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godstillheals — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:14:28 +0000

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Today’s word: WITNESS (Part four)

godstillheals — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:10:39 +0000

Send me Lord, Send me.

“And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke’ we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:13-15).

Satan deceives people with his darkness so they cannot see the light of the gospel. They are blinded and cannot see God’s spiritual truth. So, what can we do about it? Here are Five Powerful Steps for witnessing to friends, family and neighbors.

STEP ONE: Pray for the cover of darkness to be removed, so like the blind man in (John 9:25) they may say, “Though I was blind, I now see.”

STEP TWO: Ask the Holy Spirit to soften their heart. A hardened heart is like an unplowed field; unable to hold seeds unless the ground is first broken up. (Ezekiel 11:19-20) “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them…and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”STEP THREE: Pray they understand their need for repentance. Jesus spoke of repentance over and over. Those whom we pray for must realize their need for repentance in order for them to come to Christ. No sin is too great that it cannot be washed away in the blood of Jesus.

STEP FOUR: Pray for their salvation and then trust in the Lord. What if you are the only person who will pray for your unsaved friend or family member? Don’t stop praying for them! (Romans 10: “But what does its say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

STEP FIVE: Pray with and for the lost person. Pray the Lord sends a Christian friend to them if they live too far away for you to be there with them. Sometimes we cannot see the people we pray for. Maybe they live too far away. This makes it hard for us to share the gospel with them. Pray for God to send a Christian friend to them. Pray this simple prayer for them. “Lord God, I am praying now that You will send someone to my friend/family member who will present the gospel not only with words, but with love, power, and with deep conviction not unlike that which Your Holy Spirit will do.” Amen.

Today’s word: WITNESS (Part three)

godstillheals — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:30:02 +0000

Why Me Lord?

Do you question whether you are to witness to others? Maybe you wonder what authority you have. Maybe you think you have to be ordained, or be a member of the clergy. You don’t. In (Matthew 28:16) Jesus met with all eleven of His disciples on a mountain. The Scripture says that when they saw Him they worshipped Him but, some doubted. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. These eleven men would not live on this earth forever, therefore those whom they would witness to (the body of Christ) were then to perpetuate the mandate Christ left; His Great Commission. Jesus stressed; the believer’s role in evangelism, discipleship, teaching, worship, and missions. Are we not believers? Yes, we are, and as believers, we are therefore to follow Jesus’ teaching. Spread the Word, preach the good news! Witness to the lost.

We are not only given authority to witness to others, and to lead them to Christ; as believers, we are charged by Christ to do as He instructed. (Romans 8:2) says; “And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? You then have authority to witness Him to others! More so, as a believer in Him, Jesus expects that you will witness to others.

Tomorrow we will learn some different ways we can approach witnessing to those whom we are being led to. I am excited about this teaching and I believe the Holy Spirit is now working in you, equipping you for the task He will soon assign you. God is so good!

Let’s pray together: “Father God, You are so wonderful! You never call us to do anything without first equipping us for your purpose. We trust You Lord to give us all we need to witness to others. Help us Lord to know what we are to say to those whom You send us. Show us how to be Your effectual witness for Your dear Son, Jesus Christ.” Amen.

Today’s word: INTERCESSOR

godstillheals — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:38:12 +0000

Intercession isn’t just going to church to pray.

Intercession isn’t only about meeting with your prayer group either. What exactly is an intercessor? You know you are a true intercessor when righteousness is birthed in you to the point that you can no longer operate in the flesh. You become a covenant partner in the work of Christ. You know you are an intercessor when the errands of your day are interrupted by the Lord to pray for someone. At that divinely appointed moment you must have the power of God already in you; you are the temple of prayer, and dropping everything to run to the church isn’t an option. When His anointing pours over you as His intercessor you must be ready to pray for that person then and there! As His intercessor you are on duty 24/7, it’s not a job of convenience where you punch in at 9 and out at 5. There is no minimum wage, and there’s no check on payday.

Just watch when the church announces a special choir program or that a popular guest speaker is coming; its standing room only! But, announce “there will be a prayer meeting at the church Thursday night” and see who comes. There will only be a few of the same righteous warriors who show up. The alarm call for prayer is only heard by true intercessors, those whose righteousness quickens them to answer the call and pickup the burden of Christ in prayer.

Jesus Christ pulls you into intercession if you are one of His righteous warriors. You will be called to pray for your family, your church, your community, and if you are one of His intercessors you will drop everything and drop to your knees to pray! Many are called – few are chosen.

Today’s word: WITNESS (part two)

godstillheals — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:00:15 +0000

Why Must We Have A Spiritual Life?

God is Spirit. To understand the thoughts of God, and what He expects of us, we must have the Spirit of God within us. We are then equipped for life with Him because of the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. Now, please read (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) as this chapter explains so much about why we must have a spiritual life with God.

