BE ENCOURAGED NO MATTER WHAT

Blessed Saints of the Most High, I am going to attempt to keep my write-ups shorter, but get across equally vital points and words of encouragement that always comes from Gods Word. I am encouraged by one of my favorite scriptures that ALWAYS gives me hope when I am going through trials. In Romans 8:18, it reminds me that these trials are very temporal and will never be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us in the realm of eternity where there is nothing but joy, peace with endless hope. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us (Rom 8:18)! It's like comparing a droplet of water in the deep massive oceans of the world. It's like taking one grain of sand and comparing it to the massive thousands of sandy beaches worldwide. When we go through trials and it seems endless, I am encouraged to think about that verse and how temporal life here is on earth compared to the realm of eternity. Don't let your life just be unfortunate events of the past, but boldly declare that with the power of His help fighting your battles for you, He will use you more mightily than He would if you had not gone through any trials. Your past trials can be a use of double force against the enemy. It's time to renounce every vow, every agreement and spoken negative words that we may have made that goes against Gods Word and has allowed the enemy to invade our lives and our wrong way of thinking and replace it with His Word that brings eternal life (John 6:68). By His Grace, let us RISE UP with newness and Godly boldness within because we Know who He is, we Know how Great He is, We know He is for us and not against us, we believe He is most faithful and He is a Friend like no other. In Rom 8:36-38, when Paul was being persecuted, He indicated that even though He was going through hard times, he had that bold attitude to proclaim that no matter what trials we go through "WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVES US". He finishes in the following verse of his reason for being relentless for his positive declaration was because he knew nothing was going to separate himself from Gods love for him. Paul knew God never stopped loving him, and He never stops loving us. Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.37 Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.38 For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,39 Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:36-38). Notice Paul doesn't say "I am more than a conqueror", but he says it for each of us to say: "We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us". Let's get rid of any and all denominational barriers that often separates us Christians and be unified with each other, lift each other up and boldly declare that together "We are more than Conquerors through Christ who loves us" and that by His Grace, nothing is going to separate our heart-knowledge of His special love for each of us. Just like the people were mighty when they were building the tower of Babel simply because they were unified with one goal in mind (Gen 11:6), let us have that same unified mind of Christ and be equally powerful to be mighty for God to advance His Kingdom (Matt 11:12). In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Our Utmost for His Highest

Dear Mighty Saints of God, Through this ministry, it is always my greatest desire to bring out the very best in each one of you as long as I submit to the Lord and allow Him to use me. I know for most of you and myself, He always wants to do more through us as His Blessed Anointed vessels so we can be our utmost for His Highest. This is proof of the fact that He says that He is always willing and is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more then we can ask or think (Eph 3:20). The sad reality is that often, we aren't allowing His best to work through us because of doubt and unbelief. I can't think of a better calling then to know we have truly reached out to be a great encourager and a blessing to one another. You cannot put a price on any one soul. For Christ Himself tells us that "what does it profit a man when he should gain the whole world and yet, lose his soul" (Matt 16:26). It's encouraging to know that each of us has the power of God within us to be that rich blessing who can have a powerful positive impact on other peoples lives. I want you to know that each of you are a unique and blessed vessel whom God created you to be. You are uniquely qualified to be that special person that people may need that can positively alter their lives and eternal destiny for the better. I don't care about what you may or may not have done in the past because when all of us have sinned greatly and we have repented, God has forgiven us of our debt of sins and WILL NOT bring them back to remembrance. Just as His mercies are NEW EVERY MORNING (Lamentations 3:22,23), so each of you can also have a new fresh start and a new beginning. By doing so, you need to strip off hanging on to any guilt so you can allow His glorious excellencies to work through you. I can't stress enough that it is imperitive that we believe like a child and refuse to ever talk yourself out of reasoning why God can't or won't use you. Adults are good at reasoning themselves out of Gods best for them when a child simply believes. The enemy is nothing but a deceiver to try to refrain you from moving forward when God