The following is one of my favorite songs, not only because I like singing it, but because of the words. The first time I heard this song, these words pierced my heart..they pierced my soul. You cannot worship God and sing these words without meaning them. If you can sing these lyrics and not feel anything, then there is something wrong with you.
You won't relent
Until You have it all
My heart is Yours
I'll set You as a seal upon my heart
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is as strong as death
Jealousy demanding as the grave
And many waters cannot quench this love
Come be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me
Until You and I are one
God will not rest until He has all of us....why did I choose to post this song and write this blog? It is because through the last month and even last week I have heard these words confirmed over and over. God speaks to us through different avenues and usually for me it is through other people or through words spoken through a song or message. God has been speaking to me more and more over the last several weeks and I haven't been listening to Him as much as I should be. After our pastor ministered this morning and after the youth ministered to us this evening I have to say, God...You have my full attention, I am listening. It may not be what I want to hear, but it is definitely what God wants me to hear. God is not going to stop until He has all of us, but we must be willing to surrender everything to Him....EVERYTHING. The problem we have is that many of us still hold on to things that we don't think are a big deal, but it keeps God from completely having access to our hearts. God wants full and total access to our hearts, but if we are still holding on to things regardless of the size it is keeping us from receiving the full blessing God has in store for us.
He has so much He wants to show us and reveal to us, but He can't until we are willing to give Him everything. God is the lover of my soul and He is jealous. He wants all of me, but I am too often distracted and too busy to give everything to Him. I am too often being unfaithful to the lover of my soul and spending my time with someone or something else. God won't overpower and make me do what He wants, He will just wait....and wait....and wait....for me to finally let go of my pride, of my flesh, of my own desires and completely give Him full access to my heart. Once He has my complete attention and my entire heart, He can begin to do the things that He wants to do.
My prayer for the last week has been the last verse of this song, Come be the fire inside of me, come fan the flame upon my heart, come be the fire inside of me, until You and I are one.
It is my prayer and desire to invite God to interfere my life...to interrupt my desires to become His own. I desire for God to replace my desires and will with His desires and His will.
I want God's fire and desire inside of me. I want His flame to burn upon my heart and burn up any impurities that are not of Him. Father....my heart is Yours! Take it and do with it as you desire.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Multimedia message
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Fire behind the lines
I journeyed over to a friend's house this morning for some prayer and worship time. They meet every morning and every night. During our time this morning we specifically prayed for the Middle East. My friend began to pray and ask the Holy Sprit to come into our midst and welcome Him. No sooner did he begin to welcome the spirit of God into the room, we were immediately met with God's majestic presence. It was then quickly realized that a strong annointing to intercede was upon us and we could not yet begin to worship. We began to cry out for the Middle East and surrounding countries and that the love of God would sweep across these countries. Before I continue please understand that we pray for different things on different days and it wasn't that our nation is not important, but we were praying for a specific area in the world. While our country does need prayer, we need to prayer for the Nations.
Prior to the worship and prayer time that we had, we were having a conversation regarding the muslim nations and it was brought up that a personal friend had been invited to lead worship and minister at a Muslim school for an entire week. They are learning about other religions and they want him to come and share. One of our points of discussion are the number of conversions that are being recorded of Muslims accepting Christ. Whether we admit it or not, thousands are accepting Christ all over this world who have been raised something other than Christian or have never known any religion. This school has opened their doors to teach their students about Christianity...it then struck me...our country is so anti-Christian in our schools that we welcome and embrace new religions and our students are more than willing to become apart of these other religions. We now have the opportunity to do the same thing to them...we have the opportunity to share the love of Christ and the true Messiah with these lost people. The word of God is pentrating areas that many have written off as areas that could never be reached by God. NEVER SAY NEVER!
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!
