“But he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
~ James 4:6 (KJV)
“But God shows us even more
kindness. Scripture says, "God opposes arrogant people, but he is kind to
humble people." ~ James 4:6
(Gods Word Version)
Father in Jesus Name I come to
You and pray so thankful that You are actively aware of my conditions. Lord,
You know I am sinful and in need of Your life changing water, the water of
life, the Holy Spirit that was given to me immediately on the day of
salvation. Holy Spirit, reveal my pride
and may I feel that convicting power of God at the end of this message or even
before, to the point where I say “Lord, this is You in me right now” and I am
face to face with a choice, should I let this go and grow or should I let it
stay and be dormant in my walk with You. Lord, place me face to face with my
own pride, so I can know who I am and whose I am. Teach me Your ways God, help
me to submit to Your authority and not my own. I thank You because You’ve
already foreseen this prayer being prayed in the sincerity of my heart and You
are literally going to make it happen in Jesus Name I am so thankful! AMEN!
Face to
face with my own pride I am convicted of the presence of God in knowing right
and wrong. What I once believed was a
good thing turned out to be a bad thing.
I had this inward thought to want to preach the Gospel to millions of
people, to be known as “the one who preached to…so and so…” which is completely
contrary to the Spirit of Christ. It sounds
spiritual; I mean come on, after-all “God, You did call me to preach.” It seems
that the longer you walk with God the more carnal and fleshly you realize your
last level of “great maturity and spirituality” has become. Inwardly, I thought, “man, this has to be the
will of God, why would I want to reach so many people for Christ?” I mean, let’s
be honest, we all want to do things
for God once we allow Him to work in our hearts, but if we aren’t
careful, self and flesh will creep in and contaminate that pureness, love and
desire that came from God. Satan’s greatest dart in your life is pride and ego,
you watch that and remember this, each level of spiritual growth requires a
level of pride being pushed down by the Spirit of God and you yielding your
will to that work of God. Remember this,
for this is assured and tested by time; pride will always follow a believer who
is striving
to do the will of God. However, be assured of this, pride is so
sly and it creeps in COMPLETELY un-noticed.
Pride is so deadly and dangerous and while many can see the effects of
it, it silently attacks us in our thoughts.
Our thoughts become our actions and that’s what satan wants to target, your actions. Satan knows you are about to reach a new height
in Christ, so he desires to contaminate what God is doing by placing pride
inside of you. Face to face with my own pride, it looked so spiritual, I mean,
helloooo preach to the world, Adam. However, imagine if that did happen, people
would be screaming MY name,
telling people about MY
sermon, telling people about MY
books and telling people they know ME;
that’s the worst thing that could
ever happen to a Preacher, even though it’s the BEST thing that could happen to
the flesh.
The Holy Spirit has
taken me through a great ride in my spiritual life and I understand the twists
and turns yank and pull at me, I fight it and try to get rid of them, but in
all honesty, they deliver me, they show me who I am and what I am not. I realize so often that I am not what I want
to be, nor what I claim to be. How
terrible is it when we realize that we are still
sinners after striving so long to become perfect? That’s enough to
ruin your dinner, you won’t want to eat after that conviction, but it’s
necessary. I know by faith now that everything I encounter is preparation
for a greater level of service. I know why some things happen and still to this
day I can have a thought on “well…maybe this is why” but I am not always
assured of that great work that God is doing in my heart and life, but I am
assured of this, it’s not for Adam’s glory, it’s for Gods. All of Gods work in my heart is designed to
draw me closer to Him and for people to run after me only to realize they were
running after Christ the whole time; that’s what Leadership really is as a
Kingdom Minded Christian. You stand around
and point to Christ, you don’t take recognition, you turn down the offers for
big deals, money and bribes, you don’t do that, because you aren’t doing it for
you, you are just someone who is
favored by God enough to stand around and point to the One who paid the price. I was reading in a book one time called “Ministry
is…” and it was speaking about the cost of ministry and how it really does cost
something to serve God (not just
preaching, but living, loving and serving humanity and even enemies) and it
does! As I was reading it the last question was something like this: “is
Jesus worthy?” That question is what I present to you today, right now. If God convicts you and shows you pride in your
life, is your profession of Jesus Christ being who He is and what He has done
in your life WORTHY or is He just someone on the side of your life, really not
actively involved in it, because as you pray to God to open doors, you shut
doors in His face that He is trying to come through in your life. Your answer
to your level of humility is found in the answer to the question. “Is Jesus Worthy?”