encourages us to ARISE and allow His mighty power to work effectively through you (Psalm 68:35). Each of us can fulfill that greatest mandate in all the world and be His Special Anointed Vessel that will bring encouragement and words of Hope (Lamentations 3:24) to many and be a rich blessing that can change the course in peoples lives. There is nothing that encourages me more then to know that many people are being blessed to share the Hope He has given to us who have invited Him to be our Lord. I know many of you have gone through such horrific events in life. However, I believe that when we go through the greatest trials and endure them by refusing to give up and hang on to the hope we have in Christ (by keeping focused on the eternal hope of glory that awaits us - Rom 8:18), this is often the greatest avenue for us to be highly qualified for His use and become dangerous to the real enemy. When the enemy would like to keep people down from their past trials, I want to encourage you to see yourself as His blessed vessel who is continually preparing you to use your past to be a rich blessing to others. He wants us to cooperate to fulfill His greatest calling on your life by being determined and believe with His help, you will live to enrich many lives and make a powerful positive impact on the lives of many needy people. If we want to give our real enemy (satan) a black eye and frusterate his ways, ask God to put that zeal in you and believe that no matter how bad your past may have been, that He will use your past for His glory if you will simply dare to believe. We are His wonderful, unique anointed vessels. By His Grace, lets believe Him to use our past to fulfill the greatest mandate of all by empowering others with the hope of Christ. We are all qualified to fulfill the greatest mandate He has for us because greater is He (Jesus) who resides in us than he (satan) who resides in the world (1 John 4:4). In order to receive His best to be our best to make a positive impact on peoples lives, I believe this comes when we will give God all the glory and refuse to ever rob Him of that. Let's ask and believe Him that by His Grace, we will be mightily used as His Anointed and Special vessel and be our utmost for His Highest, having a positive impact in many peoples lives. Praying to the Father in Jesus Name, that by Your Grace dear Lord, this world will be a much better place because we are allowing You to work fully through us to fulfill our calling while being placed on earth at this time. We are living in the best time to do the greatest work He is preparing for us to do. God qualifies each of us, but He is simply asking: Are we willing? In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/ Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? (Exod 15:11)

Knowing Our Identity in Christ

Dear Blessed Saints, I feel lead to write a different message and sound the alarm to each one and like God tells to ARISE (Luke 7:14). We are at war fighting against the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness (Eph 6:12) and we need more then ever to have that God confident warrior spirit within us. He wants to equip us to become real warriors because He tells us to put on the armour in the first place. It's very evident as we hear about so many Christians being tried and going through severe trials in many areas of our lives. We definitely can never overlook the fact that we are fighting a spiritual warfare. Even though it seems like we are being defeated, if we are bold in our faith in God, we can say no matter what: That even through the midst of our trials, we are "more then conquerors" through Christ who loves us (Rom 8:37 emphasis added). Too many Christians are being defeated these days and only by His Grace, we can reverse that trend. Therefore, it is more important than ever that we know deeply and intimately who God is and know our identity in Christ if we are to expect to live the life Christ suffered and died to give us. One of the many identities I like is knowing and understanding fully that the power of the Life giving blessings of His Word are reserved for us who have invited Jesus(the Word) who dwells in our hearts and have received Him as our Lord and Saviour. Again, when we think our circumstances are out of control and we go through the severest of trials, we need to fan the flame within us (2 Tim 1:6) that will rise up and become a fire within our belly. As a testimony of my past, when I was continually being buffeted by the enemy and unfortunately, I often surrendered that inherited a defeated mentality. I realized later that the warfare itself was not the problem. The real problem was myself carrying that defeated negative attitude in my spirit because I believed the lies of the enemy instead of believing the truth of what God says who we are. I was sinking farther and farther and grew depressed by giving in to the devils lies. God was showing me that I needed to ARISE in my spirit and showed me how I have failed to know my identity in Him and forgot about who He really is. When I realized I have been deceived by believing the lies of the enemy and how I have failed to realize my identity as an inheritor of God, I got a Holy Spirit anger within me at that moment. I especially got angry at the enemy when I see how he continues to deceive so many of Gods people to believing his lies and keeping many of them prisoners. God