Prepare my heart for prayer Lord.  Cleanse it, soften it, open it to hear and store Your Word and Commands.  This world loses luster, blighted almost to snow blindness, color fades to tans and grays.  Teach me that new song I heard upon the night, promising joy in spite of upset, persecution or assumed loss.  Show me that they cannot take that which is held tightly against Your bosom, safely in the palm of Your Almighty Hand.  Let Your Kingdom rise and may we soon delight in the Righteous Rule of the One True King.  I am so eager to learn that which is presently beyond my understanding.  Courage, peace and a fulfillment of belonging where I have been placed.  Show me.

Peel from me the layers of soot, ash and pollution that have hardened upon my skin.  Purify my soul so that nothing ill may reside within this temple.  Let me be a proper vessel for the Waters of Everlasting Life promised by Your Word.  They cannot doubt health, nor love nor true forgiveness.  Let me use these tools of discipleship in place of my insufficient programs and intentions.  You are the source of salvation, let me find that well within my spirit so that I may fill this cup from which others may drink and be saved.  Teach me to step aside and shine Your light upon the path leading to the Good Shepherd.  Let me not view my work through commercial, political or idol eyes.  Make me a slave to Your Sovereignty and commit my heart and each sub atomic particle of my soul to Your Perfect Will.  Lead me.

This path does not fall away beneath my feet, my footfalls finding sturdy granite to bear all that must be carried.  My fear washed away like the soil, fallen from my clothes, hair and heart returned from whence it came in the world of possibility and illusion.  If my greatest fear was of death which no longer has dominion in this life or the next then what supports its worthiness as an inhibitor or barrier to my victory?  How can something that cannot suffer the second death be frightened by loss of first life?  Certainly I will miss people, places and harmony I have seen in this journey, but it shall not compare to what awaits me.  I will do the best in this life to be prepared for the next and show as many treasured souls the way to eternity in the presence of God.  This world was created by Him for His Good Pleasure, my life shall not be spent in vain, earthly pursuit, but as kindling prepared for the quenching fire of the Lord God Almighty.  Set me aflame.

God be Praised in all that we say and do.  In the Everlasting name of Jesus.  Amen.

I would surely like to tell you that God will answer all prayers.  It would be a joy to see you go to the Lord in prayer and have all of them answered.  My job is speak in truth and love to you regardless of the circumstances or outcome.  God will do what He promises and has promised to do.  Therefore, I have to say that God has not answered all my prayers.  His will, understanding and vision is beyond my own.  There are those prayers for the people in this world, His return, the millennium and eternity that have not yet come to pass or fall in that “yet” to be answered category.  However, there are prayers that I have delivered to ear of God and He has said No.  Can I be all right with that and still trust Him?  Yes, in fact Him not answering my prayers of limited understanding builds my faith.  For I know that He knows better than I do what is good for me in this life and the next.  And if He has chosen not to answer my prayers in the affirmative then there is a “Divine” reason for not doing so.

God is not a vending machine of favor.  He is not a one-stop shop or phantasmal genie where I rub the bottle, spin three times, spit to the east and my every wish comes to pass.  This type of wish granting is akin to the promises of the devil which always come with a warning, be careful what you wish for or watch for the catch.  The Lord has given us grace enough to escape our deserved outcome of eternal death and punishment.  I ask you isn’t that enough?  Does He have to make our lives easy and comfortable in this life when He has promised us those blessings in the next, especially when this one is so short and the next eternal?  However, let us not overlook the fact that He promised to give us whatever we ask for in His name.  What does that mean to ask for something in God’s name?  Does that mean if I say His name alongside the prayer that it will be granted?  Kind of sounds like the rub the bottle thing doesn’t it?  Could it be that since this life has been purchased at the price of the Savior’s Sacrifice that we must truly mean it when we say, “Thy Will Be Done, on Earth as it is in Heaven?”

