Lessons on Leadership I Learned during the Storm

This is just flowing so I have to get it out. Leadership is the most difficult part of the Pastor’s job. As young preacher we are taught how to preach or handle scripture but not much about leadership. So here are a few other things I’ve learn during the storm @Bethel.

1. Never allow yourself to get so busy your don’t spend quality time with God

2. Never allow yourself to get so busy your don’t spend quality time with your spouse

3. Never allow yourself to be without a Pastor or a Mentor to be accountable too

4. Never allow yourself to compromise Biblical integrity for a crowd, Preach the Word

5. Never allow yourself to wasted energy on people who are trying to tear your ministry down

6. Never allow yourself to be control by your haters criticism

7. Never allow yourself to become comfortable always Walk By Faith…Risk

8. Never allow yourself to forget that the church is God’s bride NOT your’s

9. Never allow yourself to be caught up in pleasing others just please God

10. Never allow yourself to neglect your children for God’s children

Favor Ain't Fair

When the Lord's favor & wisdom is upon you, you shall be the head & not the tail, look at Daniel & his friends " In all matters of wisdom & understanding about which the king examined them, he found them TEN TIMES better than all the magicians & astrologers who were in all his realm."

Daniel 1:20 (NIV) 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

Seven Things I Cannnot Expect As A Leader

• I cannot expect to win arguments with those who don?t want to settle the argument, they just want to fight for the sake of fighting. ?(II Timothy 2:23)


• I cannot expect people to read my mind. ?(I Corinthians 14:8)


• I cannot possibly expect to have a complete and detailed plan from God that tells me exactly what His plans are for the next 20 years. ?(Psalm 119:105) He doesn?t promise to let us see years in advance, but He does promise to show us our next step!


• I cannot expect to be a follower of Jesus and keep everyone around me happy at the same time. ?(Proverbs 29:25)


• I cannot expect to stay the same and see progress ?(Isaiah 43:18-19)


• I cannot expect to please God without taking steps of faith (Hebrews 11:6)


• I cannot expect to hear God?s voice if I am always running at an unsustainable pace! ?(Psalm 46:10)

The Sufffering Shepherd

Pastors, People always grow more from your suffering than your successes if you're willing to be authentic about your failures and fears. Be a REAL Leader and help your church grow.

The Issue is God, Not Odds

There has been a lot that I've learned over the last two years, but I believe the most important lesson is DON'T ALLOW PEOPLE TO PUT A PERIOD WHERE GOD HAS PUT A COMMA.

@Bethel people from within and without have counted us out. Some members have quit atttending, others have move their memberships, while others have stayed at the sence of the crime just to see the outcome. The good news is that at every turn God has continued to be faithful through positive meeting, faithful members and faithful messages.

Someone asked me if I could start over again would I do it again? At the time I didn't have an answer and didn't want to answer but NOW I have a answer, YES...YES....YES. Tbe benefit of the storm has strenghten my faith in God and a greater resolve to help people develope a genuie relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

So here's my message...Beware of dreaming too small and asking God for too little. You do not know when he may touch your simple task and turn it into gold.

Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote one of his most famous and moving poems when he was eighty years old. He wrote it on the inside of a used envelope during a twenty-nine minute ferry ride while crossing from Lymington to the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

It's about the approach of death. It helped that he was eighty.

Your most lasting achievement may yet be decades in front of you. Do not calculate the odds of this. The issue is God, not odds.