tells us in Hosea 4:6 that My people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge (of Him and His Word). When we realize we have been listening to the lies of the enemy, God wants us to get a righteous Holy Spirit anger that will move us. God tells us that it is the men/women who are strong and confident in God are the ones who are forcefully advancing the Kingdom of God (Matt 11:12). Even though Gods Spirit was living within me, this did me no good unless I was feeding my spirit with Gods Word, boldly praying in faith so I could rise up by having that bold confidence in Him. I failed to see the power of Gods Word by not using the Sword of the Spirit as I should have. God revealed to me a picture of a warrior going into battle. He doesn't win a battle by having his sword hanging down, he wins the battle when he picks up the sword and forcefully attacks the enemy. That's how we do it by taking the Word of God and boldly speaking the Word of God against the enemy and saying as it does in Jude 9 "The Lord rebuke you satan", and remind him that he was defeated at Calvary which means we do not receive his lies and we don't allow him any power over our lives when we submit our lives to God (Rom 6:8; Rev 1:5). I learned the power of victory of speaking Gods Word boldly when I was verbally attacked by one of my bosses back at a military base around 1992 when I was a relatively new christian. I was hungry for the Word and when the enemy used that person to speak his words to try to defeat me, the only way I was able to have victory was when I told the devil he is nothing but a liar and a counterfeit. I clenched and raised my fist with the Bible in my hand and told the devil like Jesus says in Luke 4:4,8,10)...IT IS WRITTEN: and I quoted the Word from Phil 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". After having said that with boldness and authority, I felt the power of the Spirit come down to break down that thick wall that the enemy tried to imprison me with. It's an experience that I never otherwise had in my entire life. I realized the power of His Word when we use it with authority like we should all because we should know our identity as His Children whom He had given us His authority (Luke 10:19). Even though we have the Spirit of God living within us and we have the promises of God that says "Greater is He (Jesus) that is within us then he (satan) that is within the world" 1 John 4:4, these promises of God do us no good if we don't take action to use His Word and take a bold stand like He teaches and encourages us to. I know I would have been defeated otherwise. It just so happened that what was said about myself not being able to do a certain task by this person, was later mentioned that the operation I ran was the best many people have ever seen. I can only give God the full credit for giving me the insight and power to do just that. We have victory when we choose to boldly put our confidence in Him and use the power of His Spirit that is within us. To understand our identity in Christ, its extremely important to first know God, which is why I just published three recent articles about the Blessings of knowing God that you can read when you go to my Blog link. When you realize who God is and who we are in Christ by knowing the power of God within us and how we should be walking in confidence knowing He is all powerful and loves us immensely, we will start to understand that we can walk in His authority and the enemy has to bow down when we boldly use the Name of Jesus and the Word (Jesus). If we are going through severe battles, God is teaching us to exercise our faith in Him and RISE UP, just like He told Job to do (Job 38:3). I believe as we are living in these last days, God wants to raise an army who will choose to stand up in the power of His might because we know who He is and we know our identity in Christ as His blessed Children (Eph 1:3). Unfortunately, many people are not because we are not taking a stand against this injustice (robbing the goodness and power of God working in us) and allowing the devil to rob Christians of knowing their identity in Him. The passage in (Matt 12:43-45) Christ talks about a house being swept clean after an evil spirit has departed, and the demon who was initially cast out will be able to bring in other ones seven times more wicked and the man/woman will be worse off. This is telling us that when we clean up our hearts by repenting, renouncing and casting out every negativity we have allowed to enter into our minds and hearts, we need to replace this empty house (our heart and mind) with the powerful truth of Gods Word by reading and speaking His Word into our heart. Otherwise, if we fail to fill our minds and hearts with the blessings and life giving message of His Word, other deceptive words will come in, in its place. When we get the power of His Word into our mind and heart, the enemy will find it harder to try to put his deceptive lies into our inmost being. He can fill an empty cup, but he can't put anymore into a cup that is already full. As I believe we are truly living in the latter days, we desperately need to go back and know the power, presence, wisdom and love of God for us in a great way and ask Him to help us know our identity in Him in order to live the life He suffered and died for us to be able to live. We need to ask God to also help us remain humble before Him so we