Should our wishes be consistent with His Will for this life in order for them to be granted?  Wow, that is a novel and ideal concept.  I do not wholly know the answer to this question, meaning that the Holy Spirit has not given me clear guidance on this issue.  However, I do know that the Lord has delivered me from circumstances from which I could not have found escape.  I know that He has blessed me beyond reason or understanding, not only in material things but also in friendships, ministry opportunities, insights, talents and health.  The closer I become to God the more my prayers begin to resemble requests for His completed Will in my life and through my life.  I see my prayers changing to be about health for others, salvation for the multitude of the lost, blessing His mighty name and eternal reign and for His hand upon this world to be a catalyst for grand movement toward belief in His immeasurable Grace.  I never know which prayers the Lord will answer, but I do know that the ones He chooses to answer will always be the best for my life and for His Will.  And beneath that tree of trust and faith in the Lord I find my shade and rest.

Praise You Lord God.  Forgive me for doing those things that demonstrate a preference for anything over the moments and relationship with You.  I am not worthy of Your Grace and that is what makes it so amazing that You could love me this much.  I bask in the light of Your Love, Grace and favor.  Please never let me go astray even for a moment.  Jesus my King.

If the data you are taking in daily is reserved to the network or cable news then you are ingesting, some lies, a little obfuscation and a whole lot of misdirection/misinformation.  If you aren’t taking the information you hear and see to the Word and Holy Spirit for discernment and confirmation, then you are simply trusting where trust has not been earned or deserved.  Currently about seven large companies own all the major news outlets.  These large companies are headed by owners who have specific ideological and political affiliations.  Most of these affiliations are consistently liberal, subsequently the information they provide to the public is restricted, repackaged and published with a penchant for social and government superiority.

The same is true for those networks that are of the conservative vein.  Although, they label themselves fair or balanced, you will not hear the Gospel truth as they seek to garner ratings or fulfill political initiatives determined by board members.  Trust God, take all information to Him in prayer and He will show you the truth in any situation, even revealing that which is currently unknown as a benefit of being the son or daughter of Almighty God.

These are dangerous and soon to be desperate times.  It is imperative that we as Christians maintain level thinking so that we may practice good planning and make sound decisions when called upon to do so.  There is no secret, but God.  There is no truth, besides God.  If you are putting your faith hope and trust in any source, resource or foundation other than the Most High God through Jesus Christ then when that foundation crumbles your world will fall.  Build your house upon the Rock of Ages, Christ Jesus the King.  I shall not be moved for my hope is in Christ where it shall never be shaken.  That does not mean that I do not make attempts to get the right information on which to base decisions, but I just know that if that information does not match the Word or the Spirit of Gods Will it is worthless.  Praise God in All His Glory.

Amen

Why do you fear doing what God has placed upon your heart?  Does it look like something that is beyond your level of authority, skill, knowledge?  Is it only some weird and divine practice reserved for Bible Laureates and people willing to humble themselves to live in the jungle and protect orphans while teaching English?  Let us not be captured by fears spun of our own misunderstanding.  Ministry is loving a person when they need it for no other reason than God loved you when you needed it.

Is loving people that hard?  Maybe if you think that people are not that loveable.  But let us remember that God loved them so much He sent His perfect Son to die for each of them.  If God loved them that much than I obviously am committed to overcome whatever resistance I internally possess in order to give them what they need most, a little love, compassion and the offer of a helping hand or ear.  Ministry is no arcane ritual that requires hours of study to reproduce or practice.  It is the sensitivity of heart to know that this world is broken and that others are seeking peace and restoration just as we are.  Ministry is using whatever particular talent you have to comfort and encourage someone to the point where they understand that they are not alone and that someone loves them enough to reach past their circumstances to try and understand.

Ministry is sowing hope where this world had seeded despair.  Ministry is a cold glass of water to someone so parched that they believed their thirst could not be slaked.  Ministry is a reminder of purpose, inclusion, direction and degree.  Ministry is rescue from the whirling dust storms on the horizon, the strafing heat or the searing cold.  Ministry is obedience and becoming.  It is execution of purpose as pitcher, vase or chalice.  Ministry is finding a new way to show Christ to the world by using your character, humor, kindness and care.  It is not hard it is exactly the opposite.  Ministry is allowing the Holy Spirit of God to lead you to a place where He does the work and provides the words that you must say.  Ministry does depend on you for one thing and that is willingness.

Praise God that He created You uniquely for a specific purpose that belongs to you alone.  That purpose is your ministry.  In Jesus Name Amen.