As we began to intercede and pray for these nations God began to speak some things to me. I began to see our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ rising up behind the enemy lines...behind the walls that keep God out. These walls almost seem like brick walls or like the walls of Jericho; virtually unable to be penetrated. As these "armies" continued to grow behind enemy lines the enemy still was unaware of the uprising about to happen. As the numbers grew on the inside of the enemies camp, the resistance continued to grow stronger and stronger on the outside. It made me think of the Greeks and how they used the trojan horse to penetrate and gain access to the city of Troy, but this time the trojan horse has come in the form of the Holy Spirit who is making provision for our "troops" to gain access behind enemy lines.
I saw a glimpse of a map that looked like the Middle East. On this map the countries that it outlined were darkened and very obvious these nations were "dark" nations. I then begin to see what seemed like little flickers of light that quickly exploded into an almost starburst like light. This light began to penetrate the darkness that was present. I then began to see what seemed like balls of fire or light raining down from the sky, only these were not missles or bombs as many of these nations experience. When these balls of fire or light hit the ground within the dark places, flashes of light exploded and crackled outwards like lightning does in the night sky during an electric storm.
I don't know all of what this means now, but I know there is a war in the heavenlies and a definite shift in the atmosphere. God is getting ready to do some major stuff and we are going to experience it in a mighty way. I feel this was confirming something within my spirit regarding the forces of darkness that surround us and constantly create resistence on the front lines and I know a time is coming very soon when the glory of our God is going to rain down and destroy the darkness that surrounds us and the armies that God has assembled behind enemy lines will take the enemy by surprise and ultimately destroy them. Darkness cannot remain where there is light and I know God's light is going to begin to shine brightly and the darkness must flee. While I do know that our nation and the nations around the world are surrounded by darkness, I do know that God is still in command and is still on His throne.
I pray that this will speak to you in some form or fashion. Be blessed.
Prior to the worship and prayer time that we had, we were having a conversation regarding the muslim nations and it was brought up that a personal friend had been invited to lead worship and minister at a Muslim school for an entire week. They are learning about other religions and they want him to come and share. One of our points of discussion are the number of conversions that are being recorded of Muslims accepting Christ. Whether we admit it or not, thousands are accepting Christ all over this world who have been raised something other than Christian or have never known any religion. This school has opened their doors to teach their students about Christianity...it then struck me...our country is so anti-Christian in our schools that we welcome and embrace new religions and our students are more than willing to become apart of these other religions. We now have the opportunity to do the same thing to them...we have the opportunity to share the love of Christ and the true Messiah with these lost people. The word of God is pentrating areas that many have written off as areas that could never be reached by God. NEVER SAY NEVER!
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!
As we began to intercede and pray for these nations God began to speak some things to me. I began to see our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ rising up behind the enemy lines...behind the walls that keep God out. These walls almost seem like brick walls or like the walls of Jericho; virtually unable to be penetrated. As these "armies" continued to grow behind enemy lines the enemy still was unaware of the uprising about to happen. As the numbers grew on the inside of the enemies camp, the resistance continued to grow stronger and stronger on the outside. It made me think of the Greeks and how they used the trojan horse to penetrate and gain access to the city of Troy, but this time the trojan horse has come in the form of the Holy Spirit who is making provision for our "troops" to gain access behind enemy lines.
I saw a glimpse of a map that looked like the Middle East. On this map the countries that it outlined were darkened and very obvious these nations were "dark" nations. I then begin to see what seemed like little flickers of light that quickly exploded into an almost starburst like light. This light began to penetrate the darkness that was present. I then began to see what seemed like balls of fire or light raining down from the sky, only these were not missles or bombs as many of these nations experience. When these balls of fire or light hit the ground within the dark places, flashes of light exploded and crackled outwards like lightning does in the night sky during an electric storm.
I don't know all of what this means now, but I know there is a war in the heavenlies and a definite shift in the atmosphere. God is getting ready to do some major stuff and we are going to experience it in a mighty way. I feel this was confirming something within my spirit regarding the forces of darkness that surround us and constantly create resistence on the front lines and I know a time is coming very soon when the glory of our God is going to rain down and destroy the darkness that surrounds us and the armies that God has assembled behind enemy lines will take the enemy by surprise and ultimately destroy them. Darkness cannot remain where there is light and I know God's light is going to begin to shine brightly and the darkness must flee. While I do know that our nation and the nations around the world are surrounded by darkness, I do know that God is still in command and is still on His throne.
