June 29 Thought for the day...stand for your leaders

Today's thought may seem self-serving but believe me, it is very much for your blessing as well. Every spiritual leader in your life, your pastors, mentors, teachers all are in need of your prayers to effectively bless, strengthen, and encourage you. Paul challenges the church with this thought with 6 key needs in prayer.

Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. Romans 15:30-32

Paul was one of the most powerful and effective teachers, apostles, and pastors who ever lived, and he requested this support from the church in Rome. He begins by saying, "strive" with him. This word is a compound word meaning to stand with while agonizing in warfare or fighting an intense battle. He is asking that you recognize the battle your leader is in daily and support them in it, through prayer. Just as in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked his disciples to stand with him, we need you to stand with your leaders.

Second, he asked for prayer to be "delivered from those who do not believe." Paul had battled many both outside and inside the church who were seeking to hurt him or the ministry through lies, gossip, stirring trouble, rebellion, and other things. Leaders today battle this on a daily basis both inside and outside the church. If the devil can resist or frustrate a leader, he can defeat a move of God and hurt your growth and ministry.

Third, "service be acceptable" this word means ministry. The desire of every spiritual leader's heart is that everyone would be open to receive what the Holy Spirit has placed on his/her heart for the people. They have fought through by prayer, fasting, and intense study, to hear specifically what God would say but if the people are not open or are distracted they miss the "word of the Lord" for them!

Fourth, "come with joy," thousands of ministers leave the ministry yearly because of the frustration. They pour their lives into people only to have them disregard their counsel or leave the church or ministry. The heartbreak of watching people self-destruct by their own choosing or the short-sightedness that causes shipwreck in the long run. Part of the fruit of the Spirit is joy, and for leaders, it is a must, daily, to live in joy. Paul's heart and every leader's heart are to minister out of joy!

Fifth, Paul's challenge for prayer is "the will of God." Every leader's heart's cry is to always present God's plan, purpose, and design, which is what this word "will" means. It is a dangerous thing to preach or teach our own desires rather than God's. Pray for your leaders that they always have God's wisdom and heart for every situation.

Last, Paul asked for prayer for "refreshing." This is a compound word that Paul is stressing just like everyone else, your spiritual leaders need times of refreshing, specifically a time of calm, soothing, ministry to the body, mind, and spirit by others. Everyday all day long, most of your leaders are handling your problems, and other people's problems either personally or in prayer. Most people see the leader through their teaching/preaching ministry, but for most of us, that is a very small portion of what is done in ministry.

A true spiritual leader is generally on-call 24/7. They need your prayers, and if I can be selfish, the pastors, elders, and leaders of our church and I, all need this type of prayer. Thank you in advance for praying this way for all the spiritual leaders in our world! It is for your benefit to have healthy, refreshed spiritual leaders.

June 28 Thought for the day...a blessing and a curse in one

We have all done it, said something that we mean and we would stand by, believing whole-heartedly that God is going to come through. It may take time, but our confession and belief in faith are rewarded by God moving the mountains. You can also do exactly the opposite. Your belief and confession can be negative, and you can bring frustration and failure in your own life.

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Mark 11:23

The Bible speaks of how we say things based on what is in our hearts. Jesus is saying that when you say something based on the fullness of what you believe in your heart, you trust in God, God sees that connection of faith and trust and moves your mountain. There is a psychological connection between our expectancy, belief, and the way we talk. If even in the direst circumstances we believe God will move, God sees that faith, nothing pleases him more, and we see our miracle. The psychology behind it is we gear our hearts and our minds in the direction of seeing something happen because we just believe. Our attitudes change, our physical well-being changes, and we change our environment because we believe and expect.

Sadly, the same thing happens in the negative realm. The devil will do whatever he can to get you to fully believe you are a failure, there is no hope, you are not going to get the job, yes you are going to lose your job, and any number of fearful, negative things and if not brought under faith, negative faith is applied. We actually expect the bad thing to happen, placing even negative hope in the idea that it will and guess what it will. Proverbs 23:7 says, "so a man thinks in his heart, so he is!"

Faith, negative, and positive is in our hands. God always wants to remove the mountains from our lives. The devil always wants to crush us with them. God is always building us up and lifting us up. The devil is always tearing us down. We possess the power to believe! This is not the power of positive thinking. Instead, it is simply God or the devil reacting to our "faith."

Try it today. Hold that negative word. Bring that negative thought under obedience to Christ. Expect the miracles! Begin to thank God for all you have and are and look forward to what He is going to do because He loves you! Having a tough time having the proper faith, just ask God for it, and He will help you make it happen. He wants to move the mountains in your life. He loves you! Trust Him! Bring your attitude under submission to Christ attitude and thoughts. Watch your world change!