can be confident to invite Him to help us Rise Up in the newness of His power and strength as we live through this time. Then we can truly start boldly speaking His Word with confidence like two of one of my many favorite verses: "Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.37 Yet amid all these things WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us" (Rom 8:36,37) I capitalized the five words to put emphasis in them which is how we should speak to the devil. For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith.5 Who is it that is victorious over [that conquers] the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on that fact] 1 John 5:4,5 Therefore, let us come boldly (with confidence) to God (to His Throne of Grace) with petitions and thanksgiving and we will receive His much needed Grace and Mercy that is the only way we can live in victory (read Heb 4:16 and Heb 10:35). Let us always remain humble before Him under His mighty hand and He promises in due time, He will exalt us (1 Pet 5:6). In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

BECOME a RICHER BLESSING

Dear Blessed Saints of God, I often think of Psalm 133 of how it is a great blessing and very pleasing to God to see us be together in unity. When I see myself as a very small part of a large body of Believers and seeing Christ as the Head, I can't help be encouraged to reach out and tell everyone, especially for you that we are members of one body as believers in Christ. Therefore, you matter so much to each one of us, to myself, and especially to God. When a Brother of Sister hurts, if we are truly one body the way we need to be, we all hurt. I like to compare a hand holding on to the sore part of the body who may be suffering. I like to see myself as part of a hand that reaches out to others where Christ (the head) directs the hand to bring comfort to others if there is any time you need comforting and encouragement. Also, when you share a great testimony, we want to know so we can also rejoice with you and fulfill the Word & the law of Christ (Read Romans 12:15 and Gal 6:2). When I see this picture as us being many parts that makes up one body, this gives me more passion to be an encourager and a blessing to you and each of the Brothers and Sisters in the Lord because we see our great need one for another and the power of being united in Christ. When we delight to be a rich blessing to one another, we can picture the face of Christ shining because He is carrying a spiritually healthy body when we are united as one in Him because we care for one another and care about how we represent our great and awesome Lord (Jesus). If there is anytime you need prayer, please don't feel left out because we are in this together (as one body). A family, organization & a nation is the strongest when they are united in love. Our greatest Unity is compounded when we want to give God the glory. When we value unity, we need to give absolutely no place for factions, strife, division or any form of lukewarmness by having very little value of one another and how that displeases the One whom we should live to please. When I see how desperate I am aside from God and know/strongly believe how awesome He is to care for us and be that awesome Helper in our time of need, I am amazed at how He works through plain ordinary people like myself to do extra-ordinary works. I see this especially when I desire to be a blessing to each other when I understand that we are together as one in Christ. I want to let you know that I am just a plain ordinary person with no special crudentials whom God is simply able to use when we don't rely on ourselves, but allows His glorious power of His Spirit to work through us. Just like Paul says, when I am weak (undertanding the truth of how desperate we are), then we are strong because it is then that we allow the power of God and His strength work through us). When we are desperate to receive His love and power work through us and believe with His help, YOU CAN be mightily used to be a rich blessing that lives to give God the glory. When God tells us that we are created to live for His glory (Isa 43:7), BY HIS GRACE, YOU CAN live for His glory because He tells us to. He wouldn't tell us to do something or be the man or woman of God they way He tells us to be if He didn't give us His power to be able to do so in the first place. Perhaps He doesn't work through so many as He would like to all because we may have limited Him by our pride, doubt and/or unbelief. By His Grace, let us set our confidence in Him to a far greater and higher standard in His love knowing He cares for us, and we can be counted as those who forcefully advances His Kingdom (Matt 11:12). We can allow Him to do greater works through us to be a richer blessing and leave a greater positive legacy from our lives if we will humble ourselves before God and truly believe Him to do that much needed work for us and through us. A similar question Jesus asks Martha in John 11:26, do you believe this? We see more of Gods power work through those who believe, rely and who trusts in Him. Receive His blessings to you(Eph 1:3). In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/ Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? (Exod 15:11)

The Blessings of Knowing Him More - Part 3