I pray that this will speak to you in some form or fashion. Be blessed.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Nothing's gonna steal my joy
Well today was a typical Sunday afternoon and my daughter and I went to Walmart to pick up a few items. Prior to us getting to Walmart, we stopped off at the gas station and got a cold drink to quench our thirst. We then proceeded to Walmart and picked up our items and loaded back into the car to head home. I turned the key to start my car and it did not start....I could feel my flesh rising up and wanting me to get angry about this issue. Not that it was a big deal, but I did have plans to do something when I returned home, so I knew if I did not get this taken care of quickly I would not get to do what I had planned.
The plans I had were nothing major or real important, but was something I always enjoying this time of year. I enjoy watching the selection show for the March Madness Tournament and so that is what I was wanting to do. After a few tries, I knew I was not going to be home in time, so I just forgot about it and decided to take care of the issue and not worry about my show. Satan was trying to get me stirred up and upset about the whole ordeal, but I refused to. Instead I just gave God the glory and said nothing was going to steal my joy and I did not let it steal my joy. Of course no one plans on or enjoys spending $85 on a new battery; especially when money is tight. I would much rather spend my money on something worthwhile. Regardless of the fact, I am still giving God the praise and glory and am not letting it get me down.
So even when things seem to be looking down or just seem to be bad don't let it get you down, but give God the praise and glory! One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!" I have to look at it this way....God knew exactly when my battery was going to die and instead of my battery dying in a place where I would have been very inconvenienced, He allowed it to happen at Walmart where it was easy for me to replace the old one and be on my way. Thank you Jesus!
I will rejoice and praise the Lord regardless of my circumstances.
Keep your head up and things will start looking up.
Have a blessed week!
The plans I had were nothing major or real important, but was something I always enjoying this time of year. I enjoy watching the selection show for the March Madness Tournament and so that is what I was wanting to do. After a few tries, I knew I was not going to be home in time, so I just forgot about it and decided to take care of the issue and not worry about my show. Satan was trying to get me stirred up and upset about the whole ordeal, but I refused to. Instead I just gave God the glory and said nothing was going to steal my joy and I did not let it steal my joy. Of course no one plans on or enjoys spending $85 on a new battery; especially when money is tight. I would much rather spend my money on something worthwhile. Regardless of the fact, I am still giving God the praise and glory and am not letting it get me down.
So even when things seem to be looking down or just seem to be bad don't let it get you down, but give God the praise and glory! One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!" I have to look at it this way....God knew exactly when my battery was going to die and instead of my battery dying in a place where I would have been very inconvenienced, He allowed it to happen at Walmart where it was easy for me to replace the old one and be on my way. Thank you Jesus!
I will rejoice and praise the Lord regardless of my circumstances.
Keep your head up and things will start looking up.
Have a blessed week!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
When you least expect it
I have learned a lot in my walk with God and it is this....when you least expect something, God delivers. When we begin to quit looking for something, He blesses us in a big way. Why? Well when our focus is on other things then it is hard for God to speak to us and for us to hear Him. Our focus and priorities must be right. Last night I was at The Burn in Shawnee, Oklahoma and was worshipping my Lord and Saviour. In the past I haven't come to the Burn's like I should and came away disappointed. Why? Well my focus and my desires were not what they should be. The Burn isn't something that you go to expecting to receive something, it is where we are to go and give back to God. It is a time of intercession and worship. In the past I have gone with the attitude that I wanted to get something out of it and I have never gotten what I was looking for because it was all about me. You will never get anything from God if you are seeking personal gain.
