GOING DEEPER....its a Matter of Practice.

This week, the Lord reminded me again, the importance of building an alter whenever we want to meet Him, to hear Him, to know Him, to go Deep with Him and to love Him.
Genesis 12:7 (NIV) The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
When you build an Altar, HE will meet YOU…..

An Altar of Worship…..who is King?

An Altar of Sacrifice…..what do you value?

An Altar of Transaction….whom will you obey?

An Altar of Remembrance….what & who you celebrate?

Come, let’s build….HE WILL COME!!

FIRES OF REVIVAL
I came to the gathering of the people of the Lord , And found my way among them to His throne
I needed to return unto the altar of my God, To renew again my covenant with Him

And there I built, an altar to His name , And realised my life could never be the same
And then the fires of revival came sweeping through my soul and I touched the Holy presence of my God

Come build an altar unto the Lord , return to worship and hear His Word and the fires of revival
will come sweeping through your soul and we’ll touch the Holy presence of our God

I wanted to discover the first love we once had shared rekindling the fire deep within
I found the lamp still flick’ring in the temple of my Lord And poured a horn of oil onto the flame

O weary wanton pilgrim beaten back by Satan’s power There’s still a place for refuge to be found
Come back to His temple to His altar stained with blood and pour a horn of oil onto the flame

GOING DEEP...its a matter of Prayer.

My Prayer this week.

Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us into this exciting Year of Victory. I see your sovereign hand leading us as a Faith Community in one accord to Breakout – Go Deep, Look Far and Ask Big. I pray that I will experience in a very personal way a new Depth of Love for You as I walk “faithfully” and “fearlessly” into this Year of Victory - Rising up as a Warrior of light, I asked again, that you will lead me, equipped me, empower me, where you have placed me, to shine for Jesus and be a blessing to all. May it be just to one lonely soul across the room, hungry for you or to the multitudes that you have prepared, even before the beginning of time, that will experience the reality of Thy Kingdom Come and Your will be done. Lord, I am excited about this Apostolic Call to Ask Big of you, to know again that you indeed you will and want to bless your very own children. I sense not just my faith being challenged but also growing with every “Big Prayer” I utter, I become even more aware and rested in you – my God Almighty. O Lord, I am Thankful.

Lord, I asked specifically this week that as I prepare my heart and spirit to receive from you the Word for your people this coming Sunday, that you will build a hedge of protection over me and my family. As you lead us into a greater intensity of spiritual warfare, we pray that you will reign Victorious over every situation that we are called to engage. Lord, I asked again, what is your heartbeat for your children in church this weekend? I know the Apostolic Call has been given to us, I affirm it in my spirit that this is of You and as a Body Lord, we anticipate your strong hand upon us.

Lord, I can see you preparing for yourself a mighty army of the Warriors of Light that will go deep, look far and ask big. Lord, I sense the Warrior’s Call upon us all is a Call to TO FIGHT, a Call to fight TOGETHER and a Call to fight together TO WIN. Lord, it is an Exciting Call, a Challenging Call and a Pressing Call. Lord, how can I bring this word across rightly to the Spiritual Family this weekend? Lord….Help!

Lord your words say to me “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2Tim 2:1).” and then “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer (2Tim 2:3-4).” Yes, I know, this will be my lot this week as I obey the call to preach the Word. But I know Lord, that I am not alone – your very personal and powerful Holy Spirit has been given to me and thank God, I can “be strong in the grace”.

Lord, I pray again for the people, I pray again for everyone, young and old that walks into our weekend services, that you will bless them victoriously. I pray especially for my spiritual children, grand children and great grand children that they will let your light shine strong upon their lives. I pray that they will be hot for you and be set on Fire this New Year of Breaking Out. Bless them with both a “bumperty bump” excitement in their spirit to answer to your Call upon them and a faith-full “assurance in the heart” to know that you care, love and is passionate about each one of them. Lord, come through for each one of them this week and may they find their depth in You.