June 27 Thought for the day...no Eeyore mentality

If you are at all familiar with the Winne the Pooh stories, you know the character Eeyore. Nothing is ever good for Eeyore he plans for the worse thing to happen in the best situations. He is always snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Unfortunately, many Christians have this mentality. Paul's life is an example of overcoming this syndrome.

But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. Acts 28:5

Paul had just been shipwrecked. In Paul's missionary journeys, we are told he was shipwrecked three times. On this particular adventure, the ship was destroyed. Rather than being fearful, complaining about how cold the water was going to be, losing everything in the water, being inconvenienced, Paul chose to trust God. By doing so, Paul not only saved his own life but the lives of everyone, including the guards who bound him in chains. When we reach a point in our lives when we really believe God loves us, is always faithful, and is always good, our outlook in life changes. Anything can happen, we can go through the flood or fire and know God is with us and for us. This was Paul's outlook.

Ok, so maybe you would have a had a good outlook about the shipwreck but look at what happened next. First, Paul is a major player in the kingdom, and what do we find him doing? Searching for sticks, gathering sticks for a fire. In the process he picks up sticks with a viper, the Greek word means a very poisonous snake. As he is throwing the sticks in the fire, the snake warms up, comes out of the sticks and the word used for "bit him" (28:3) means to latch on deeply and inject the full dose of venom. What would have been your response? Panic, anger, fear? God is always good, faithful, and loves us. Paul had learned when you trust God first, rather than whining, complaining, or looking for the worst in a situation, God always comes through. Paul's journey on earth was not done, and nothing this world or the devil could do would be able to stop God's plan.

Do you see yourself as a Paul, always expecting God to be faithful in every situation or as an Eeyore looking for something bad to happen even amid the best situation? Paul shook off the snake and people were healed, he shook off the snake and revival happened on the island, he shook off the snake, trusting God and not only were all of his needs met but so were the needs of everyone with him.

What is your attitude, mentality robbing from you? What blessings does God have waiting for you if you will simply believe that God loves you, is always faithful and good? Be aware today of the times you go from faith to Eeyore. Eeyore is a cute teaching character but not someone we want to emulate. Watch what God begins to do for you as you shift your mentality (sometimes on a moment by moment basis!

June 26 Thought for the day...you and the stuff

Our culture is all about my rights, what I want, and who is going to take care of me? It is hard for us to fully understand the commitment God requires. God expects us to know Him as the one who loves us the most and our best friend, but He is also Lord. Sometimes we take that friendship for granted or take advantage and find ourselves in trouble not really knowing why. James explains what happens (this is another tough one, but we must live in the truth)

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.  James 4:4

We need to understand what friendship with the world is, which we will get to in a moment. What do James and the Holy Spirit mean by being God's enemy? What is being referenced here is a person who once was on fire for God but has been caught up by the world. In that context, the Holy Spirit is telling us that this person is finding themselves now at war with God. It literally means that God will be a hostile force against you, as an enemy on the opposite side of war.

What is this friendship referring to? Well, let's look at another scripture to understand better. Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to mammon." Mammon is the stuff of this world, money, pleasure, sports, leisure, pride, all of the things this world has to offer. Jesus is saying we serve these things. We think they serve us, but we end up exchanging our lives for them. Given over to them without God being our main priority, they rob us of our destiny and purpose and the potential lives we can impact for the Kingdom. The ironic thing is, if we serve God first, we can gain all of these things plus fulfill our destiny and purpose. Friendship with the world is serving the world, not making time for God, church, His Word, or the things He has planned for us.

Sadly many will find themselves at war with God because they serve Him with lip service only and not whole-hearted. They rob themselves of an amazing future because they have willingly chosen to serve their flesh or mammon rather than God. How do I know this is happening in churches across America prayer time is few, people come to church when it is not an inconvenience rather than out of love. Statistics still show that the average person opens their Bible once per week and prays less than 2 minutes per day. The service goes to Mammon!

If this is you fall in love with the Lord again. Ask Him to show you how much He loves you and ask Him to help you love Him more. If you see it in others, gently awaken them to where they are and help them to get there by prayers, encouraging them in the Word, and simply helping them walk the walk!

June 25 Thought for the day...bringing and receiving correction

Have you ever found yourself in a situation with your children, an employee, or co-worker where you had to speak a word of correction, and it was totally rejected? Your kids just rolled their eyes, or the co-worker got angry. If you are loving and caring, you will need to speak correction into someone's life sooner or later. Paul is teaching young Timothy how to do it...

"A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people." 2 Timothy 2:24

It is easy to get into a quarrel with someone when you are trying to bring correction, and they are not receiving it. If you love, you will keep at it to help the person grow. We all need correction to grow to become who God has called us to be an undisciplined child is an unloved child.

Paul stresses patience with correction. What we miss in the English translation is the word patience here means to "tolerantly bear with the reaction of those who do not want to receive" the expectation is that they will eventually receive from you if they do want to grow.

