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This page is dedicated to bringing encouragement and insight to God's people and reaching the lost for Christ.
I have a favorite Old Testament verse that many will probably find odd: "Man that is born of woman is of a few days full of trouble. Job 14:1 The reason it is my favorite is because it helps to explain why there is so much suffering in my life and in the world. It can be my favorite bible verse because of my favorite New Testament verse: " In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33 Be certain that troubles will continue. But we can be more certain that when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus, we are able to overcome the troubles and trials and tribulations of this life.
From a heart of love and compassion share the gospel
From a heart of love and compassion share the gospel
Your Christian life may be the only Gospel they will know
Pray and put the results of your sharing in God's hands
Pray and put the results of your sharing in God's hands
As the wind blows we cannot see where it goes, so is the working of the Spirit of the Living God
April- Words of Encouragement
April- Words of Encouragement
I want to give some additional time for the message Prayer Releasing Faith
Prayer Releasing Faith
Prayer Releasing Faith
Saturday March 16, 2024
I heard a message this morning from Pastor Charles Tapp entitled The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat.
Two items from his message struck me as being extremely significant.
#1. Prayer is God’s act of Grace.
#2. Prayer is verbal release of faith.
Pastor Tapp also noted in his message that prayer meeting is the least attended service in the church. He further noted that men are absent from church services due to a long-held belief that church is for women.
I began to contemplate the two statements about prayer particularly. I realized that this is a significant truth that I needed to delve into a lot more on my own. I realized that it will be of great importance to new believers, in particular. Therefore, it is something I need to spend some time both investigating and developing a clearer explanation or exhortation.
I believe I will begin with the less difficult assertion that Pastor Tapp made regarding the lack of attendance during prayer meeting. If you are a church going individual, you can testify to the validity of his statement. We do not need to consult a study or recent poll to confirm for ourselves the truth of this statement.
Folk will line up at the door of the church for many special occasions like Easter, Christmas, Baby Dedications, Weddings, Funerals and the like. But it is a sad truth that when it comes to attendance during prayer meetings, many of these services are scarcely celebrated. Too often in congregations where a prayer service is weekly held very few are attending and the majority of attendees are women.
Women are by nature more nurturers than men. Men are molded in the image of the hunter provider. Their mindset is developed to take action. Men must be physical in their response to the world around them. While men may be extremely inventive and creative their natural bent is not toward deep contemplation.
Prayer requires a significant amount of contemplation. Prayer requires introspection. Prayer requires a submission to a higher authority.
When I say that prayer requires contemplation and introspection it is because any other form of prayer is subject to a number of failings. We may be unintentionally calling upon the Lord to do that which is contrary to his will. At which point our prayers are probably going to be in vain. There are a few instances in scripture where God granted a prayer that was not according to his own will. Those often led to even greater misery. I am reminded of the ill-advised vow that Jephtha made in his zeal to have God intervene on his behalf.
The Website GotQuestions.org sums it up much more succinctly than I could: “In Judges 11:30-31, Jephthah, a judge of Israel, made a foolish vow that if God gave him victory in the upcoming battle, he would sacrifice whatever first came out of his door when he came home. Jephthah was victorious in the battle against the Ammonites (Judges 11:32-33). When Jephthah returned home after the battle, his daughter came to greet him (Judges 11:34). Jephthah was devastated and stated that he had made a vow to the Lord that he could not break (Judges 11:35). Jephthah’s daughter asked for a two month “reprieve,” and Jephthah granted her request (Judges 11:36-38). The passage then states that Jephthah “did to her as he had vowed” (Judges 11:39). Read the Story: Judges 11:30- 39Men with a hunter provider mindset will struggle to submit to anyone other than a higher authority.
This only partially addresses why there are so few men in attendance when the prayer services roll around.
It is very interesting to me that prayer meetings are typically attended by deacons, women of the church, mission-oriented women and men, and at times officers of the church. The image is that of someone who has a responsibility in the church who must demonstrate a commitment to the work of the church. Now this may seem pessimistic or overstated but nonetheless the image of a devoted believer who recognizes the power and worth of prayer is not seen in many congregational prayer meetings. It will be a faithful few who will attend and keep the fires burning.
