I humbly want to praise and Thank God for a wonderful weekend! I hope you felt the anointing and wonderful power of God as I did. I have already heard positive words from some of you and I trust God will answer and move on the prayers you prayed. God bless.
Here are a few thoughts on my mind this morning.
On the Prayer Journey we took in Sunday evening’s service one of the area that stands out with importance and power to me is the place of repentance. The Brazen Altar was the largest of the tabernacle furniture. The fire was to be forever burning there and it was ignited by God Almighty (Leviticus 9:24). The fire from this Altar was to be used in the Holy Place. One place was to light the incense on the Golden Altar, the place where we make intercession for others and ask God to answer our prayer request.
The fact is many never get the power and importance of repentance and the attitude (spirit) that goes with it. Jesus taught us that God would forgive us like we forgive others (Matthew 6:12-15). We have no fire to give our petition with if we don’t have a true repented heart. Sad part many try to fake it here. Aaron’s sons tried this in Leviticus 10. Right after a fire went out from God at the end of chapter 9 these guys marched right in and tried to uses another means to approach God. The fire again went out from God and took care of them. God was so firm over this that Aaron was commanded not to mourn over their death or God would get him.
As we go through life we get blasted by things that are often not our fault. We get attacked by people who are self-centered and consumed in their own world to such a place that they blast words at us that hurt. We have to keep in mind not to allow these things to keep us from God.
We have lust and desires that are contrary to God’s way. We so easily run our life by our feelings and get out from behind the shield of faith in God. On and on the list goes but we need to repent and change if we want to approach God in His presences. We cannot approach Him with strange fire trying to ignite our intercession.
Along that line here is a thought from Max Lucado.
Patience is the red carpet upon which God’s grace approaches us.
The Greek word used here for patience is a descriptive one. It figuratively means “taking a long time to boil.” Think about a pot of boiling water. What factors determine the speed at which it boils? The size of the stove? No. The pot? The utensil may have an influence, but the primary factor is the intensity of the flame. Water boils quickly when the flame is high. It boils slowly when the flame is low. Patience “keeps the burner down.”
Helpful clarification, don’t you think? Patience isn’t naive. It doesn’t ignore misbehavior. It just keeps the flame low. It waits. It listens. It’s slow to boil. This is how God treats us. And, according to Jesus, this is how we should treat others.
If we can learn to let God produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, patience would help us go a long way in becoming such that we can develop a repented attitude.
Here is another thought from Perry Nobles. Little gross but he makes a great point.
I Never Changed My Sheets!!!
Ezekiel 33:30-33
I moved in to Anderson College (now Anderson University) in August of 1990. I remember putting a set of brown sheets on my bed… And I didn’t change/wash them ALL SEMESTER!
(Sorry for those who just threw up a little bit in your mouth!) Seriously…I NEVER changed them.
I thought about washing/changing them…but… I took my showers at night, so how dirty could they really be? Besides, changing them would take a lot of time and energy. No one really ever saw my sheets! It wasn’t a big deal, right? (Can you EVEN begin to imagine how gross those things were?)
Everyone reading this KNOWS that those things were gross! I will bet hardly ANYONE here thinks that I was wise in my decision not to change the sheets… However…
So many people do that every Sunday in churches all over the world.
They will show up every week…listen to a sermon and then go home.
Sometimes they think, “wow, I should do something about what I heard today.” But often times they decide against it because doing so would take a lot of work; after all, who is ever really going to see the area of their life that needs to be changed? When God deals with an area of our lives He isn’t doing so because He has nothing better to do but rather He’s doing so for our own good. If He is wanting to change something…then that something needs to be changed.
I am learning more and more as a follower of Christ that He is constantly changing me, my thoughts and my attitude by making me more aware of who He is. Because, becoming more aware of who He is really does make me want to be more like Him… And…in order for that to happen I’ve got to “change the sheets” when He clearly points out things in my life that cannot continue the way they are going.
Anyone need to change the sheets?
Let me ask you, what are you doing about that part of your life God has been telling you to change? If you don’t change it, you will not go any closer to Him. Come on; let’s allow the fire of God to consume our sins, or negligence, and the weight that keeps pulling us down. Repent, so that you can really get anointed. Change so you can be all God really wants you to be.
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