Blessed Children of the Most High After talking about the sovereignty of God and understanding His awesome Power, His unlimited knowledge, I would like to focus on knowing Him more by understanding His awesome wisdom which we call "Omni-sapient" because what He wants to teach us will always result with the best results, far better than any advice man could ever give otherwise. Apart from any other Word or philosophy, it is His Word that only brings forth eternal life. Peter declared this to Jesus when He asked Peter and the Disciples if they were going to leave Him also (read John 6:68) after the 70 Disciples decided to leave Him because His teaching was too difficult. Because He knows all future events, He is able to provide us with direction we need to take that will lead us down the best path and many times and help us avoid un-necessary trouble. However, trouble often comes our way because we fail to acknowledge Him or simply do things that opposes to what He is trying to teach us. Sometimes trouble is inevitable and God only knows because He tells us that we will be persecuted regardless. But through persecution, when we put our trust in Him, we will see ourselves become stronger in Him then before. He tells that we will be persecuted, but tells us to fear NOT (be of good cheer) because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). No matter the circumstances, if we will only trust Him in His unmatched wisdom, we will ALWAYS be better off and stronger in developing that Christ-like character through any and all circumstances. If we are not growing stronger and more confident in the Lord through every circumstance, then we need to humble ourselves and ask Him to help and teach us to draw closer to Him and develop that God-confidence we all need. I must admit, all too often I had to learn the hard way and could have saved myself much trouble. For myself, Gods sovereign wisdom (His Omni-sapience) knew in advance what I needed to go through to break me from the bondages that I didn't realize I was a prisoner of. So the trials I had to endure, I most definitely did not welcome any of it during that time, but I only know from after the fact that I had learned so much and can truly say that I am far better off right now having gone through severe trials that I once dreaded. I would not have known the blessings of being bold in the Lord had I not had to come to the place where I had to take a stand and make a bold decision that with His help, He would help me use my past to be a blessing to many others in need throughout the world. God in His wisdom knows that when others hurt and those of us who have gone through similar trials, we can extend that arm to one another and develop richer relationships because of it. Through this, our love for one another grows through people going through trials. When people don't go through trials, no one would ever see the benefits of people comforting one another and be a richer blessing and develop closer relationships with each other. Had I not gone through trials, I would have failed to ever learn to take a bold stand for the Lord and would have otherwise remained complacent, which is what the enemy wants us as Gods Children to become, which is being lukewarm (read Rev 3:15,16). Without trials, I would not have the wonderful privilege of having so many faithful friends and prayer partners I have come to know and have a rich relationship with throughout this world. God in His wisdom taught me that being negative through trials I was going through gave the enemy more power in my life. I had to come to that place where I had to take a stand to be bold because I should have the confidence in Him that I didn't have before. When we are buffeted by the enemy, we have to come to that place to tell the enemy "enough is enough and by the Grace of God, I am going to be mightily used for His glory, His purposes and be used to forcefully advance His Kingdom" (Matt 11:12). Maybe He is telling many people to get tired of being where you are and for us to "Rise Up" (Deut 2:13) in the power of His might and learn to make that bold declaration that God is going to have His way in our lives and we would be mightily used by Him to His glory. His wisdom knows how much we need to go through before we will start taking a stand and be sick and tired of being sick and tired!! It was when I realized when I knew the Lord the way I should, His Power, His Presence, His Wisdom and His great love for me, I became much more bold and confident in Him as His adopted child. God in His wisdom knew beforehand what I needed to go through before I would come to that place. We just need to be humble enough to realize that He knows better than we ever will and surrender our stubborn wills to His loving plan for each of us. We fail to allow Him to do what He wants to do in our lives because we are often critical of His ways or just think "our ways" are better than His ways all because we do not know Him the way we should. We allow logic (our way of thinking) to exalt itself over having that childlike faith and trust in Him like we should. This is one major barrier called "pride" which He opposes. My life is a living testimony that His Word is true. When we don't humble ourselves, we will never benefit from the blessings He wants to do for us and through us. When we take the time to learn of His sovereignty and come to the place to have that AWE of HIM, His greatness in all His glory and know that His greatness is beyond our intellect, we will never know Him like we should and we will fail to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We will often be under fear rather than having that strong confidence in Him if we only knew Him like we should. Even though we will never be away from encountering trouble, trouble should never make us weaker, but should make us stronger if we will be bold and confident in Him and learn to put our trust in Him. When we spend time to learn more of Him and His Greatness, every circumstances we go through will cause us to be stronger in Him, the boldness to walk in confidence and have that unshakable trust in Him all because we know who He is and what we mean to Him. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/ Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? (Exod 15:11)