Is He….?
Father, it’s me and
I know what it is, I want You to take it from me. Take the pride from me, the
anger from the abuse and the rejection. Lord, You know the root cause of all of
this, You understand why I feel and have felt that way for so long, but Lord,
You also have the power to rid me of that. Lord, take control of that part of
my life right now as I place the steering wheel in Your hands. Holy Spirit,
draw me nigh to the heart and purposes of God, not for my own glory or
recognition, but that someone, even if it’s just one would see You and know
Jesus needs to be their Savior too. Lord, make my faith fluent, active,
enthusiastic and contagious. Fill me afresh with Your power, baptize me in the
power of the Spirit and may Your love through me overflow. Lord, let me cup
overflow and change the world around me through Your inward change in me. I
thank You so much that You are worthy. Yes, You are worthy of me laying down my
ungodly desires and habits and selfish ambitions and desires for control of my
life. Lord, take this from me so I can be fruitful and blossom in my walk with
You. Show me the fruit of getting this out of me. I thank You for You are
worthy and You have answered yet another prayer, not because I am so holy, but
because You are so kind, caring and loving. Forever am I grateful to You.
Please help my family and friends in Jesus Name! AMEN!
_____________________________________________________________
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as
your personal Lord and Savior?
If not, here’s what you are missing.
You are missing satisfaction in life. You are missing the blessings of
God in and through your life. You are missing the blessing of being able to
know God intimately and know Him for the pardoning of your sins. You are missing the blessing of being able to
serve God and impact your community and the world around you. You are missing the beauty of God revealing
Himself to you and helping you in your daily life. You are missing out on such
great things. God wants the best for you
and His best starts with you admitting you have sinned against Him and that you
need a Savior for your sins, that Savior is Jesus Christ. Like me, will you rebel against God’s plan
and will for your life? Will you submit to Gods will so He can save you and
redirect your life? God can get you off
any drugs, any habit or addiction, nothing can stop God and God will stop at
nothing to stop it from stopping you from reaching your full potential for
Christ. God loves you so much, why wait
and why reject His message. If you want
to be saved for-real, just pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I have sinned, I am a sinner, I have sinned and will sin, but I
have sinned only against You. Lord, I am in need of Your forgiveness. I believe
You died for my sins and You rose from the dead. I believe You are God and that
You have the capability to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from my
unrighteousness. Lord, please save me and draw me to You by Your grace. Fill me
with Your Spirit. Baptize me in Your power and help me to live a lifestyle that
is pleasing in Your sight. Give me victory over temptation, Lord, strengthen me
to be all who You want me to be please in Jesus Name! AMEN!”
"God loved the world this way:
He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will
have eternal life." ~ John 3:16 (God’s Word Translation)
"That
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a
person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting
in salvation. For
the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be [disappointed.” For
there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord
of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” ~ Romans 10:9-13 (NASB)
These links may help you in your walk with Jesus Christ. I urge you to take a look at some and
remember to draw closer to God through studying His Word and praying daily for
yourself and most importantly, others.
God Bless!
[List of Bible Promises!
http://www.intouch.org/resources/gods-promises?page480=2 ]
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
~ Romans 10:17 (King James Version)
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/PrayerAndCounseling/index.aspx [Prayer
Request; Have someone online pray for you!]
"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces
wonderful results." ~ James 5:16 (New Living Translation)
http://www.OurPrayer.org [Prayer Request; People from all over the world can
pray for YOU, simple, fast, free and beneficial.]
http://www.Bible.cc [Great site for searching through the Bible and
comparing each version, also charts, commentaries and dictionaries]
"Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be
filled with the Spirit." ~ Ephesians 5:18 (Gods Word Translation)
http://www.biblegateway.com [Great site for Bibles of various kinds and
various languages]
"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the
bones." ~ Proverbs 14:30 (New International Version)
http://www.Christianword.org [Great site for prayers; affirmations,
scripture references etc.]
http://www.e-sword.net [Great site to download Bible software; commentaries,
dictionaries, maps, charts, various Bibles]
"A patient person [shows] great understanding, but a quick-tempered one
promotes foolishness." ~ Proverbs 14:29 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
http://www.twft.org [Pastor Chuck Smith's Through The Bible audio sermons]
http://www.c28.com [Christian Clothing, etc.]