This is my story, sometimes. Many believe when people come to see me for advice that those seeking advice are seeking the wisdom the Lord has given me and the gifts of words of wisdom and knowledge that I flow in supernaturally, naturally but sadly some come hoping that I will justify their position only. When I speak correction or give instruction for discipline, I will sometimes get a blank stare, blatant rejection, or even sometimes, a violent reaction. However, I have learned if I am patient, and they really do want to be who Jesus has called them to be, they will eventually come around. If they don't come around, they aren't at a place ready to change. I will still pray and wait, trusting the Holy Spirit to do His work to bring the person to their healing place.

Paul stresses to Timothy that people will not always be happy when they are being corrected, but we must be patient when bringing correction. He stresses this again in Galatians 6:1 "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself." This is another reason we need to be patient while bringing correction. All of us have areas of weakness, and if we would consider how we would feel if someone was speaking correction into our lives, it may help us to be patient.

If you are growing in Christ, we will need people to bring correction and discipline into our lives. We all have flesh to overcome. Be humble, receive the correction, and when giving correction be just as loving and humble and watch the people in your life grow to fulfill their destiny.

June 22 Thought for the day...hang in there

Have you ever felt like giving up? You believed God promised you something, but it has been so long, and you haven't seen it happen. It could be a healing, an open door, or some other kind of a blessing in your life. The early church struggled with this too.

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. Hebrews 10:35

The early church suffered great persecution. They were rejected on all sides by the government, the synagogue, their culture. They had believed the promises of God. They had seen many miracles in their lives, but the daily grind of life had left them weary. They were beginning to give up hope because things were happening the way they had expected or in their time frame.

It is easy for the enemy to steal all the amazing things God has done for us. We can quickly and easily forget the miracles of supply, grace, love, strength, wisdom, friendship, healing, and other blessings he has done for us over the years. Trust is a very big issue with the Lord and especially trusting Him when His timing or expectations are different than yours.

"Cast away," has the idea with it of "throwing in the towel." It is an exasperated giving up. It is an act of hopelessness! It is a combination of hurt, rejection, and frustration. You have come to what you believe is the end of your rope, and you are tired of having the strength to hold on, so you just give up. Ever been there? It happens sometimes. The church was there, at that point. If you are there now, God wants you to have confidence.

"Confidence" means to be bold, fearless, unrelenting the context is to have a brave, strong, unshakable expression of faith. They had been boldly proclaiming their faith everywhere. They were unshakable in their resolve to trust the Lord at His word for His promises, but they just grew weary and then shakey in their resolve.

The writer of Hebrews is encouraging them and us today to don't throw in the towel or give up on your bold, brave unshakable resolve. Remember, God is still God. He still has a plan. He still has your life and future in His hands. Don't rely on your feelings or weariness. Hang on! Peter gives us encouragement in 2 Peter 3:9a, "The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake."

God loves you! Trust His love and faithfulness, and He'll get you to victory!

June 21 Thought for the day...believe God at His word

Have you ever said to someone, "Wow, you did a great job!" Only to have them deny it by saying, "Thanks, I appreciate the compliment, but it's not really that good!" Rejecting your praise is rude and actually, makes it seem like you are lying to them. Sometimes we do that to God.

"And when He has come, He will convict the world of righteousness....because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;" John 16:8,10

There are times we respond to each other the way I mentioned, not really meaning to be rude but either not knowing how to recognize a "God blessing" or trying to stay humble. We must often remember God is expressing His appreciation of who we are, through someone else and we need to accept it graciously.

There are many things God has done for us that we need to acknowledge, accept and live by for example Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." According to this scripture, we are the righteous! If you tell some people that they will argue with you. They don't feel righteous or act righteously all of the time, so they will argue that they are righteous. The problem, Jesus paid the price on the cross for our righteousness. Likewise, we are children of God, blessed, redeemed, chosen, royal priest, and so much more. God calls us these things, so we need to appreciate the way He sees us and say thank you in our words and by our actions.

The word "convict" can be looked at two ways in this context. First, it does mean to expose or say the final judgment over sin. The Holy Spirit does speak that conviction in the life of the "not-yet-Jesus-followers as well as our lives. Convict has an additional meaning in this context. It means to convince in a legal sense of something positive. In this case, Jesus is saying the Holy Spirit will convince us that we are righteous!

As the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, we acknowledge it and begin to move beyond it. He then convinces us that we are righteous. If you have made a commitment to Christ and are trying to be who God has called you to be, stop believing the lies that you aren't good enough, you are a failure, you can never be used of God, God hasn't chosen you, you aren't important. God sees you valuable and righteous because of Jesus work on the cross for you. The Holy Spirit is working hard to daily convince you of that truth!