If you are a member of a congregation where your prayer meetings are the polar opposite of this image thank God and pray that the fire continue to burn brightly. I might add pray for the many congregations where prayer meeting is not as highly esteemed.
Pastor Tapp pointed out that too often our prayers are prayers of last resort. When all else has failed then we pray.
Even our approach in prayer is one of ‘last resort’. ‘I do not know what else to do’. ‘I do not know where else I can go with this problem’. ‘I do not see any way out of this’.
This is not to say that only women are able to take their cares to the Lord right away. Women have the same reluctance to relinquish control of their lives and their circumstances.
It is a part of our DNA as members of the fallen race of human beings; from Adam and Eve down through the ions we struggle to give up control. There is something in our nature that propels us to profess and hold fast to control of our lives and our surroundings.
We struggle to humble ourselves under the hand of God.
This in part is what prayer is. We are acknowledging that there is someone greater than myself who has to help me.
Prayer is recognizing God is mightier than myself, but it is also acknowledging that God is mightier than my problems.
Prayer is relinquishing control of the answer to what I am facing and allowing God to take over.
Prayer is the verbal act of surrendering control and activating faith in God to do what we cannot do.
If you find yourself even slightly recoiling to this statement, it is because you have not come to a full and complete dependency upon God. There are still vestiges of the hunter provider instinct that makes you recoil from the concept of giving control over to another even if he is God. Or there is still that inward struggle to do it myself. To do it my way. Whether you are impacted by your need to be in control as the care giver nurturer or the hunter provider, until you come to the place of recognizing your own dependency on God for all aspects of your life you will struggle to enter into that intimate relationship of prayer that God desires for you.
Prayer a Verbal Releasing of Faith in God
Prayer is the verbal act of surrendering control and activating faith in God to do what we cannot do.
We must have an explicit trust that God wants what is best for us and we must have the same implicit trust that God knows what is best for us.
We begin from the point where God is God, and I am not. It is not a shameful thing to give him the respect and place of honor that is due to him. He has created us! He has created all that we can see, touch, hear and feel.
He is God even when we do not acknowledge him as such.
I really like how the Psalmist puts it, “But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.” Psalm 115:3 (NKV)
When we pray, we are acknowledging that he is God, and we need him to do for us what we have not been able to do for ourselves. In the verbal act of prayer, we are also implicitly acknowledging that we trust that he can do what he says he can do.
More than likely in the first time that you cry out to the Lord for help, you are not sure yet that he can do what he says but you are desperate for someone to help.
But, as one of my favorite secular quotes puts it, “everyone can grow and change through application and experience.” (C DwecK)
We learn (by application and experience) that we can trust him and that he can do what he says he can do, and we grow in our trust and Faith in God. We release our Faith in God to do what he says he can do when we pray.
March 30, 2024
Prayer is God's Act of Grace
Some have pictured God as like an ancient clock maker who created the world and the universe, wound the whole thing up and went home to take a nap.
How then can you put faith in such a God?
But the scriptures picture God as all-wise. Omnipotent in his power. Omnipresent. Intimately involved in the affairs of men.
The Psalmist proclaims the presence of God in his life this way:
1O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3You comprehend my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word on my tongue,
but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5You have hedged me behind and before,
and laid Your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it. Psalm 139:1-6 New King James
Another writer of the scriptures tells us that, “he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
David the shepherd boy who grew up to be the greatest King Israel produced also declared,
7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10Even there Your hand shall lead me,
and Your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10 New King James
The omnipresence of God explains how he is able to be by the side of every child of God who calls upon him. It explains how he can be in attendance at every gathering of believers where he promises to be in our midst where two or more are gathered together.
The scriptures are filled with inspiring imagery of what God is like. Jesus proclaimed him as a loving heavenly father who hears his children when they call to him.
With all of the awesomeness that these scriptures invoke we could very easily wonder why does such an all powerful God even care about us? Why does he care for us?
God is. Yes!
God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, Yes!
God is omnipotent in his power. Yes!
God is omnipresent (everywhere at once). Yes!
God is our Father in heaven who loves us and cares about us. Yes!
For the same reason that God created mankind in the very beginning. He created us to have fellowship with him. He created us to choose to commune with him.
In the beginning God came and walked with Adam in the cool of the evening.
