Archive for March, 2010

Dear TC-HOP Family,

Over the past few weeks I’ve been writing about prayers of supplication and asking God to bring change to our personal life circumstances and strength to our inner man. Most of our prayers fit into three requests: gifts of the Spirit or God’s power and favor, fruit of the Spirit or Godly character, and wisdom of the Spirit or insight and revelation. A prayer list I have been using that is very helpful is taken from the acronym F-E-L-L-O-W-S-H-I-P which combines the three main requests of gifts, fruit and wisdom.

The first letter, F, stands for Fear of God. The fear of the Lord is not something understood with the mind, but with the heart. The Holy Spirit will need to reveal to you personally what it means to walk in the fear of God. The more we comprehend God’s greatness, the greater our capacity to fear Him or reverence Him. He is a Holy God and cannot even look upon sin, and sin cannot stand in His Presence.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is also the starting place for an intimate relationship with God. Ps. 25:14 says, ”The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him”

There is a difference in fearing God and being afraid of God. Our hearts have to be firmly established in the fact that God is good. A person who fears God knows this because they know God’s character, and will draw near to Him during hardship or trials because we believe God will bring forth good in the end.

When we don’t fear God and honor him as Lord we withhold a portion of the control of our lives. We will be in danger of being led by our opinions or other people’s opinions. When we begin to make decisions based on what would please God, what would God think, knowing He’s watching you, and if you answer to Him first and foremost, it is a beginning place for the fear of the Lord to arise in your heart.

So I am asking in prayer for the Father to release the fear of God into my heart, strike me with awe that I might tremble before Your majestic presence. I’m asking that I would always delight in fearing You. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Is. 66:2)

Some verses I like praying concerning the fear of the Lord are Jeremiah 32:39-40, but putting them in my version; Lord, give me singleness of heart and action, so that I will always fear you for my own good and the good of my children after me. Inspire me to fear You so I will never turn away from you.

Psalm 86:11 says, “ Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth, give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

Deut. 5:29: “O that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever.”

A holy fear will take us to a new place in the depth of our relationship with God. He is longing for intimacy and relationship with us. We were created for that very purpose. May God give us understanding of the fear of God, and put within our hearts a reverence, respect and honor for Him.

Next week I will continue with the F-E-L-L-O-W-S-H-I-P acronym.

Come join us in prayer this week at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary

Dear TC-HOP Family,

I’ve been writing about prayers of supplication and asking God to bring change to our personal life circumstances and our total man. In Ephesians chapter 6, after Paul speaks of putting on the armor of God, he says in verse 18 to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

In Luke 9-13, Jesus reveals the Holy Spirit as the One behind all of our requests…

“ how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!” He is the One that moves on the Father’s behalf, bringing all of the resources of Heaven to earth in the form of answered prayer. Therefore, when we don’t know “how to pray” or even “what to ask for” we can always ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit to come.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered…because He makes intercession for the saints according to the (perfect) will of God.” Rom.8:26-27

Most of our prayers fit into the Spirit’s three-fold grace, as evidenced by His manifold gifts (power/favor; I Cor. 12:4-11), the multiplication of His fruit (character; Gal. 5:22-23) and all the treasures of His wisdom (insight/revelation; Eph.1:17-19) as well as His seven-fold expression (Isa 11:2): The Spirit of the Lord, Wisdom, Understanding, Council, Might, Knowledge and The Fear of the Lord. As we grow in our knowledge of the Person of the Holy Spirit, we can ask Him to come according to His various names, titles and descriptions. We can pray for the perfect will of God for ourselves, and we can partner with the Holy Spirit in supplication by praying in tongues. The Holy Spirit’s influence can increase or diminish upon our lives. In the same way that last week’s food doesn’t help us today, we need a continual filling or “supply of the Spirit.” (Phil. 1:19)

Supplication is a practical expression of voluntary weakness, as are fasting, serving, embracing persecution, and sacrificial giving. When we pray for ourselves, we are actually choosing to give away the strength of our time to God, thus placing our trust in Him to bring forth the fruit of that time, instead of relying upon our own natural strengths and abilities to make things happen. Jesus said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Isa. 40:29 “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength…those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings of eagles…”

As we grow in our understanding of God as our good heavenly Father, our hearts and minds will actually be protected or guarded by peace and in answering our prayers our joy will overflow. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phil.4:6-7.

As we seek the Lord this week in our prayers of supplication, let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayers with words given to us by Him, so that in our weakness He will make intercession for us according to the will of God.

Please come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary

Dear TC-HOP Family,

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”… Eph.3:16-17. I started last week to write about supplication, or the prayers of asking God to change our personal life circumstances. In doing this we are asking God to bring change to our total man (spirit, soul and body), our personal life circumstances and our ministry through the release of His provision and power for breakthrough.

Some wrongly assume that by praying for themselves, they are being too self-focused and prideful. In actuality, just the opposite is true. Pride, in all of its deceptive forms and subtleties, has already exposed itself and proven its hold upon any heart that believes it can do anything apart from God supplying it, with not only the power to change things, but also the very desire itself to have those same things changed.