What happens when a person is not grateful?  Does it matter at all?  Are there costs for this behavior or do things just go on without change?  The Bible looks at gratefulness or its synonym thankfulness as a commanded response to the gifts and grace we are given.  Let us take a look at several Bible verses which support this view of significance.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  Psalms 100:4  It appears that as his children though we are blessed with the access to the throne room of God we are enter such circumstances with thankfulness and praise of God’s Name.  What happens when we come into this hallowed relationship without thanks and praise?  I will leave that up to your imagination, however my recommendation is that those who have approached God in a manner of irreverence have always received instant and swift justice.  My advice, do not trifle with God.  Do not for your own sake take this relationship lightly.  He may be our “Daddy” but He is also Holy and there is a price for nonchalance.

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Romans 1:21  This passage in Romans talks about the fact that “all” know the truth of God and choose to either accept or turn away from that truth to their own wickedness.  It appears that the price of not being grateful to God for the offer of Grace leads to vanity, imagination and darkness of the heart.  I am thankful for the gift of Grace and the amazing fact that God loved me enough to redeem me in relationship.  Anything else would be foolhardy.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.  Colossians 3:15  In this passage Paul admonishes us to be thankful for the peace and fellowship of the church.  These things are priceless and because we could not purchase them we should have hearts that are grateful that we have been given that beyond price.  Again we are faced with the spirit of reverence and appreciation for the gravity of God.  Being un-thankful leads to pride and we all know pride is the pathway to all sin.  My advice don’t take one step on a path that you know leads to darkness and separation from God.

Praise You Father for all that You have done.  Thank You.  Jesus a name above all.  Amen

Struggling with importance?  God gave Adam dominion.  God “custom designed” Eve to help Adam in this tasking.  Have you ever wondered what tending the Garden for God entailed?  What is it that Adam abdicated to satan that terrible first sin day?  What gifts, what authority, what joy, treasure and pleasure was vended in exchange for a lie about grand knowledge?  The measure of regret is what was given up and it intrigues me that very few ask what Adam gave in exchange for the lie.  The greatest of which was probably the priceless treasure of walking and talking with God every day of your life.

What have I abdicated to satan?  What has been handed to me through grace that I sell in exchange for worldly pleasure, lies or insignificant knowledge.  God owns it all.  Do you get that billions if not trillions of stars and planets?  Why then would anything on this earth hold any value, weight or comparison to that.  I heard Michael Youssef the other day speaking of the inheritance we as Christians can expect as joint heirs with Christ.  Contemplate that a bit, what does that mean to you?  The thoughts it creates in my mind make anything that this earth and its lies have to offer pale in comparison to my inheritance.  Perhaps I will be asked to tend the Garden on a solar system of planets.  I mean it all belongs to Him right?  And Paul did say that we cannot even comprehend the glory that awaits us.  Start thinking big about who your Father is and what righteous restoration of service for the King of Glory would look like in the new Heaven and the new Earth.

I choose to be content with what the Lord has given me and grow harvest where I have been given seed and lent the ground.  Remember that pleasure and peace you have felt next to the lake, upon the mountain or in the field just existing.  Knowing that you did today what God commanded and reaping the moments of silence and tranquility that come from being alive.  What measures up to that moment when you look upon your children as they run in joy, thankful to just be alive and playing with friends.  What pleasure or promise surpasses the pricelessness of these simple joys?  None.  Be with Christ in the Garden once again, walk with Him in the cool of the day.  There is no greater achievement then walking with God and enjoying what He provides.

Christ the King, King of Glory and Lord or Righteousness and Truth.  His Will shall be done in this life and the next.  Praise God, seek purity and discernment.

http://unitycoalitionforisrael.org/news/?p=10081  In order to speak the truth you must first choose Jesus Christ and then he will give you the truth in order to set you free.  Reading this column are you now ready to say that you have been living under the shadow of the propaganda and lies that we are fed by the restrictive/bias media in the United States?  Seek Christ and seek the truth or His word.

http://www.wnd.com/wnd_video/satellites-to-study-why-earths-magnetic-field-has-weakened/  They don’t know how it works and they see it weakening, could this be the removal of God’s protective hand upon the Earth?

Having abandoned love they now seek to nullify peace.  Racing around like rabbits on Red Bull they scamper from lust, to must to gotta have.  Kindness forgotten they gut punch each other until the whole wretched crew suffers from nausea.  The greatest loss being commitment.  No one wants something that requires dedication, honesty and hard work unless the prize is continual sensory stimulation.  Why are young men losing themselves in video games, because it requires nothing of you but time and gives you synaptic spark in perpetuity.  When virtual immorality becomes widely available our children will forsake the normal.

