to say that any one of those would be wrong. They’d just be different, and out of hearing all of those different interpretations, we may get a clearer understanding of that verse than we first had. This is why it is so important to listen to whoever is speaking the word of God.

We need to be as full of God as we can be and the only way to do that is to become well rounded Christians. The next time you’re watching your favorite Christian television station, watch one of the Evangelists that you wouldn’t ordinarily watch. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you hear and how you hear it. God will use every single one of us to bring forth His word, His message, His promises and His truth. So don’t play favorites. Listen to “The Word” not the speaker, because the speaker has no way of changing you at all, God does.

Please pray this with me.

Father God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the fact that no matter who you use to deliver your word, it remains the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Lord God help us to recognize those times when we start dictating how we want your word to be delivered. It’s all about you God, not us and we need to decrease so that you can increase in each of our lives. We are just walking aimlessly in a fog until we do that. Father instill in each of us a renewed hunger for you that we would stop at nothing to get as much of your word as we can. To much of you is never enough.

I ask this in Jesus name.

Amen

God Bless You All








“The Sharpshooter”