As I was worshipping last night I began to intercede for others. We were having the Burn at the Salvation Army, so I was calling in the hurting, bruised, broken, lost and homeless. I wanted them to come and be ministered to. I want them to realize that God is bigger than the circumstances they are facing. My God is bigger than anything we face. As I was interceding I felt someone lay hands on me and they began praying for me. As soon as I took the focus off myself, God laid it on the heart of someone else to begin praying for me. See how easy that is?
This person began to prophesy things over me and speak things over me and then moved to my feet. I wasn't focusing on what was being said as I was continuing to pray as well. At first I didn't know who this person was, but later I discovered it was someone from my church that I have a lot of respect for and I know that they are not one to just speak something out to just be speaking something. This person allows God to speak through them and waits upon the Lord to speak and is careful when doing so.
They later wrote down what they had prayed and prophesied over me and you know what? It wasn't just words this person wanted to say to sound good. The words that were spoken confirmed many things that I am going through and what God is doing in my life. God is so awesome and answers us. His word states, "Call unto me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3. I often call out to God and ask Him to speak to me and He is always faithful in doing this. He will either speak something to my spirit or He will speak to me through someone I know. Nonetheless...God speaks and we must be willing and able to listen and receive.
While I was writing this I had intended on writing what was spoken over me, but the Holy Spirit told me, "No." It is not meant to be shared with anyone else. Some things are better left unsaid. I will just say again that when we change our focus from ourselves and point them to God, things happen. When we least expect something, God delivers.
Amen!
Be blessed.
Coach
As I was worshipping last night I began to intercede for others. We were having the Burn at the Salvation Army, so I was calling in the hurting, bruised, broken, lost and homeless. I wanted them to come and be ministered to. I want them to realize that God is bigger than the circumstances they are facing. My God is bigger than anything we face. As I was interceding I felt someone lay hands on me and they began praying for me. As soon as I took the focus off myself, God laid it on the heart of someone else to begin praying for me. See how easy that is?
This person began to prophesy things over me and speak things over me and then moved to my feet. I wasn't focusing on what was being said as I was continuing to pray as well. At first I didn't know who this person was, but later I discovered it was someone from my church that I have a lot of respect for and I know that they are not one to just speak something out to just be speaking something. This person allows God to speak through them and waits upon the Lord to speak and is careful when doing so.
They later wrote down what they had prayed and prophesied over me and you know what? It wasn't just words this person wanted to say to sound good. The words that were spoken confirmed many things that I am going through and what God is doing in my life. God is so awesome and answers us. His word states, "Call unto me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3. I often call out to God and ask Him to speak to me and He is always faithful in doing this. He will either speak something to my spirit or He will speak to me through someone I know. Nonetheless...God speaks and we must be willing and able to listen and receive.
While I was writing this I had intended on writing what was spoken over me, but the Holy Spirit told me, "No." It is not meant to be shared with anyone else. Some things are better left unsaid. I will just say again that when we change our focus from ourselves and point them to God, things happen. When we least expect something, God delivers.
Amen!
Be blessed.
Coach
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
It's time to wake up
And no, I am not refering to the need for me to wake up in the physical. I am actually quite awake as I type this at 1:00pm in the afternoon. What I am referring to is the need for us to wake up spiritually. What? am I questioning your spirituality? For all intents and purposes and to stir up some discussion....YES! We should all be challenged and pushed on a regular basis. We should never be "comfortable" where we are at. While it is good to be in a familiar spot with the Lord, we should never want to just maintain our relationship where it is currently at. We should be striving to dive into a deeper relationship with the lover of our soul. For those who are married it would not be suggested to just maintain your current relationship with your spouse. Many if not most couples, in fact just do enough to get by with their relationship.
What happened to the excitement? What happened to the butterflies? When we are dating or courting our love, we are always thinking of new and exciting ways to show our love towards the other person. We are always trying to outdo our previous best. We are creative and wanting to try new things with our new love. We go new places, we try new things and we can talk for hours about anything and everything and not even complain about how tired we are the next morning when we get up for work or school. But as soon as the relationship turns into a marriage it seems a good portion of the excitement and adventure disappears. I am guilty and will be the first to admit this happening. After I "caught" my love in dating I knew I didn't have to do anything else to impress her. She was mine and no one else's. So as soon as we said "I Do" it seemed as though I said I don't to the excitement and adventure. While we did enjoy going places and doing things...things began to change....especially when children came into the picture. When this happened a lot of the adventure and ability to do things on a whim suddenly changed and we had to have more structure and an actual plan to prepare to take our little ones anywhere.