The Blessings of Knowing Him More - Part 2

Dearest Blessed Saints, As a continuation of what we read about the Souvereignty of God and His awesome knowledge of all and foreknowledge on things to come, this is a great reminder that His love will always exceed our thoughts because He knows all the sins we will ever commit. Regardless, He still loves us immensely and desires a rich relationship with Him. It's as though He overlooks any of our transgressions we may yet commit and still desires for each of us to have a relationship with Him. I would like to now focus on the fact that He is "All-Powerful" and how that can relate to His immeasurable love for each of us and proof of His ability and willingness to care deeply for us. When you read Hebrews 1:3, He tells us that He establishes everything by upholding, maintaining, guiding and propelling the whole entire universe by the power of His Word. It's amazing to think that sand on the seashore should stop the mighty ocean waves from coming up unto dry land to destroy it (Prov 8:29), and when His voice tells the waves to only come thus far and no further. If there was no order in the universe, I don't think anyone could imagine the utter chaos that would take place if it weren't for the power of His Word to perform. When we think how Awesome in Power and authority He has, its amazing how much greater His love and mercies are because He could very well have wiped us all off the map when we have rebelled & many others continue to rebel against Him. And yet, He withholds and relents so much which is why He tells us that His Mercy exceeds Judgment (James 2:13). The book of Job 38 & 39 are remarkable chapters that identify His greatness that no man can answer what He questions Job with. Just imagine how many times we have rebelled against Him, and yet He always relented from doing what our sins deserved (Ps 103:10) and was always merciful towards us beyond measure. That in itself should cause us to have such awe, admiration, a thankful spirit & a greatful heart beyond measure towards Him. Every breath we breathe is His continual sign of Mercy towards us. When many people would disprove Gods love and care for them, I put these questions to them: Are we putting anything or anyone else in our lives above God? How can we prove our faith towards Him if we didn't have to be tested in the first place? Just like Jesus tells His Disciples: "What good is loving the lovely? Don't the pagans do that?" How can we prove our love for the Lord when only good things come our way? How can we prove our faith? He asks us when He comes, will He find faith? I have heard it said that the real "me" comes out of us when we are hard pressed. Have we taken the time to really know Him the way we should? Just like He questions Job, we have to ask ourselves: "How much do we realize our very lives and every breath are in His hands?" If we did spend quality time with Him and come to know His Greatness in all His excellencies, we would stop doubting and continue to have that strong confidence in Him because of His sustaining power upon our very lives each second we live. With this knowledge and revelation in mind, when we pray, we would pray with such boldness and confidence simply because we KNOW HIM and His love for us the way we should. The reason why He may not be able to do for us in our lives is because we have exalted our circumstances in our lives above His Majestic greatness who is souvereign over all the universe. Do we continue to make excuses rather then humbling ourselves before Him? We may have not adhered to His instructions. Do we remain a prisoner of holding on to unforgiveness? Have we forgotten to use His Word like a mighty Sword (Eph 6:17)? We literally stop the hand of God when we doubt and fail to trust in Him. Jesus could not do any miracles in His own hometown because their unbelief literally stops Him from doing what He can and what He wants to do (Matt 13:58). We should consider that when we ever doubt, worry or have unbelief in any way should be an abomination and a stench to us when we fail to truly trust in the Lord. This is why it is so important to spend quality time to understand His exceeding knowledge and awesome power and meditate on the fact that everything we see was created by the power of His Word. Men may have built, but God is the One who gives man the skills and ability to accomplish anything and everything in the first place. When we read Isaiah Chapter 6, Vs 1-5, this is a good description of how we would likely react if we were to see God, just like Isaiah did. When we develop true Godly Fear, there would be no room