This world is in a constant state of flux, exasperation and distress.  Daniel’s prediction of the willy-nilly pursuance of knowledge is here.  No one can stand still unless they want to be referred to as something akin to a professor from MIT who went to Montana and lost his marbles.  Farmers are unfashionable because people think our food comes from the sterile breast of government.  We have lost our spirit, our loyalty and many their souls.  God help us as the time approaches when the awful things that radicals say of our nation begin to make some sense.  We are slowly trading away our desire to be free for a regular government dispensed paycheck.  How loud and futile the objections when people finally come to their senses only to realize it is much too late?

We pardon perversion as free thinking, we welcome wantonness as divine self-expression and we promote promiscuity even to children so that their innocence is crushed before they know of its worth.  We look to our brother’s downfall in the workplace as our opportunity for advancement.  Our every thought is on self and when the clock will allow us to serve the holy “I”.  The iris is black for a reason for if there is no indwelling of the divine then it is the window to internal darkness.

I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I look to the hills for I know where my hope comes from.  I do however see that my efforts have become more alike spitting or screaming into the wind when it comes to telling people about righteousness.  They are increasingly becoming hostile to Jesus and they frankly do not want to hear about holiness, faith and truth.  Father, it is not just the signs that reveal the coming of your judgment.  It is not just evidence of current affairs which match your prophecy that verify the time has arrived.  It is just like your love that is written upon the heart of every believer.  It is something that we just know, can feel and see coming on the horizon.  It cannot be long now.  Praise God in Jesus Christ’s Holy Name.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-be-working-with-saudi-arabia-on-iran-strike-plan/  What is being said to Christians about the current events unfolding in the Middle East?  How do these things pertain to Biblical Prophecy?  If your church leadership is not saying it then you must either ask them to speak up or be a Barean and find out for yourself.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/19/if-israel-strikes-iran-dempsey-says-u-s-would-meet-obligations/  It appears that we will see, if in fact the U.S. sides with Israel.

The time has come for Christians to heed the direction in 2 Chronicles 7:14.  It does not say that the entire nation needs to turn back to God.  It does not say that the Citizens of the United States must humble themselves and seek God’s face.  It says, “If those who call themselves by MY NAME”.  Who does that mean?  You guessed it Christians.  To save this nation from judgment we must follow God’s direction and he will hear from heaven forgive our sin and heal the land.  Stop listening to false teachers claiming that we must have a national revival which is not in prophecy.

The times are upon us and if we will not be ready then we consciously accept the consequences of disobedience.  The Lords warns “believers” to have oil in their lamps, for Christians and Jews to be ready for the Lord’s coming, especially when we have seen the signs that Jesus clearly expressed.  Will we be left behind to suffer the tribulation with unbelievers as punishment for lack of readiness.  I don’t know but I certainly am not going to counsel anyone to chance it.  Being ready means being filled with the spirit and doing God’s will.  If you aren’t then you know that you aren’t.  Don’t try and justify your disobedience and fool yourself, this is not a subject you should trifle with.  Do NOT toy with God.  Those in history who have eternally wish that they hadn’t.

Praise You Father for letting us know before hand what soon shall come to pass.  Please let all my Brothers and Sisters heed Your warning and be prepared with their hearts inclined to You and their eyes heavenward.  Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.

I have not experienced true loss yet I am consistently tempted to claim things are too difficult for me to handle.  Which is challenged directly by the knowledge in my heart that the Lord will bring about whatever He wishes to happen even if it requires that I be given energy or abundance beyond my personal capacity. “If the Lord be for me who than can be against me?”  That so famously quoted line of the Bible clearly depicts the confidence of the “True” believer, filled with the knowledge that no power may surpass the will of God.  If I then doubt my achievement is it perhaps that I have embarked on some mission of personal intention?  Or maybe that I really do not believe this Bible which I clearly state is the inerrant Word of Almighty God written by the Holy Spirit through the pen of select men.