Forgive me for getting off subject, but I am trying to make a point. We need to keep the fire burning with our spouses at all times regardless of how long we have been married or together. We must keep it interesting as well. We must be creative and unpredictable. Not only must we do this with our spouses, but God wants this from us as well. He knows us intimately, but how well do we know HIM? He wants to have an exciting and adventurous relationship with us, but often times we are too busy for it and we have other things to do. Satan is real good about keeping us busy and preventing us from having a closer walk with our Creator. I was reading my Bible last night and was reading a story I have heard many times, but it struck me and I would like to share what I felt.
The story comes out of Ezekiel 37 and is the story of the valley of dry bones. Basically there is the army of Israel that is dead in this valley and there is nothing left but bones. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy over these bones to come back to life. To make a long story short, he follows the orders God gives him and the bones do come back to life in the form of a vast army. God breathed life back into these lifeless bones and an army rose up.
What struck me was this and it is for the body of Christ. Ezekiel 37:12 .."Therefore prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Oh my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord."
What God was speaking to me in regards to these verses was that it is time for us to rise up and wake up....one of the songs we sing at our church that was written by several of our worship team goes something like this, "Its time to wake up....I'm prophesying to dry bones...God's army stand up....He's breathing life back into His own." There is much more to it, but if you heard it the annointing of God would come upon you and you would feel excitement and energy.
God wants us to wake up. He is calling for His people to wake up and rise back up again. Many of us have given up and are left for dead. The enemy, Satan, loves to see this. We are not a threat to him when we are lying around and not doing anything. God is opening up our graves and breathing life back into us. The choice is yours. Will you allow God to breathe life back into your dry bones and allow you to rise back up and fight the good fight of faith? or will you just continue to lie dormant and do nothing for the kingdom? God doesn't want to hear excuses of why you are beaten down and tired, He just wants to know if you are ready, willing and able. He will supply you with everything you could possibly need to fight. He just needs to know that you are willing to accept the challenge. Once He breathes life back into our dry, dusty bones rivers of living water will begin to pour out of us. God wants to pour His spirit back upon the dryness of the land and He wants to saturate us with His presence.
It is time to quit living as though we are dead and begin to live. We must be contenders for the kingdom of God. We must be willing to sacrifice and persevere. We must be willing to give our First love everything and show Him we are wanting to have a relationship with Him. Most people who love someone are willing to lay down their lives for the one they love. Are you willing to lay down your life for God? The word of God declares in John 15:13, 15, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends...I have called you friends."
In Matthew 16:25 it also states, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
So it is time for us to lay down our lives for the sake of Christ. If we are more willing to just lay down, play dead, not do anything and "save" our lives, we will lose it. God is breathing His life into us and bringing us back from the grave. It is time for the bride of Christ to wake up! The time is now and time is short. If we want change in this nation, we must make a stand and not just sit back and watch it. Our nation is under a lot of duress and we must rise to the challenge. It's time to wake up and allow God to breathe life back into our dry bones. It is my desire to Contend, Blaze and Worship for my King. I will not sit back and watch from the sidelines. I will be on the front lines helping lead the charge against the principalities of darkness. I am tired of seeing Christians want to ride the tails of others who are blazing the trails. It is time for everyone to pull their weight and do their part. We need to take a stand and do our part. It's time to rise up and be counted! Are you willing to contend for the King? or be dead weight for the world?
Provoke my hunger for you oh Lord!
Provoke me to want you and thirst after your Living Water.
Breathe your Life back into these dry bones.
May I contend for your sake and not my own.