We must have a spiritual life because that which would be spiritual inside us is dead. Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden caused our spiritual being to die. His sin-debt became the sin-debt for all mankind. Unless our sin-debt is paid-off our destiny is hell. Jesus came to release us of that dismal destiny! God has provided us a way out – “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This first birth, or natural birth only gave us a temporary life as we can read about in (Romans 5:12). Being a good person isn’t good enough! Being born again; our spiritual birth, is only achieved by our desperate acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. He alone is our salvation! He is our source for freedom from sin and life eternal.

When we accept Christ, believing He died on the cross for our sins, was resurrected, and we ask Him to forgive us of our sins, we receive His Holy Spirit; who then comes to live within us, assisting us as our counselor, and He becomes our helper in all things spiritual.

Being forgiven of our sin is not automatic. We do receive it instantly though when we cry out to God in complete surrender. He will then give us His free gift of salvation — life eternal! Jesus said not only can you be born again, but you “MUST be born again” (John 3:7).

You may already know all that I am presenting here in this series of messages, and I hope you do but, my task is to refresh your thinking so you may go out to witness for Christ in complete confidence knowing what a person needs to be born again, being saved from all sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I want to help you be confident and willing to witness.

Keeping this refreshing simple, we will stop here and continue tomorrow. Be sure to stay on board with me so we may increase your awareness of witnessing and help you build the confidence you need for witnessing to others.

My prayer for you today is: Our Lord Jesus, we love you. I ask that You allow Your Holy Spirit to quicken our minds and our hearts so we may become more like You. Help us to be confident in our own salvation, so we may speak about You to those whom are lost. Help those of us Lord who want to be your disciples, equip us Lord! I pray this in Your Holy name. Amen.

Today’s word: WITNESS

godstillheals — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:23:30 +0000

Let’s say you are visiting a friend and your conversation comes around to the church you attend, and your friend tells you they don’t go to church. Actually, they confess, they aren’t too sure they believe in that sort of thing, meaning God, Jesus and heaven. “Wow,” you may think to yourself! Do you even “go there,” as they say? Of course you do! This may be your friend’s way of satisfying their curiosity about what you believe in without asking you directly. They may be on the verge of wanting to know more about God and their salvation; they trust you to tell them the truth. If you don’t acknowledge their statement you may be doing them a serious disservice, and certainly Jesus doesn’t want us to be bashful concerning us telling others about Him. Every lost soul is important to Jesus, and we are supposed to help others discover who He is. I believe this is especially true for our immediate family and our friends.

The next few messages here at; GOD STILL HEALS will be dedicated toward helping you get over being reluctant, or shy about speaking to others about accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, thus they being born again. I plan to keep this really simple, because witnessing to others is not something you have to dread, or be afraid of. It is important, and I know the Holy Spirit will help you gain the courage to speak with His words when your opportunity to do so arises.

Before you step out as God’s witness He will help you prepare. He will help you to tell others how they may accept His Son, Jesus Christ and be born again. Your responsibility as a witness for Christ is what we are going to be learning more about in the next few days. I am believing you will become a powerful witness for Christ!

What Does Being Born Again Mean?

Our Bible speaks of two births a person may experience. We all have already experienced our first, natural birth, or physical birth. But Jesus said we must all be born over again – this being our spiritual birth. Our first birth is our water birth (John 3:5) which doesn’t refer to baptism but rather the fact that we were born out of a water sack within our mother’s womb.

Our second birth is our spiritual birth. This miraculous birth is from God Himself. In (John 4:24) Jesus says that “God is spirit” and, according to (John 3:6), only God’s Spirit can create spirit in the human life. To receive His Spirit all we must do is believe without question in His Son, Jesus Christ. Please refer to (John 7: 37-39) for a better understanding of this powerful revelation.

We want to keep this teaching of what being born again means simple. So, I am going to stop here for today. We will continue to build on our understanding tomorrow and in the next few days. Be sure to stay on board with me so we may increase your awareness of witnessing and help you build the confidence you need as a witness for Christ.

My prayer for you: Lord, allow these words to be those of your Holy Spirit and may they cause us to prosper in our mission to be faithful, effective witnesses for Your Son Jesus. Grant those whom come forth as Your witnesses the words and courage you desire them to have in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Come back to GOD STILL HEALS tomorrow for this continuing study about Witnessing For Christ.

Today’s word: PRAYERS

godstillheals — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:12:00 +0000

On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, / as you help us by your prayers. / Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor / granted us in answer to the prayers of many (2 Corinthians 1: 10-11).

Just as the apostle Paul needed the prayers of the Corinthians, how much we also do. God provides for us, but this does not mean we are complete unto ourselves without the need for the prayers of our fellow Christians. We are created to have communion with God and with other believers. As we need prayers, we should call upon those whom God has given us in communion for as they bring their petitions before Him in our behalf, He will answer these prayers. All those who pray in faith to Him will then see His mighty work and give thanks to Him. To Him is all glory!

So, friends when trouble or fear knocks at your door call for prayers of fellow Christians to pray with you. God listens to the prayers of the body of Christ!

PROCLAIM IT! God IS answering my prayers today!