I am not challenged to life and limb, nor the loss of child or even with a absence of food, clean water or shelter from storm.  In fact, I am down right blessed to be sitting at this computer with the freedom to write about the God who shines upon me.  What then is the nature of my false melancholy, forcing me to write about my dispassionate discord, fretting and flirting with shadows and despair of which I have little understanding or regard?  There must then be some perceived loss, or impoverished nature which causes me to pine about a loss which has not occurred.  Or perhaps it is a fleshly ego which wishes that all were about me.  That all things ran the circumference of my orbit and that every path led to my own acquisition of fulfillment.  Maybe there is an interested party who delights in my despair and sponsors my regret and shadowed thinking?  Someone that would personally benefit from my self-destruction, and eagerly awaits, even dispatching soldiers designed to aide me in my failed perception.

You see I am blessed and my eyes are on all the good things, pure, beautiful, righteous and true.  I maintain my gaze upon Jesus, whether on the hill praying, asleep in the confines of the boat or even those tortured hours on the cross.  That is my destiny.  There is no loss here that can deprive me of Glory and eternity with Him.  It may only be limited by my willing or unwitting capitulation to false pride and despair.  I will not give that enemy of my reward and joy at seeing me limit what God has intended.  Give me all that you have planned for me Lord.  Let me be ever conscious of Your protection and continued blessings.  I will not despair, it is simply not a feeling for a man of Christ.  But if I should alight there Lord as an unsuspecting sparrow, please shew me away so that I may fly from Your outstretched hand.  Praise You Lord God my Father in the name of the perfect Son that you gave to free me from the prison of my own sin and despair.  Jesus, Sweet Jesus.  King of Everything.  Amen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/16/sayeeda-warsi-protection-christians_n_4284804.html  Read what the first Muslim cabinet member to Parliament says about Christianity in the Middle East.  What will persecution spell for the future of the church?  Find the answers by seeing what the Bible says will happen.

If I continue to focus on my self I will never reach them.  So many say that they cannot hear your voice Father, that I know this is Laodicea.  And I understand their predicament, but it is just like a fat man who knows that the weight is killing him.  You have to take the necessary steps to correct the problem, the deficiency, absence or loss. In our case it is opening the door so that Jesus may enter the church.  In this period where we have estranged Him, forgotten Him and excluded Him from our services the strangest thing is that we do not mourn his absence.  We go right on parading as if nothing were out of place, but I see the pain in people’s eyes.  I hear their voices filled with depression, fear, violence and regret.  Most of all I hear, “I do not know God’s will for my life.”  This is the greatest evidence of the largest problem, yet what I hear in response is denial.

Lord I hear your voice and I know that if I remain obedient in the small things that you will show me greater directions.  I ask you Lord, Holy Spirit to come into the churches of this world and show us what we have been missing.  Fill us with the desire to do what you have created and commanded us to do.  I used to pray, Father give me the sensitivity and the sufficient word to break through the ice surrounding their hearts.  But, this was my misunderstanding of the times in which we reside for I am not facing the frozen church but rather, the luke-warm church.  So my prayer is that the fire of the Holy Spirit be sparked where before their was just superficiality and sentimentality.  Let their tears be of joy for their risen Lord.

It burdens me so Father, and I repent that I get discouraged when I cannot reach them to understand their calamity.  If I cannot even get them to admit that there is a problem then I will never be able to describe a visit to the Cross as solution.  Give me that hope and provide me sufficiency where I lack in performing your will.  I hear you Lord in those things that you want me to do and I will get about your business.

What must an obese man do to rid himself of burden.  He must do the logical thing and restrict his eating, consume the right kinds and quantities of food and get some healthy exercise.  Yet the logical steps mean nothing without the commitment and discipline to begin, continue and complete those logical steps.  It is the same with under/unfed Christianity.  We must first be selective in what we eat and consume only the food of God’s word, forgoing the song of the world and the promise of temporary satisfaction.  We must be hungry for righteousness and truth filling our heads and then writing upon our hearts the Spirit of God’s intention.  Then we must exercise our prerogative to tell people about Jesus and help the sick, tired and alone.  Though none of this will happen without first accepting the commitment to do the Lord’s work and the courage to disciple for the distance because His return is imminent and the time is ripe.

Lord without you completion of this work is beyond my ability.  Thank you for being with me and allowing me the opportunity to tell folks about Your Love.  Praise Your name Father through Jesus.