Lord, I humbly submit this to you, in the Name of Jesus, my Savior,

Amen.

2Tim 2:11-13 (NIV) “11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”

2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV) 3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.

GOING DEEP AS A WARRIOR OF LIGHT

1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NIV) 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Question: What are we fighting for?

“Fight the good fight of the faith” (1Tim 6:12)

The DEPTH MARKERS of a "Man of God" – a Warrior of Light.

(Read 1 Tim 6:11-21)

1. RIGHTEOUSNESS

“Keep His Commands” v14

2. GODLINESS

“Turn away from Godless chatter” v20

3. FAITH

“Fight the good fight of faith” v12

4. LOVE

“To be rich in good deeds” v18

5. ENDURANCE

“Hope in God who richly provides” v17

6. GENTLENESS

“Grace be with you” v21

THE BATTLE BEGINS WITH SELF – Go Deep in Christ.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 (NIV) 20 ......, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you.

2 FIGHT 2GETHER 2 WIN

"Together, Dick & Rick Hoyt have run in marathons, competed in triathlons and once even trekked 3,700 miles across America. What they have accomplished together is simply amazing when you consider that Rick cannot walk or talk."

TO FIGHT
to fight TOGETHER
to fight together TO WIN

2007 "POWER" POINTS

GO LIGHT THE WORLD

This is so inspiring......




RISING UP AS A WARRIOR OF LIGHT

“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3)

same & DIFFERENT

A belated CHRISTMAS DAY posting on NEW YEARS DAY…..I have been in Church since I was three and was born in raised in a family that “went to church”, I honestly cannot recall when there was NO CHRISTMAS in our home or family. With an active and serving spirit, I too cannot recall, a Christmas that was not spent in serving or reaching out and sharing the true message of Christmas – whether as a little boy narrating the Christmas story, or play acting my part in the Christmas Pageant or leading a cell outreach or even on a grander scale to reach out and to give to the needy and the poor or even supporting big Christmas productions at venues that were many times larger than my living room. Therefore, if there’s anything to be concern about, it would be that CHRISTMAS can come and go as like it has been for the past many years…another SAME CHRISTMAS, 25 DECEMBER 2006.

However, this Christmas (25 December 2006) morning there was something DIFFERENT. In the quietness of my living room, with an open bible and an open heart I read again the SAME Christmas Story, told some 2000 years ago and I recalled again, how God showed His love to us when He gave us His Son, yes Christmas is really about me (see earlier posting). But suddenly something moved in my spirit, there was a warmth than came upon me with a fresh realization that God did not just SHOW us His love that first Christmas but HE actually GAVE us His love, is there a difference? Yes, because of the SAME-NESS of Christmas each year and the often place of “sharing” the Christmas story, I realized that I can get so easily trapped by the “showing and telling” of the Christmas Story- the message of God showing us His Love that i forget that the real dilemma before us, is that God did not just SHOW us His love but He really GAVE us His love…..and as with any gift that is put into our hands, you have a very immediate "problem" at hand – to receive this gift or to reject it, there is very little in-between. It is a matter that you cannot run away from, it must be confronted and a personal decision is called for.

I realized now that, the mindset of God “showing” me His love, just made me a spectator or an audience in the “Christmas Pageant” and I can then decide with no consequence to self, what I need to do with what I SEE. I can have an “of stage” view of this whole story that is played out before me and then do absolutely nothing about it.

But, this morning, this Christmas, it dawn upon me that Christmas is really not about God just “showing” His love but it really is the “giving” his love to me, a GIFT place into my hands or as some young people would say “in your face”….i am confronted with a very pressing decision to make. Do i want it, will i accept or reject this gift.

Therein in my living room, this SAME Christmas morning, I came to a very DIFFERENT place to receive again His love afresh. “Receiving” His love is more important than just “seeing” His love. This is where, suddenly God came near this Christmas – it was DIFFERENT.