http://www.intouch.org/itrn?utm_source=ITM&utm_medium=Web&utm_campaign=Home_top_slider
[In Touch Ministries 24/7 Radio Broadcast Online; Free Streaming]
http://www.intouch.org/resources/gods-promises?page480=2 [List of Bible
Promises! (Easy to Print)]
"In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children
will have refuge." ~ Proverbs 14:26 (New American Standard Bible)
http://www.wmpress.org [FREE Christian Tracts] [Shipped to your doorstep for
free.] [Pass out, leave somewhere (school, bus stop, grocery store, mall,
shopping center, etc.), send in a Birthday, Holiday or Christmas Card; Simple
ways to plant seeds of faith in people, even without speaking.]
[ORDER FORM for WMPRESS.ORG] http://www.wmpress.org/booklet_order.php [BOOKLETS/STUDY GUIDES/ GOSPEL TRACTS
AVAILABLE TO ORDER FROM WMPRESS.ORG] http://www.wmpress.org/bksavail.shtml
http://www.intouch.org/about/in-touch-messenger/messenger-downloads
[Download 35 POWERFUL sermons from Charles Stanley in less than five minutes,
compressed ZIP FILE.] [3 Languages; Pray for the Ministry of donating, giving
and supplying these handheld devices to spread the Gospel to the remote areas
of the world and throughout the 'known' world.] [Pray!]
"For, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." ~ Romans 10:13 (American Standard Version)
http://www.thruthebible.org/site/c.irLMKXPGLsF/b.4104233/k.BFE1/MP3_Download_of_5Year_Series.htm
[Dr. J Vernon McGee's Through The Bible 5 Year Series; Free downloads]
[THREE Great Biblical Prayers Ephesians 3:14-21, Ephesians 1:16-20 &
Colossians 1:9-14, pray them for you and others!]
http://www.biblegateway.christianbook.com [Buy Christian Bibles, great
selection of Study Bibles, commentaries, audio sermons, books, clothing, music,
gifts, art; etc.]
http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/today-on-radio [Charles Stanley's daily
radio broadcast; also clicking 'Audio Archives' can allow you to search years
back and download more of his radio broadcasts]
"I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and
peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the
Holy Spirit." ~ Romans 15:13 (New Century Version)
http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/this-week-on-tv [Charles Stanleys 'This
Week on TV' site; clicking 'Video Archives' can allow you to search back and
find older Television shows; He also has sermon notes available on each
show/segment]
"And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." ~
Romans 5:5 (English Standard Version)
http://www.twft.com/?page=C2000 [Pastor Chuck Smiths c2000 Through The Bible
series; free downloads of book by book, verse by verse Bible study/commentary]
"May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your
knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." ~ 2 Peter 1:2 (New Living
Translation)
http://twft.com/?page=Radio.Main [Pastor Chuck Smiths Radio Broadcast; 25
minutes of study on the Word of God. c3000 edition]
[Study Bibles I suggest looking at; at CBD.com] 'Life in The Spirit Study
Bible' 'Zondervan Study Bible' Nelson KJV Study Bible' and 'ESV Study Bible.'
Christian Books; "Disciplines of The Holy Spirit" by Tan/Gregg;
"How to Listen to God" by Charles Stanley; "Living Waters"
by Pastor Chuck Smith; "Handbook for Christian Living" by Charles
Stanley;
"That I may KNOW Him" ~ Philippians 3:10
Start your day off with a Word from God; Prayer and a Song of Praise/Worship
THE ROYAL PRAYER LINE
Every Wednesday Morning
6:15 a.m. - 6:30 a.m.[EASTERN USA TIME]
Dial-in# (712) 432-1001
Access Code: 491276491#
Just Listen and Be Blessed!!!
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/royal-baptist-sunday-services [PAST SERVICES
OF ROYAL MISSIONARY BAPTIST; SUNDAY SERVICES 8 AND 11 AM; Special Events and
Bible Study as well] Enjoy!
http://royalmbc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=109
[My Churches Live Streaming; Sunday's at 8 AM & 11 AM. Thursdays for Bible
Study 7 PM; Enjoy, there IS a Word from The LORD!]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful in your comments knowing people of all ages can see this blog.
"Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." ~ Romans 15:2 (HCSB)