Finally, let me wish our oldest son, Kentrell a happy 28th BIRTHDAY. Eyes have NOT seen NOR ears heard the great things God has prepared and planned for your life. Love you much, Your Dad

Backroom Etiquette

In serving your leader there are unwritten protocols that you must abide by. Even if your leader didn't sit down and explain these to you, they exist. Most leaders' prayers are that the armor bearers learn certain protocols in the School of the Spirit. Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit to sharpen you in your service. Consider some of the "Back-room Etiquette Rules" listed below:

1. Know when to leave your leader's presence
This practice is crucial. Remember, you are not your leader's peer. There will be times when you are serving your leader and he gathers with their peers (i.e. conference, meetings, roundtable, etc.). Unless instructed to remain, always leave your leader's presence when he/she is having discussions with their peers. Leaders often discuss leadership issues. Many times, pastors need to discuss with their peer's issues of other sheep in the flock in order to get advice. You [as the armor bearer] don't need that information. My belief, in this case, is the less you know the better off you are. Why? Once you know something, you are accountable for it. You don't need exposure to certain things you don't need to know another leader's weaknesses. It's not for you to be exposed to the difficulties a leader may be facing in the ministry. All of these exposures now create more points of prayer in your own life. You can't afford to share information or even judge someone because of something you've heard discussed that you should have never been exposed to. When you have the opportunity, run form these chances to be exposed. Unless you are nosy, you should not desire to be privy to certain information.

2. Share your opinion only when asked
There will be times when your leader will have discussions with others on a topic that you may know well. There will be subjects you may [possibly] know much more about than your leader. Even when this is true, you should not offer your advice without it being requested. You must defy the temptation that will come for to interject when you know a subject or topic that your leader does not know. There is nothing you have to prove to your leader or your leader's peer. Don't interrupt your leader's discussion with your own advice or counsel. If it is requested, then proceed. But if your advice or knowledge is unsolicited, override the temptation to speak.

3. Avoid the tattle-tale spirit
For some reason, there are believers that believe that tattle-tailing is a sure way to promotion. Not true. Tattle-tailing is a sign of immaturity. When you have difficulty safekeeping intimate issues that are revealed around you when you hear them because of the privileged of being around your leader in confidential situations, it's a sign that you are immature. I'm not talking about unethical [or immoral] things, but confidential things that leaders deal with in the ministry. Again, what you may become exposed to because you are in the presence of your leader is never to be shared with others. Often, a leader's confidentiality can be destroyed by a tattle-tale spirit in the servant.

This is why I suggested earlier to avoid being in the presence of your leader when they are with their peers. It prevents you from becoming liable because you know too much.

4. Avoid self-promotion
As an armor bearer, you must remember at all times that what you [help] make happen in someone else's life will take place in your life. You have been called to help your leader. If you want to have a successful ministry one day, then [help] make your leader's ministry successful. You must flee the temptation of promoting yourself. There will be ample opportunities for yourself when the time is right. When you are with the man or woman of God, you will gain exposure. However, what you do with that exposure will make or break you.

I'll never forget one incident that happened years ago while I was serving in the capacity of an armor bearer. I was driving a guest speaker to the church for a conference that we were hosting. The guest speaker proceeded to ask me who my favorite speaker was. He seemed shocked when I responded, "My pastor is." Often, the man or woman of God will drop questions on you to expose your heart. An armor bearer with a strong soulish ambition will fail every time. Your heart must be towards the advancement of the one God has called you serve, not yourself.

The exposure that you gain from serving is not a time to promote yourself, your anointing or your agenda. Allow your servant hood to speak for you. Be known for your service. Elisha, at one time of his life was just known as the one who poured water on the hands of Elijah. The prophet Elisha was anointed and being groomed for the ministry. But when he was spoken to during the times of his serving as an armor bearer, he was known by his service not his anointing.

I have found that some of the following practices will successfully prevent you from walking in self-promotion:
Don't carry your own business cards during ministry
Never give out your own contact information (always the church information)
Always talk about your leader [positively] and never yourself
Listen twice as much as you talk
Speak when spoken to (don't wrestle to demonstrate what you know)
Remember, you have nothing to prove to anybody

5. Never Discuss your Leader's Weaknesses
Throughout the course of serving your leader, there will be weaknesses of theirs that will be revealed. The revelation of these weaknesses should never be used to harm the leader. Many times, your leader's weaknesses have been revealed to you for you to tag-team with God to intercede on the leader's behalf to eradicate the various weaknesses.

The most harmful thing you could do is to discuss your leader's weaknesses with others. If you imagine that you could earn brownie points with others by sharing your revelation or certain weakness existing in the life of your leader - you have been misled.

This is illustrated well in the story of Noah and his two sons. The Bible says that one saw the nakedness (weaknesses) of his father and spoke about it. Whereas, the other brother walked backwards and curved his father's nakedness. We are called to cover our leader's weaknesses and not broadcast them.

6. Never speak negatively Speak about your Leader
There will be times that you may have disputes and disagreements with the one you serve. We all make mistakes. Therefore, there will be times that you may not agree with a stand that your leader takes. You have a right to disagree with what your leader decided does or say. However, you should not voice those disagreements to others. The principle says never complain down, always complain up. Most of the time up is your leader or God.

7. Never Speak Negatively about the Vision
There will be times in the ministry that you may not agree or even understand decisions that are made by your leader. You may not agree with the direction the ministry chooses to move in. There will be times God gives your leader a directive for the entire ministry and He does not even explain it to your leader why. Therefore, what makes you think you would know why?

The important issue here is that you're not to ever speak negatively about the vision that God has assigned you work toward with your leader and never complain about the vision. Fight for your leader's vision. Work hard towards the vision. Commit to the vision. Give your life to the vision. But never speak negatively about the vision.

Holding Up Your Pastor's Arms

Sometimes pastors are the loneliest people in the church. Often their hours are long, the pay minimal, the criticism considerable and constant. Feelings of disappointment, discouragement, and defeat may begin to plague the best of them. One of the most frustrating things for a pastor is that there is never enough time to get all the work of the ministry accomplished. Time is always short. Help your pastor by recognizing that some matters can be handled by other mature believers in the church.

ARE YOU THE ONE WHO COULD POTENTIALLY CHANGE THE WHOLE OUTCOME OF YOUR MINISTRY BY BEING THE ONE WHO WILL HOLD UP YOUR PASTOR'S ARMS? Exodus 17:8-13 (MSG) 8 Amalek came and fought Israel at Rephidim. 9 Moses ordered Joshua: "Select some men for us and go out and fight Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on top of the hill holding God's staff." 10 Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. 12 But Moses' hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. 13 Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle. The victory in the valley was determined by the victory on the mountian top. When Moses' hands where rasied Israel was winning, but whenever his hands got tired the enemy would began to win.

Thank God for Aaron and Hur! Their responsibility on the mountian top was just as important than Joshua's in the valley. Every pastor need someone who can fight Your Pastor needs some tried and true hand to help carry the load of ministry. Don't let him suffering in silence and fall prey to discouragement, defeat, doubt and darkness.

Another One of God's BEST Goes Home

Today, I sat down with my family and made arrangements for life Celebration for Ms. Ozella Carter 81 years. She was the Mother of 9 children and I've been blessed to be with her youngest daughter Janice for nearly 30years. Ms. Ozella Carter "Mother" is what I called her was much more than a Mother-in-law...She was what most people my age and older would describe as a "Mother." Someone who never turned away a child who needed love, compassion and correction. She not only raised her own children but many, many others. She cared for her own mother until her death and care for her oldest child "My Buddy" Clavin who is handicaped. I salute her today for work well done!

Saturday @ 11am at the Greater Bethel Church we will celebrate the life of wonderful woman, Ms. Ozella Carter. Please keep this family in your prayers and thoughts.

Building A House of Prayer Through Praise & Worship

The way to build a house for God’s manifest presence is through worship.

God promises to be present when we worship Him.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. Psalms 22:3 (NIV)

There is the omnipresence of God, which affects everyone because He is everywhere.

There is the promised presence of God, which comes when He guides us, walks with us, and speaks to our hearts.

There is the manifest presence of God, which is seen at a group level when people move together in a spirit of worship that welcomes the presence of God’s power.

As the church of the Lord in this world, we are in battle against forces of evil that want to see us brought down. But the Bible promises 37… in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37 (NIV)

When we praise God, the Holy Spirit comes in power and defeats Satan. Everything that tries to destroy each one of us, like sickness, pain, poverty, sin, discouragement, strife, and failure, can be reversed with praise. When we worship God, He works powerfully to defeat anything that opposes us.

“There is peace and resource of strength and confidence in the presence of God, no matter what else happens in the world around us, but it doesn’t happen without praise and worship. Praise destroys the atmosphere in which sickness, defeat, futility, and discouragement flourish. Praise upsets the climate which furthers the growth of so much of life’s suffering, confusion, turmoil, and strife. Praise beats out hell’s fire and breathe heaven’s life…” Pastor Jack Hayford

We are not just trying to get God’s attention and stir up God’s interest by praising Him. He is already attentive and interested. We are not just trying to flatter Him so He will favor us and answer our prayers. He already favors us and has promised to answer our prayers. By praising Him, we are expressing our love and reverence toward Him and being obedient to what He asks us to do.

Building a house for God’s presence happens when we set ourselves to worship God His way and make it our first priority.

We are not interested in building a big church but building big people!

The church is not just a building, the church is the people. The church building is a place where believer can gather to be nurtured, grown and prepared to go out and do God’s work.

It’s impossible to grow and develop to your fullest potential independently of other believers.

The Power of Two

19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. Matthew 18:19 (NIV)

The word “agree” is the Greek word “unity” [sumphoneo] where we get our English word “symphony.”

In order to have harmony in our prayers, there are a number of things we need to agree on.

1. We must agree that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life”
2. We must agree that the Bible is inerrant and inspired by God.
3. We must agree on certain foundational truths.
4. We must agree on what we are praying about.
5. We must agree on how we are going to petition God in prayer.
6. We must agree on what we are believing God for in prayer.

The power of a praying church is a formidable force with unlimited and untapped possibilities.

“The church needs to be unified in believing that the invisible realm is real and that they have been given a place of privileged authority and access in it. Most people know they should pray, but many don’t believe it’s going to make a difference. If they recognize there is a very real penetration in the invisible realm, it emboldens them, they can believe with greater faith. Jesus came to change things, to save people, to heal the sick, to transform families and circumstances, and to impact nations with a moral turnaround in the souls of people. And the power of a praying church is the key to that.” Pastor Jack Hayford.

15 One Anothers

Relating to each other is essential and extremely important. The words "one another" are mentioned many times in the Bible and each time they are, it is clear that we are to treat others as if they are significant and valuable. The following are things we should do for each other... Mourn with one another Have peace with one another Be affectionate to one another Be like-minded toward one another Receive one another Care for one another Serve one another Bear with one another Be kind and forgive one another Submit to one another Comfort and edify one another Consider one another Love one another Have compassion for one another Minister your gifts to one another The one that is mentioned by far the most frequently in the Bible is to "love one another." We are commanded to come alongside others with love and pray for them. Love Letter to God: Lord, we come before You today and thank You that You are our heavenly Father. Lord, We praise You for who You are and all that You have done. There are times in our lives when we have felt invisible, insignificant and irrelevant but You Oh, Lord welcomes us into your presence and transform our lives. So we take our attention off of us and turn our attention to You, Your ability and what You say about us. You have been our Deliverer, Counselor, Peace, Rewarder, Wisdom, Shield, Refiner, Overcomer, Redeemer, Wisdom, Forgiver, Strength, Resting place, Provider, light & Refuge. We would have been destroyed had You not been there for us in our time of need! Lord, we surrender our day totally to You. We ask that You will bless our worship experiences on tommorrow as well each and every time we meet together. We surrender and acknowledge You and ask that You will direct our path. Lord, help us to speak only words that bring life to those who hear us. Monitor our mouths so that every word proceeds from our lips is loving, truthful, kind, comfortable, edifying, wise, encouraging, and glorifying to You! Bless our homes, our businesses, our block, our church, our town or our nation. Continue to transform our church into a powerful, prayerful and purposeful people. In Jesus' Name Amen!

Day 16 Finding a Partner

To many church congregations just sit and get fat on the teaching of the Word. We were supposed to be doers of the Word as well. Pastor Jack Hayford says, "One of the hardest things about being a pastor is getting sheep to move. The sheep need to get up and go someplace, but sheep don't like to move, they like to eat. The problem is if the sheep keep eating in the same place and don't move, they eventually get down to just stubble. We all learned quickly that we were expected to grow. God accepted us the way we were, but He certainly doesn't leave us that way. We are asked to keep growing, going and stretched. All the time! In order to please our heavenly Father we must grow in the area of prayer. Praying for each other makes God smile. As we touch and agree powerfully each time we participate on...on-the-job training in praying for others.

Day 15 Unanswered prayers

Jesus promised that if we will spend time with Him, learn of Him, get to know, be honest with Him and acknowledge our sins to Him, then we can ask of Him whatever we want and He will answer. "If you abide in Me and My word abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you," John 15:7 The key is wanting what He wants. When we do that, we end up doing His will and we find our prayers answered. Praying is actually working in partnership with Him to see His will done on earth.

Day 14 What if I need power

Jesus told His disciples that they had not asked anything in His name before, but now they should ask everything in His name so that they would receive God. When we walk close to God and pray in Jesus' name, we too will see great power unleashed through us and amazing answers to our prayers. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. 25 "Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. The greatest source of power is the name of Jesus. 1. Praying in Jesus' name affirms your dependence upon who Jesus is and what He has achieved through the cross 2. Fasting and praying being your body into submission by informing it that it is not in charge If you are facing what seem like insurmountable or impossible obstacles and you need more power in your prayers, don't just try to survive the battle when you can win the war through fasting & prayer.

What to do on your knees

Jesus when asked by His disciple to teach them to pray gave them what we call the model prayer. My grandmother Gladys Frazier taught me every thing I know about cooking. She taught me recipes and how to season food. A good cook understands his ingredients. I think the same thing is true when it comes to pray.... If prayer is going to be powerful we must have the right ingredients. 1. Acknowledge God as your heavenly Father 2. Praise God for Who He is and what He has done 3. Choose one of God's names and thank Him for being that to you 4. Present your day to the Lord 5. Present your body to the Lord 6. Confess your sins before God and ask Him to help you live His way 7. Ask God to help you to only speak words that bring life 8. Ask God for whatever you need 9. Pray for God's will in your life 10. Pray for other people around you Remember these are on ingredients and seasonings you can mix them and experiment with them to make it fit your personality

Joyful...Joyful

Recovering from Sunday is getting tougher and tougher. After three weeks of meeting and traveling I'm tired. Sunday's sermon was a challenge, I was working on the message and God flipped it on me. I'm thankful to the people of Bethel for allowing me to be creative in my preaching. The Narrative on Jacob's wrestling match with God was exciting. The Holy Spirit was in the house...people began to come for prayer. Members held hands and prayed for each other.

Day 12 "How To Maintian A Powerful Prayer Life"

The Lord is teaching me in our spiritual journey and consecrated focus on prayer (both personal and corporate) two very important yet practical points I want us to ponder today. One is, praying with others without spending time alone with God will compromise the effectiveness of our corporate praying power. Two, we have made praying so mystical and deep, but prayer is simply talking to God and allowing God to talk to you. Understanding these to two very important facts we ought to jump in with both feet into prayer.

Here is some earth shaking simple ideas to an effective and efficient personal prayer time.

Just Do It! Don't allow a day go by that you don't take or make time to talk to your Heavenly Father. He longs to hear from His children.

Set a time to pray but not the amount of time. In the beginning don't set an amount time you are going to pray. Just do it. Setting a time in the beginning is setting yourself up for an attack of the enemy in order to defeat you.

Don't force it just relax and let it go. Let it happen naturally as your relationship with God grows. The more time you spend with God and the knowledge you have of Him the deeper your prayer life will be.

Ask God to help you carve out time to pray. Ask and allow God to show you things that you can eliminate from your schedule, or at least shorten to the point of giving you an extra 10, 20 or 30 minutes. Remember it’s not about good verses bad but good verses best. What is the best use of the 24 hours God grants us everyday? There is nothing more important than prayer so make or take the time.

Start each day off with prayer. I love Morning Prayer. It’s as if my thoughts are much clearer. Rather than at the end of the day when my mind is so cluttered with everything. Your prospective will be better in the morning. You have the thought of yesterday and a brand new day ahead to allow God to lead and guide you.

My Love Letter To God (Prayer): Father, We worship You because You are Eternal, Faithful, Holy, Immutable, Impartial, Incomprehensible, Infinite, Just, Loving, Merciful, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Righteous, Self-existing, Self-sufficient, Sovereign, Wise and Good. You are full of promise and perfection, majesty and mercy, bounty and beauty, truth and trust, values and virtue, fruitfulness and faithfulness, glory and generosity, holiness and hope, justice and joy, forgiveness and freedom, righteousness and redemption, salvation and satisfaction, completeness and control. It is with honor, adoration and reverence that we humbly approach Your throne. We will continually offer to You a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips as we acknowledge Your Name. Today, We request nothing of You but have come to worship You for who You are. Thank You for being our God. Thank You for giving us Your Son and comforting us with Your Spirit. Some would say that You cannot be found and some would say that You are far away. But I know You're the God who lives in me and I know You will always have my heart. We worship You with gladness and with joyful songs. We know that You are the Lord our God and it is You who made us, and we are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture. For You are good and Your love endures forever throughout all generations. Thank You for leading us into this spiritual growth journey in prayer and allowing us to witness and experience You move as we pray together. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Day 11 "What Makes Prayer Work"

As I sit in my office pondering all that our church family has endured over the last two years…I am so grateful. Two very famous passages of God’s Holy Word comes to mind Genesis 50:20 & Romans 8:28. Genesis 50:20 reads You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Then Romans 8:28 says And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. No doubt this has be a rough, rugged and rocky ride but today I realize that all the night I was sitting up wonder what God was up too. When I think of the many long days and tough nights when I was so depressed, down, disappointed and discouraged. All the days, weeks and (yes even) months when I couldn’t find the words to use in my prayer to describe what I was feeling. Sometime sobbing, sometime crying and sometime screaming. Today, I finally understood what God was doing…(He let me in on the secret) He was simply answering my prayer and the prayers of many in this church family. Over and over again we prayed too NOT become the biggest church in the world but the healthy church in the world. That’s what God has been doing in the life of Bethel, granting us our prayer request. I don’t know what the future holds for Bethel but I think we’ve come through too much to give us now! God is working…bless His wonderful name.

Though for today: “God created the earth and then He created man to rule over it. Man lost his rule of the earth because of disobedience to God’s laws. Satan gained control and his goal is to destroy God’s purpose for every person. God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins and break the power of the enemy. In other words, Jesus took the penalty for man’s disobedience, which is death, so that those who believe in Him can live fruitfully on earth and spend eternity with God. When Jesus rose from the dead, He commissioned everyone who believes in Him to destroy the ruler-ship of the enemy and restore ruler-ship to man. THIS CAN ONLY BE DONE THROUGH PRAYER!”

Prayer: Father, thank you for giving Your Son Jesus as a ransom for our disobedience and to die for our sins in order to break the power of the enemy. Teach us to apply Jesus’ victory on the cross and take the ruler-ship away from enemy and establish Your rule. The enemy is a liar and we proclaim Your truth over our lives, families, church, communities and world. We declare that You have brought down the enemy’s strongholds and have set the captive free. We declare health for the sick, love for the fearful, forgiveness to the condemned, revelation for the spiritual blind, and we declare wholeness where there is a shattered life. We ask that You will continue to do great things in us, through us, and around us. It is our pray finally today, that you will make and mold us into a powerful, prayerful and purposeful church. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!!