for any other fears to dominate our thinking. Proverbs 1:7 tells us that when we fear Him, this is just the beginning of having true wisdom. In other words, we fail to have any Godly wisdom at all when we have no reverentially Fear of Him. One thing I find troubling is that many people will only limit God to their way of thinking because they don't go beyond their own understanding (Prov 3:5). As an example, someone would question me: "How can God foreknow events?" If this person were to read the Bible, many prophecies that were written in the days of old are only coming to pass during this day and age. He even tells us that He knew us before we were knit in the womb (Jer 1:5). I am so glad God knows the future for me which means that I can totally trust in Him to lead and direct my future simply because we understand His love is so great when we see He is so great. David says in Ps 139:14, that he is fearfully and wonderfully made. How can anyone think that we were not created by such an awesome intelligent designer when you see how just the complexity of the human eye alone is created. I want to encourage each one (including myself) to take some time each day and consider how everything we can see (and the unseen) that God has placed into existence and everything is held together and moves around in proper order by the power of His Word. When we meditate on these concepts, meditation is mentioned in the Bible (KJV) 20 times, so its not a mystical cult in the far eastern religions, but is Biblical. Meditation means to take time to do the following: Review; Repeat what you have read; reflect; think about what you read and analyze how His Word applies to us and our lives today. Taking time to meditate is where it becomes a powerful revelation that gets from the mind to the heart where our faith becomes more solid. Understanding His Glorious excellencies is just the beginning of wisdom. Who in their right mind doesn't want the wisdom that comes from above? His wisdom is always available to those who are humble enough to see their need and ask of Him (James 1:5). Let's receive the Grace of God to ask Him to give you a heart to know Him more and more each day so we can be the people He can use mightily for His glory. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Need to Know Him More - Part 1

Dear Blessed Saints, We have all heard many people say that God loves us. Nothing else could be more true that has ever been spoken. However, when I examine myself, I often have to be aware of the familiarity of these truths. In other words, when we sing about His amazing love, hear these familiar passages over and over again or read the Word, does it just become another familiar passage that we just recite? Does His Word fail to become fresh revelation that would energize our spirit and inner-man? I understand for many Christians, we often have very little peace about certain circumstances and we end up worrying and fretting over some present conditions and future events that has never yet happened. But yet, we worry about them. Even circumstances that we face we may react with disgust and hostility because things didn't go our way as planned. If/when we get angry that does lead to sin (because not all anger is sin), I have to ask the question: Am I angry or increasingly upset over certain situation(s) or is there some other underlying reason why we may react ungodly? I think for most of it, if we can understand more about God (who He really is; knowing the truth of His rich love towards us, our desperate need of Him and His help for us, knowing what He has redeemed us from, the immeasurable pardoning of our sins and Grace towards us, knowing the eternal inheritance He has prepared for us), this would allow us to live our lives with confidence and maintain that joy, inner peace, even though circumstances may not dictate so. When we can come to the place by spending much quality time to get to know God more and more, we will be able to live above our circumstances, not below them (Deut 28:13). If we take a deeper look of how GREAT our God is, the greatness of His love for us, the greatness of His wisdom He wants for us, the greatness of His care He is able to give us, He wants to bless us richly to the point that we will gladly come to the place to fully surrender our lives unto His total care and control in every detail. I believe it is very important to go back to the basics that for a new believer in Christ, or us seasoned fellow Christians, to spend quality time understanding the Sovereignty of God. The God we serve who is All Powerful (Omnipotent); Always Present (Omni-Present); All Knowing (Omniscient); All Wise (Omni-sapient) and totally Pure and Perfect in LOVE (1 John 4:8) loves us to that same unlimited measure. We can gain a much greater understanding of who He is when we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and continue to come to a quiet place because He tells us to "Be Still and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10). The end result of living the most blessed life is actually living a surrendered life to God. But for that to happen, we need to take quality time to know Who God is ever more-so. When we can get a deeper understanding and love for Him, we will want to live that surrendered life. When we continue to develop that deep revelation knowledge of His love for us, we are able to have that strong confidence