As much as Jesus was in the moment with his disciples when he was on this earth, he also took time to be alone with God our heavenly Father. That is how he was able to say “I always do those things that please Him.”
How then do we develop this same relationship with an invisible almighty God?
Prayer is God’s act of Grace!
Prayer God's Act of Grace
Prayer God's Act of Grace
Even though he knows our intimate thoughts completely, he still wants communion with us, as we of our own volition come to him.
God is able to dispatch legions of angels to do his bidding. But he seeks from us a more intimate relationship.
God so loved the world that he gave his only son as an atonement for the sins of the world. But it is by the grace of God that we ever come to the realization of this wonderful truth. It is only by the grace of God that we are called to regain that walk in the cool of the evening that was lost in the Garden of Eden.
There is a view of God as a harsh task master who looks for opportunity to punish unbelievers.
Rather that recognizing God’s grace and goodness in the 10 Commandments many see God as controlling and manipulative.
But since Adam and Eve’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden God has been speaking to mankind to draw us back in a state of righteousness that he can indeed commune with us once again.
I like this thought, “The sins of human beings had to be paid for, not because the Father is vindictive but because his human children matter to him.” GospelCoalition.org
Prayer is God’s act of grace drawing us into daily communion, daily dialogue with him.
What we learn to do in this life will be perfected in eternity with Christ because of the grace of God.
Let us then have faith in God. Let us come to him trusting in his wisdom and power. Let us grow intimately closer to the God of grace who loves us with an everlasting love that never can be exhausted.
April 7, 2024
My Psalm 78
Sunday January 14, 2024 begun
I read Psalm 78 this morning during my morning devotional. As I read verses 5 and 6, I was inspired to write my own Psalm 78.
Psalm 78 was written by a man named Asaph. Asaph was a Levite who was assigned by King David to be a worship leader. “According to 1 Chronicles 6:31–32. Asaph was one of these men (1 Chronicles 6:39). Asaph’s duties are described in detail in 1 Chronicles 16. According to 2 Chronicles 29:30, both Asaph and David were skilled singers and poets. Asaph is also mentioned as a “seer” or prophet. The “sons of Asaph” are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 25:1, 2 Chronicles 20:14, and Ezra 2:41.”
(excerpt from https://www.gotquestions.org/who-was-Asaph.html)
As a worship leader it was Asaph’s responsibility to encourage the people to see the awesomeness of God. He, among other Levites, was responsible for leading the people in worship, praise and thanksgiving.
Asaph was also called a seer: A man to whom the people would turn when they wanted to know the word of God. A man whom God would use to express his message to his people.
Asaph (verses 1-7) calls the people to hear him. He calls the people to receive his message. He reminds the people that God has worked gloriously in their past. He stressed that it was his generations’ responsibility to ensure that the deeds of the Lord are not forgotten.
“We will not conceal them from their children but tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.” Psalm 78:4
For Asaph the ultimate purpose of this Psalm is that the next generation should put their trust in God and not forget his works and his commands.
“That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, 7That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments”. Psalm 78:6,7
I was struck that I should write my own Psalm 78 to share with my sons and the next generation the work of God in my life: To encourage my children to remember the works and commands of God themselves to pass on to the next generation after them.
It is my greatest desire that my words encourage my children and the next generation. This is what motivated me to write My Psalm 78.
As a believer I have seen such a dramatic change in my life over the past 50 plus years. My walk with the Lord began during a time of a great move of the Holy Spirit.
During the late 60s and into the mid-70s we experienced a wonderful move of God in our community. God sent a preacher who had a new compelling way of ministering the Word of God. He preached with an anointing that stirred the soul. His preaching was accompanied by God working in the lives of folk in the church and in the community.
Sunday worship was not just a feel-good time it was a rejuvenating time. It was a time of deep introspection for veteran believers as well as novices.
Prayer meetings became opportunities for the spirit of God to minister to the soul needs of the congregation.
God began working in remarkable ways. We experienced young people who were struggling with health issues healed. Through their healing the parents were drawn to the church to know the God who had worked so dramatically in their child’s life.
Families were drawn into our congregation in greater numbers. Even those that did not stay in our congregation long were used by God in other congregations.
People were so moved by the Spirit of God they sometimes lingered in his presence hours after church service was concluded.