Phil. 2:12-13 says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” To pray for oneself is to acknowledge our dependence upon our Creator. It is in itself, a powerful display of genuine meekness and humility. God promised that all the resources of Heaven are available to those who acknowledge their need (Matt. 5:3), while literally resisting those who don’t (I Peter 5:5, James 4:6). His resistance may be either “passive” by withholding blessing or “active” by sending opposition. Matt. 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I Peter 5:5 “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’.”

Jesus said to learn from His humility and take His yoke upon us, because it is both easy and light and will give rest to our souls. If in humble dependence upon the Father, Jesus, the very Son of God, needed to pray for Himself, then how much more do we need to walk as He did, leaning upon God’s love, wisdom and strength? The final description of the church is a Bride who has learned to lean upon God in prayer.

Psalm 2:7 “I will declare the decree: the Lord has said to Me, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession’.”

The Father is the same yesterday, today and forever, He does not change (Mal.3:6). Therefore, just as He decreed Jesus’ supplication as the only means to receive His full inheritance in the nations, He has ordained our supplication as the only means to receive our full inheritance as well.

Using our prayer lists from the devotionals of 1-17-10 and 1-25-10, we can continue seeking the Lord this week with prayers of supplication to strengthen us with might through His Spirit in our inner man in spirit, soul and body.

Come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary

Dear TC-HOP Family,

Ephesians 3:16-17 says, “I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”…

I would like to share with you some thoughts about prayers of supplication, or asking God to bring change to our personal life circumstances. This category of prayer focuses on asking God to bring change to our total man (spirit, soul and body), our personal life circumstances, and our ministry through the release of His provision and power for breakthrough. Phil. 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

During supplication we ask God for the release of spiritual and natural breakthrough in our personal life. In other words, we pray for all types of God’s provision and power for breakthrough, including protection, direction, wisdom, guidance, doors to open, finances to be released, increased strength over sin, freedom from demonic attack, etc.

The actual Greek word is transliterated as “supplication” denotes the idea of approaching for a favor or supply. Those in need approached the one whose aid they would implore by holding an olive branch entwined with white wool and fillets to signify that they came as suppliants. In other words, they represented themselves as branches in need of supply from their only source of life. Certainly, Jesus had this in view when He spoke to His disciples concerning the Vine and branches. John 15:5-8, “I am the vine, you are the branches”…

Within all of God’s commandments is His promise to enable us to obey them if we ask. Obedience requires the work of the Spirit upon our hearts that increases as we ask for God’s help in each area. He knows our needs (Mt. 6:32), but requires that we ask Him for increased blessing, because it causes us to interact with His heart. Those who ask receive (Luke 11:9) and the hungry are filled (Matt. 5:6).

God will not do our part and we cannot do His part. God has ordained supplication as the primary means and channel by which He has chosen to release the sovereignly ordained blessing of His heart to us. James 4:2 says, “…You do not have because you do not ask.” To ask implies that we actually verbalize our prayers, not just think about them or our problems. Hos. 14:2: “Take words with you, and return to the Lord. Say to Him “Take away all iniquity; receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.”

Next week I’d like to continue writing about supplication and the need to pray for ourselves. May God richly bless you this week as you bring your prayers before Him.

Come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary

Dear TC-HOP Family,

I’ve been writing about pursuing the superior pleasures of God and the longing to be awestruck and fascinated in Him. In doing this, God requires us to cooperate with Him in His grace. He will not do our part and we cannot do His part. Our part includes making quality decisions to deny ourselves, to feed our spirit on the Word and to ask for help through prayer. God’s part includes releasing supernatural influences on our heart (new desires), on our body (healing), on our circumstances (provision, protection), relationships (favor), and in our ministry.

Paul outlines three practical principles necessary in cooperating with the grace of God. “Reckon (see) yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ” Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you may obey its evil desires. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness”…(Rom.6:11-13)

The first principle is the Knowing Principle. We must know who we are in Christ and what we receive in Him (gift of righteousness) as well as the truth about God’s heart as a Father and Bridegroom. We are to reckon or see ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God because of Jesus’ work on the cross. There are truths we must know or reckon to be effective in our faith and repentance. “Your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake.” Philemon. 6.

Second, is the Resisting Principle. We must resist sin, Satan and wrong circumstances. We must not let sin reign in us nor present ourselves to sin as an instrument of unrighteousness. One way we resist presenting our body to sin is by avoiding circumstances that inflame sin in us. We do not go to places, buy items, or look at or talk about that which stirs up sinful passions. “Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul”… (I Peter 2:11).

Thirdly, is the Pursuing Principle. We pursue serving and relating to God and people, in love. We present ourselves to God and our bodies as instruments that He may use to bless others. We pursue loving God as we offer our bodies as vessels for the Holy Spirit to use to bless others.

We must know the truth, resist darkness, and pursue God. None of these principles can be substituted for the other two. Some resist sin and pursue God without knowing who they are in Christ. Others pursue God at prayer meetings without resisting sin. It does not work to only know truth and to resist sin without actively pursuing God and people. If we embrace all three of these principles, in context of being preoccupied with the superior pleasures of God and seeking obedience, then the Holy Spirit will dynamically work in our life.

Come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary