GOD Will make a WAY. . . . . . . .

God is good! Finally I got to hear the choir lead with the hymn sung at the 6.00p.m mass yesterday the 28th October and boy was I glad. The choir sang it to perfection with a zest that I have quiet honestly not heard for quiet some time now. I think that is how we must sing to God, with a life-force in us, knowing that God is a wonderful God.

Fear can grip the heart of any man. In our day to day living we will face circumstances which will in a sort of way make us want to bend our rules. And so it is with fear, you bend once and then you fall prey to doing it over and over. The devil is devious-he wont stop at nothing. It is impossible to withstand the devil on your own. The more you believe in Christ, the more powerful is the attack. He does not attack you because you have nothing. He attacks because you have more than you know.

‘Attack is the best form of defence’. As humans we attack what we fear. Revenge is never a good thing. It destroys the person with the vengeful thought.

The devil attacks not because he is powerful-he attacks because he wants to hold you in his grip.

Jesus is the ‘Son of God’-He did not go attacking people. HE did not make people fear him. It’s different that they feared HIM anyways. He is love. He is the truth. And He is the WAY.

John 8:32 states-‘And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’

Our biggest hurdle is overcome by Christ. We are freed from the eternal bondage of slavery. We are no more slaves to sin. We have been freed by LOVE-The love of CHRIST.

What is the truth? It is this that JESUS is the Son of God. JESUS was crucified and on the third day, HE rose from the dead. This is the love of CHRIST.  

He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come to judge the living and the dead.

When you know this ultimate truth-when you realize and feel the complete Love of God and trust in Him at all times. Then and only then will you understand what John states in John 8:32

The TRUTH is JESUS-and Jesus sets you and me free. Go into the world for Jesus has set you free.

Of GOD I am afraid. It’s not what you think-of as fear that I am writing about. What I am speaking of, is the Holy Fear-It is out of reverence to the Almighty God. I go down on my knees out of reverence to Him.

Psalm 27, the Psalmist writes: “The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid?

In the truest sense-tell me who shall I be afraid off? What is mortal man? We are all but dust and to dust we shall return. If you remember this you will be no more afraid?

I always have people come and advice me not to take a stand for the truth. They come and remind me of the penalties, I will go through. And they are right. Each one wishes for someone else to do the right thing. We all look forward to someone-someone who will liberate us from our trials. 

I do suffer consequences. But no coward soul is mine.

Always accept-that someone-if that be your opponent-accept that whatever they throw at you to punish you-don’t look at it as a punishment or an attack-just look at it-as a chance to improve yourself. Honestly anything that brings about an opportunity for self improvement-will only take you to perfection. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48-But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect..

Revenge is a bad thought. Never think of justifying yourself in the eyes of man. Trust in God-and Let God fight for you.

I do understand what it is to be wronged. I know what injustice feels like. I know sometimes waiting for God to take action feels like a very long time-it feels like an eternity of trials. But believe me, when I say, God will not stop moving mountains to get to you. GOD WILL VINDICATE YOU-God will vindicate His people. Trust in Him always.

Romans 12:19 states: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

When you know God the way I do-When you feel the Holy Spirit nudge you-When you feel Him move your soul-When you feel that complete utter feeling of …. Its indescribable-When you feel like that you can’t just sit hand on hand and do nothing.

Then you wear your whole armour of God and you confront the devil….and you win….. You win not on your own strength. You win in the Holy mighty name of ‘Jesus'.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a banquet before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.          (runneth-overflows)
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.  Psalm 23:5-10

Praying According to God's Will

Prayer is asking. God wants to answer our prayers, but we need to ask according to HIS WILL... "And this is the confidence that we have in him that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us" 1st John 5:14.

Pray without Ceasing. All our reason, speech and action—must be moulded by the activity of prayer. Moreover, as prayer becomes central in our lives, all that we do becomes part of prayer.

Developing a habit of unceasing (unstoppable) prayer would change how we perceive (look), and act in the world.

When Augustine wondered why God, who already knows everything we need or want, tells us to petition for things in prayer, he concluded: “God wants our desire to be exercised in our prayers, so that we become able to receive what he is prepared to give.” Prayer trains our love.

On the 15^th of October, the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, I was praying, and God asked me ‘Aren’t you going to ask me anything for yourself.’ I replied, ‘I have you. Your will be done.’

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

In this passage Paul sums up how the Christian should live.

Rejoice Always

1 Peter 1 tells us to rejoice with “joy inexpressible” because we have a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.

When we go through hardships we rejoice because we’re focused on Hope. We rejoice because the source of our joy doesn’t come from our earthly circumstances, it comes from our heavenly standing. We rejoice always because we belong to Christ.

Pray Without Ceasing

To pray without ceasing means that, we should pray all the time.