Folk volunteered to take turns to be in the church throughout the day so that anyone coming in off the streets would be able to hear the gospel or be prayed for or fed a small meal.
For a brief time, the doors of the church were never locked. God was moving in the hearts of the community. People could not wait for the next service to begin. The sick were healed. In the hospitals folk were miraculously healed. Folk that the doctors had done all they could were raised from their death beds.
My Psalm 78
My Psalm 78
Prayer meetings were held in various homes. The church was relevant: Relevant to the lives of the members of our congregation and relevant to our community as a source of power to address the needs in our community.
I had dreams of becoming a great evangelist. I had plans for buying a huge tent and travel wherever the Lord would send me to preach the Gospel. Over time those dreams faded as reality of living set in.
Early in my walk with the Lord, he gave me opportunities to sing, preach, and teach his word. I had dear friends in the ministry who encouraged me. They would give me the opportunity to sing and preach in their congregations.
As a senior in high school, I was invited to sing with a gospel quartet. The Sons of The Cross was an extremely gifted group of guys. I learned a lot from singing with these young men and from our leader/mentor Rev. George Smith.
The Sons of The Cross did not sing long. After about a year the group quietly disbanded. Although there was great talent in the group, I now realize that not all hearts were not dedicated to God nor to ministering.
I then began singing with the Carter Gospel Singers in the fall of 1971.
It was during this time that the Lord really began to develop my abilities as a speaker and singer. I am so often amazed at where the Lord has brought me since those early days with the Sons of The Cross.
God used the Carter Gospel Singers to carry his word and his works throughout the DMV and beyond.
From the members of the Carter Gospel Singers God chose many to go and preach his word. Folk who loved the Lord and recognized what he has done for us continued to grow in the Lord. Pastors, Evangelists, Bishops, grew out of the group.
It would be a fairytale to describe my formative years as being idyllic. Rather there were some difficult times intermixed with great joy as God helped me navigate the pitfalls of this life.
The word of God says, God will “keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isa. 26:3 New King James
My Psalm 78
My Psalm 78
Saturday February 17, 2024
As long as my heart and mind were faithful to the Lord, he kept his word. But there were times in my youth when I made choices that were not in my best interest as a believer and not in God’s will for my life. Those were difficult times.
As I consider this time of my walk with the Lord, I realize that I had begun to lose the (healthy) fear of the Lord. There was more focus on the Love of the Lord, the grace of God, the forgiveness of sin; that the fear of the Lord was no longer the deterrent that it had been. To say that I grew callous is not quite correct. Perhaps a better way to explain is that human nature can always find a loophole to allow what it desires. I still recall the desperate cries for forgiveness when it was clear to me that I had crossed the line in serving my own foolish desires.
Our heart and our soul know when we are away from the path of righteous living. We do not need someone to clue us in. We do, however, need someone who will speak truth to us in the Love of the Lord to win us back to the right path. I was very blessed to have such people who were deeply invested in my life. Invested enough to speak truth to me. Selah
One of the lowest points of my life was when I realized that my actions had caused a person who had been watching my life to become disillusioned with church folk. I could not repent enough. I could not make this situation right. Each time I had opportunity to converse with the individual all I wanted to do was convince them to not judge God for my behaviors.
Unrighteousness does not merely impact your walk with God it has much farther reach beyond to those who are watching your testimony.
God is full of grace. In spite of my failures, God won their heart to himself.
Shortly after I was married (1983), I was invited by a good friend and mentor to preach a week-long revival in his church. That was probably the highlight of my walk with the Lord.
The joy and exhilaration of being used by God in such an undertaking cannot be fully expressed with words. As powerful as the inspiring effect of being used by God in such a life changing way, there was also a very sobering message that accompanied the joy and exhilaration.
I realized that when people respond to your ministry, they also develop an attachment or at least a connection to you. They listen to what you say. They look to you for wise counsel. Folk look to you for comfort and reassurance. You become an important point of reference for them to God.
My friend and many other pastors had attempted to encourage me into the ministry as a pastor.
I think my realization of the responsibilities of a pastor has always been so high that I never felt I could live up to the requirement.
I would not even entertain the thought that God might be drawing me to become a pastor.
I saw my inadequacies and they overwhelmed me.