in Him which would remove every fear (1 John 4:18). Because we know He is ever present with us, we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and still not allow any fear to have any dominion over us when we know this personally for us (Ps 23:4). Having this revelation knowledge of His deep love and care for us will allow us to be freed from all fears and remove any shame or guilt the enemy tries to influence us with. We will be able to walk in total Peace instead of pacing back and forth fretting and worrying about our present and future lives because we know He is ever present and He genuinely loves us. I would rather be strong and confidence in the Lord and have total Peace then to live under fear, worry, guilt, shame, doubt and being anxious about so many things. Sadly, this is often the case for many Christians. Having this Peace exceeds all the riches this world could ever afford to offer. God tells us in Hosea 4:6 that His People perish for lack of knowledge. He didn't say that the sinners in this case would perish, but the believers who lack knowledge would in fact perish because we don't spend time alone with God by getting to really KNOW HIM and not just "about Him". As an example, when we see that He is All-KNOWING, we need to understand that He was ALL KNOWING from the beginning to the end and the thought that there is nothing in all its existence in the universe that God did not already know. His foreknowledge is an example in Jer 1:5 when He foreknew us before we ever existed. When we start meditating on the fact that He foreknew what trouble, persecution and type of death He was going to face, we have a deeper admiration for Him. He was completely obedient to His Father to leave the comforts of the Highest Throne Room in Heaven to come down to earth so He can redeem us from the perils of sin, hell and the grave because He loves us beyond our comprehension. He knew all along He would have to suffer greatly and was by no means accidental or coincidental. How anyone would dare do this for a friend? Yet, He did this to every rebellious sinner (Rom 5:8) that ever came into the world (1 John 2:2) so that all may be saved. If I were to make a comparison, it would be like me being willing and obedient to leave my "human-ness" to become a slug in its lowest form and eating dirt all my life. To me, that would be an example of how much He truly loves us. When we spend time to meditate on how He never retaliated when He was beaten, bruised, rejected, mocked, slapped in the face and receive punishment after punishment finally being nailed to the cross with those big spikes, He did this for our eternal benefit with us on His mind. We need to personalize this and see that He did this for ME!! The God of the Universe would come down and bear the greatest punishment just for me (insert your own name)! It makes me realize we only scrape the tip of the iceberg when we think and say that we know He loves us. No wonder it is so vital that we spend quality, quiet time with Him and meditate on His immeasurable love for each of us. We CANNOT afford to ever think we know enough of God when in fact He is so Big that we often only scratch the surface of knowing His greatness because He is so GREAT. God tells us that when we think we stand, we need to take heed lest we fall (2 Pet 3:17). It is vital that we have the mindset of our need to know more of Him no matter how long we have been a christian. When I think of my past and was often rebellious towards Him, He still loved me enough to look past my faults, see my need and drew me unto Him to save me and give me a blessed eternal hope that I don't think we can ever truly comprehend. And to also forgive me over many many times, yet He is so patient and longsuffering towards me because I am an example of how He continues to use me despite my many faults and failures. A person could write about God every minute for the rest of each ones life and it still would not cover what He has done. John 21:25 tells us that all the books can never contain of what He has done for us. We need to ask the Holy Spirit who is the Godhead that is ever present with us to Help us in every detail of our lives. He is the One who is our Advocate, Teacher and the One who will Stand-by us (John 14:16 Amp Vers). He is the One who is our Counsellor, who empowers us with might and knowledge (Isa 11:2; 1 Cor 12:8). Who gives us wisdom, insight & revelation (Eph 1:17). We need to be honest before God and confess our desperate need of Him in every area of our lives. Gods Holy Spirit is always here with us, but how often do we neglect to personally invite Him to help us in everything He wants to be a vital part of. Christ says, for without Me, we can do nothing (John 15:5). It always comes down to continue developing that deep relationship of being totally dependant upon Him. The Spirit is so gentle, yet most powerful and He only comes in and works on our behalf to the measure that we allow Him to do so. God promises us that when we draw close to Him, He will draw close to us (James 4:8). Therefore, how close He draws towards us and live blessed with His presence in our lives that brings Joy and Peace will always depend on us. How close are we willing to draw to Him? How much of our lives do we really want to surrender to Him? I will continue in this series in the following weeks. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/