In Mathew 6:9-13 Jesus teaches us how to pray. We learn that it’s through prayer we praise God, make our requests known to Him, ask forgiveness for our sins and forgive sins done against us, and ask for His protection against evil.

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

If we’re rejoicing in Him, and we’re constantly in prayer, the result will be a heart that gives thanks for all things.

We praise God even though we don’t always understand the reasons for our hardships but we’re promised that even though these things aren’t good, God will bring good out of it.

In John 16:21-22 Jesus was talking to the disciples about His death and resurrection. He told them that, “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

In other words, “you won’t understand what’s happening now, and it will grieve you, but later you’ll understand and when you do you’ll have a joy no one will ever be able to take away from you.”

Paul adds, “For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Here’s our answer: rejoice always or pray without ceasing and seek Gods blessings, and in everything gives thanks.

Do not quench the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 tells us the Holy Spirit teaches us the spiritual things of God and gives us discernment (the quality of being able to grasp).

So we shouldn’t suppress (put an end to-stop) the Holy Spirit as He works in our lives to make us more like Christ.

Do not despise prophecies.

In other words don’t reject the preaching and applying of Scripture. God has given the Church-Priests, to help us understand the Bible. We should never reject good bible teaching.

 Test all things; hold fast what is good.

Jesus warned us in Matthew 7:15 to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” False teachers present themselves to the Church as good teachers.

Do not accept any teaching from anyone unless it lines up with Scripture.

Abstain from every form of evil.

1 John 1:9 tells us that “If we confess our sins, Christ is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

To sin is to go against God’s will and to be out of fellowship with Him. To abstain from sin is to draw closer to the Lord.

 

 

We need to be relentless. Jesus said, "And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you, for everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks, finds, and he who knocks, it shall be opened." Luke 11:9

God will hear, and He will answer. And He will respond to your persistence because He cares about you.

When you come before God consistently, you move the Mighty power of God. He seeks to respond to those whom He loves and to whom He has made promises.

God knows what we ask before we ever ask it. We are heard because our heart cries out to the One who is the source of all things. Your heart can cry out to the Lord, and He understands your request.

Paul says pray at all times with all prayer and petition consistent with the will of the spirit of God. Always praying, asking God's will, the will of the spirit to be fulfilled.

We need to pray for wisdom.

We need to be Intense as we pray without ceasing. It is what it means to seek God with all your heart in all the issues of life, at all times, with all prayer and supplication, not being anxious, but in everything by prayer, taking your request to God. It's that kind of prevailing prayer.  Philippians 4:6

You acknowledge then that no matter what happens, you have reason to rejoice; you have reason to be thankful because God overrules all the bad things to produce good.

I'm talking about somebody with a rock-solid confidence in the purposes of God, unfolding through all the difficulties of life and the knowledge that their well being is the first thing in God's heart and; therefore, all things are working together for the good of them who love Him and are called according to His purpose, and it's out of that deep-down confidence that you have a deep joy, and out of that joy rises thankfulness, and connected with that is this matter of dependence.

And when you do something that you know displeases God, from your heart comes the desire for forgiveness.

No matter where I turn, I am blessed, and I know that.

Psalms 66:18. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."

What are some of the sins that stop our prayers? If you're holding a grudge against somebody; if you're bitter against somebody, If you want to enjoy the blessing of God's forgiveness in your life, then you must give the same forgiveness to those who offended you.

Another thing that hinders prayer is lack of faith. You have to ask in faith without doubting God's wisdom, God's power and God's will.

Where there is un-forgiveness in your heart, where there is indifference to those in needs and where there is a lack of trust and faith, your prayers are hindered. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives.

Let me put it this way. 1 John 3:22, "Whatever we ask, we receive from Him." "Because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." You're going to receive what you ask because you keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

So pray without ceasing. Simple, yet profound; it's a continual rising of the longings and desires of the heart into the presence of God.

God will hear and answer as we obey His commandments and do His will.

CONCLUSION: Just some thoughts:

• The love of Christ in forgiving us all our sins. The more we see the sinfulness of our sin, the more we should love Christ and desire fellowship with Him.
• A constant consciousness of not only our dependence on God's grace every hour of our day, but those around us too.
• A thankful heart for even the smallest of God's daily mercies.

The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, exhorts all believers to pray without ceasing. We should therefore, strive to be more constant in our prayers throughout the day. Let us ask the Lord to pour out upon us a deeper desire for and delight in such a holy communion with our great God.

REMEMBER: Luke 18:1-4 Jesus told his disciples a story. He wanted to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Make things right for me. Someone is doing me wrong.’

"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

The Lord said, “Listen to what the unfair judge says.

Now, shall not God bring about justice for his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily.

PRAYER: Abba Father, I love you so much and this is my prayer, I want everything that you want for me. And Jesus, may I be like You and say Your Holy Will be done.
Wherever you lead me, Holy Spirit I will follow. Amen.