Day 10 "Why is Praying Hard Sometimes"

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thanks be unto God for His Unspeakable gifts…in my best Pastor C. C. Cooper’s voice. Our Midweek Worship Experience is growing exponentially. We are praying for God to bless us spiritually, financially and numerically as a church and He is doing it right now. What an amazing God we serve! Ask and it shall be giving, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be open (The Gaddis’ Translations). You ever notice that if you take the first letter of each of the key words in this scripture it says the same things? A – ask, S – seek and K – knock…You pick up on it already, it spells ASK.

In our experience we had a surprised Pop Quiz and I think the membership did well. Then we worked through some application from our daily reading and sermon from Sunday. What exactly is prayer:
Prayer is communicating with God
Prayer is praising and worshipping God for who He is
Prayer is telling God we love and adore Him
Prayer is telling God we need Him
Prayer is making our request know to God
Prayer is serving God His way

We close with a look at the fact that if we think that a future in heaven is the sum of Christ’s gift to us, we will live out a spiritual immature existence, pointed toward heaven, but pointless on earth. Genesis 1: 26-28. We are given dominion, authority and responsibility to govern earth because God gave it to us. Sin has mess it up but because of Jesus we can reclaim our position on earth as King’s Kids! We join together as a people and declared dominion over everything that has had dominion over us. Asking God to give us ridiculous faith, radical faith, crazy faith in God, Who has no limitation and NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE for Him!

After the movement of the Holy Spirit we realized that “What Makes Praying So Hard” is the fact that we don’t do it. There are a number of reasons why prayer has become difficult but they all will be washed away in the life of someone who becomes dedicated to the practice of prayer. I find praying is difficult because there are many different kinds of prayer and I’m not sure how to pray…pray and God will take care of it. I find praying difficult because I don’t think I do it well…pray and God will take care of it. God is waiting to be invited into your human existence to take over. I once thought it would be impossible to pray an hour but once I gave myself to the practice of prayer an hour isn’t long enough, but it start with just taking baby steps. A few words from a heart full of words move the Hand of God more than many words…remember that.

Prayer: Father, continue to move in our congregation. Breathe on us until we become people of prayer making up a powerful, prayerful and purposeful church. You are the head and your church is the body. Director us, lead us, teach us and most of all have your way with us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Days 8 & 9 "The Power of One & What Is Prayer?"

Dr. Ralph Douglas West says, "Confession is good for your soul but bad for your reputation!" So, here's mine...Monday I just didn't do it I prayed @ 4 but didn't make my daily reading priority. So there you have it even the pastor gets caught up sometime. If you miss a day don't give up or become discouraged. The enemy would make you feel like you're going to hell with gasoline undergarments on but the devil is a lair. Just catch up and get back in step. Now here's the trick I have to figure out what I want to share because this is shouting me. Nothing excites me more than a good book that ushers me closer to my God.

Thought for day 8: #1 "If a soldier is wounded in battle, during his recovery time no one should expects him to be out doing daily drills he is in no condition to do. We can become casualties in the spiritual battle sometimes and though we are still in the army, the agenda is to get well..." Pastor Jack (I wish I would have read this earlier in the year, I was blessed by it as pastor.) #2 "The prayers of others are vital and can help us survive, but to really sense the fullness of God's presence in our lives, we have to be alone with Him every day." Stormie

Thought for day 9: "There are two sides to prayer. There is the fellowship side and the partnership side. The fellowship side of prayer is when we come just to be with God in the intimacy of relationship. The partnership side is when we exercise the responsibilities of partnering with Him to see the reintroduction of His rule into our circumstances.

Prayer: "Father, we know You are real and we want to spend time with You. You are wonderful, almighty, all-powerful, the God and Creator of all things. We exalt You above everything, and We worship You for who You are. We love You, Lord and we thank You for loving us. We need You for everything. We need You to save us, forgive us, heal us, deliver us, fill us, restore us, redeem us, free us, guide us, protect us, lift us above our limitation and move us into the plans and purpose You have for us. Lord, we have no need that You can not meet. We acknowledge that what we pray for may seem impossible to us but with You ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! In Jesus' Name, Amen!!!