Now as I look back on this time, I am not certain but that might have been a pivotal moment in my life.
It was not until 50 years later that I realized that my rejecting the possibility that God may want to use me as a pastor because of my inadequacies said more about my faith in God than it did about my abilities or lack of abilities.
I was like Moses, saying to the God who created me, ‘I can’t do this’. Unfortunately for me God did not rebuke me as he did Moses. And send me anyway.
My walk of faith before the Lord has not been anything to shout from the roof top. I do not say this with a false modesty but rather with certainty. I will never know what God could have done in my life and with my life if I had been willing to step out of my comfortable life of faith and challenge myself to do whatever the Lord wanted from and for me.
My Psalm 78
My Psalm 78
God is Gracious.
He is a God of second chances. He has allowed me to be an integral part of a very small congregation that loves the Lord.
I have been of late attempting to be more proactive in seeking the will of God. I have opened myself to the possibilities of God using me in different ways and that includes this Website.
You may think to yourself what is so challenging about writing a website of things that you have experienced.
If you were me, you would know how difficult it is to shut out the ‘who am I’ question that continually arises when I sit to write or prepare a message.
“Who am I” is a constant struggle. But one thing I have learned over these last 50 plus years of walking with the Lord. God can do all things well. That includes using me.
Only God himself knows the impact of what I allow him to do through me will have.
Psalm 48:1 says, God is “great and greatly to be praised”. I can testify to his greatness in my life. And daily I give him praise for what he is doing. I know the changes he has brought into my life.
Psalm 92:15 says, God is “upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Focusing on these attributes of God inspires me to live in a manner that people will see the same in my life. You may not see my inner struggles, but I want you to see my striving to honor our God.
Jesus said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible”. Mark 10:27 Selah
There are those in this life who scoff at the idea that God is intimately involved in the lives of human beings. They look at the condition of the world in which we live, and they wonder aloud, “if there is a God why is there so much death, destruction and suffering”?
There are former believers in Christ, who have come to the conclusion that the Word of God cannot be true because of the overwhelming evidence that God does not care about all of the suffering. They are troubled by the many inconsistencies and perceived contradictions that are in real life and in the bible.
There are those who argue that there are many beliefs in the world and as long as you are faithful in whatever belief you have chosen it should not make a difference.
There are some who see God as a capricious being who delights to make promises and dash the faith and hopes of those whom he does not love. They see God as having favorites.
And of course, there are those who do not believe there is a God. They cannot see him. They cannot touch him. They cannot hear him. So, he does not exist.
My Psalm 78
My Psalm 78
February 17, 2024
God is upright. There is no unrighteousness in him. He will not always delay his judgements.
There are those who know that God is, but they do not fear him. They acknowledge that he is God, but they have made him in their own image. They do not recognize him as the righteous sovereign ruler of all that is. For these people God is good, and he understands that we are human, and we make mistakes. God will forgive our indiscretions.
It is only when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is, and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him that we will be on the right path to knowing who he is and experiencing the relationship with God that he initiated with Abraham, Noah, and Adam.
God is upright. There is no unrighteousness in him. He will not always delay his judgements.
When we recognize that He alone created all things and therefore has the ability to destroy all things, then we will begin to have that healthy fear of the Lord. When we recognize that God who holds the power of life and death chose to send his son to clear the sin-debt that brought death into the world, then we will be able to experience the intimate relationship with God that is expressed in “so loved the World, that he gave his only son” (John 3:16)
We are here in this life for a short time and the scriptures tell us that our time in this life will be “full of trouble” (Job 14:1) But Jesus reminds us, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 The intimation being that because Jesus has overcome; he is able to cause us to overcome as well.
We also need to keep in mind that our time in this life is a preparation for our eternal life in God’s presence. Let nothing hinder you from growing in righteousness and decreasing in unrighteousness.
Be involved in the body of Christ as true believers. We must remember daily to be more than just hearers of the word of God. As James 1: 22 reminds us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
We cannot impact the lives of those around us for eternal good without being faithful to obey the word and will of God for our lives. Selah
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Father, I thank you for the timelessness of your Word and your Promises. I pray you will use these words to encourage your children as they grow in their relationship with you. I pray that you will work in the heart of every person who does not know you as Lord to bring them to yourself, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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