Less of me and more of You.
Fill me with the desire to contend for your kingdom.
Amen!
Blessings! Coach
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Children: A blessing from the Lord
I don't have a lot to say at the moment, but maybe it is because I am hungry and the kids are being loud and I can't focus on writing right now; even though I am used to distractions, I still want to spend some time writing in quiet. One of my desires with this blog is to write something inspirational and allow the Lord to speak through me. I have gone through another dry time in my writing and am ready for the Lord to pour out His annointing and let it flow out of me like rivers of living water. I know that I may be dry now, but I know that the Holy Spirit will allow me to break through this "wall" and continue to write for the Lord. Another desire/goal of mine in this blog is to blog about different scriptures I have written and give a brief synopsis of what it meant to me and what it is speaking.
Now....on to the main event. I wanted to announce and share something special that is happening in my life right now. Yep, it's official.....my wife and I are pregnant with our 3rd child. We are very excited and can't wait to see what God has in store for our family. I definitely consider children a blessing from the Lord and not a curse. Unfortunately for some...they feel like children are an inconvenience or a pain. If someone doesn't want to have kids, then they need to take the necessary steps to prevent something like that happening or just completely abstain from sex. Some people will say that they are using protection or birth control, but even people who are on birth control have babies. In fact, there are people who have tried for years and apparently cannot have children and God miraculously allows them to conceive. So if someone doesn't want children they need not partake in the extracurricular activities that so often produce these little blessings.
I choose to consider them blessings and I will never consider them as an accident. God has truly been faithful and has blessed us tremendously. I am very excited about having another child, but I am also anxious about the unknown. What do I mean? Will it be a boy or girl. How big will they be when they are born. Will I be able to get our other room ready before the baby comes. Will we be able to afford a bigger vehicle. As my wife said the other night, she was just mainly thinking about random things like, how am I going to take 3 kids to the grocery store. While there are a lot of questions out there I know that God is in control and we are in His hands.
No we don't know what the names are going to be and if you want to guess go right ahead. As history would have it, we have never revealed our baby's name until they are born....so don't think I am going to even tell you or give you clues.
Well...my dinner is ready and I am hungry and therefore I am going to wrap this up. Remember, if you have children, be thankful for them and tell them you love them. Show them your appreciation. Children grow up way too fast and once they are grown and gone it will be too late.
Until later....be blessed in the Lord.
Coach
Now....on to the main event. I wanted to announce and share something special that is happening in my life right now. Yep, it's official.....my wife and I are pregnant with our 3rd child. We are very excited and can't wait to see what God has in store for our family. I definitely consider children a blessing from the Lord and not a curse. Unfortunately for some...they feel like children are an inconvenience or a pain. If someone doesn't want to have kids, then they need to take the necessary steps to prevent something like that happening or just completely abstain from sex. Some people will say that they are using protection or birth control, but even people who are on birth control have babies. In fact, there are people who have tried for years and apparently cannot have children and God miraculously allows them to conceive. So if someone doesn't want children they need not partake in the extracurricular activities that so often produce these little blessings.
I choose to consider them blessings and I will never consider them as an accident. God has truly been faithful and has blessed us tremendously. I am very excited about having another child, but I am also anxious about the unknown. What do I mean? Will it be a boy or girl. How big will they be when they are born. Will I be able to get our other room ready before the baby comes. Will we be able to afford a bigger vehicle. As my wife said the other night, she was just mainly thinking about random things like, how am I going to take 3 kids to the grocery store. While there are a lot of questions out there I know that God is in control and we are in His hands.
No we don't know what the names are going to be and if you want to guess go right ahead. As history would have it, we have never revealed our baby's name until they are born....so don't think I am going to even tell you or give you clues.
Well...my dinner is ready and I am hungry and therefore I am going to wrap this up. Remember, if you have children, be thankful for them and tell them you love them. Show them your appreciation. Children grow up way too fast and once they are grown and gone it will be too late.
Until later....be blessed in the Lord.
Coach
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