WE HUNGER FOR WHAT WE FEED ON

Pastor AJ’s message was anointed and awesome to say the least. It was about, Growing Spiritually, and the emphasis was on the importance of spending quality time in God’s word on a regular basis. He mentioned that there is no excuse for not being dedicated to The Holy Scriptures, and I agree. The word that spoke to me the most was that, "We must desire God’s word like a baby craves a mother’s milk." After he spoke he gave the men an opportunity to speak something they may have heard from the Lord. I was reminded of a lesson I learned from John Bevere’s book, “Drawing Near. John mentioned a period in his life during college. He was a young Christian who loved the Lord, but he had a bad habit. He loved junk food. It was all he wanted to eat. Finally, the Lord told him to start eating healthier. John was obedient to the Lord and over time he developed an appetite for healthy food; in fact, he developed such an appetite for healthy food that he would eat nothing else. He began detesting junk food so much that if he went to a restaurant he would not eat unless they offered healthy food. His point to the story was that, “We hunger for what we feed on.” After sharing this with the men I mentioned a word that the Lord spoke to me recently about giving my all. It was about two weeks ago during a prayer. The Lord said, “I want you to start giving your all.” I asked, “Lord, what does that mean?” He said, “When you pray, don’t stop praying until you have prayed through, and then pray a little more, and when you study my word, don’t stop studying until you receive something, then look for a little more.” I believe that this is a good approach in giving our all, but I feel that we should apply this method in everything we do to honor our Lord. For example, when we praise Him during praise and worship, we should press in with all our heart and when we feel that He has blessed us with that harmonious line of unity, we should press for more.


Brothers, if you don’t have much of an appetite for His word, feed on it and don’t stop eating until you are filled, then eat a little more, and you will be blessed with a desire for the word of God that is as strong as a babies craving for mama’s milk.


His promise in all of this is that, YOU WILL GROW SPIRITUALLY!!!


Bless you Brothers
Bobby

No choice...

If you missed the August meeting of The Guard I strongly encourage you to listen to Pastor AJ's message. It is a call to make a way to spend time with Jesus, in His word. The end of the matter is this, if we do not make this the priority in our lives we will not grow spiritually. Yes, it must become the most important part of our day. Instead of sporadically grabbing a few minutes to pray and read God's word we must deliberately plan our days to make this a priority. How long, :05, :10 minutes? No, I don't see how there can be any meaningful time unless it is at least :30. I feel this should be the goal for the one that has not made this a part of their lifestyle, and you can do it. And you won't regret it! How can you cram another :30 minutes into your already busy schedule? How about this, get up :30 minutes early. As we begin to move toward God, He moves toward us. We experience His presence which is what we so desparately need. So let each of us afresh and anew recommit our lives to seek Him, that our lives might be full of His presence and that we might be and do that which He created us for.

"You have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound (disciplined) mind."

Blessings...

Brian

"...and He humbled Himself by becoming obedient.."

At the last meeting of The Guard I shared how I often feel as if I am cut off from God because I "don't do enough." Many experience this same sense of lostness as it is a common tactic of our enemy. He is the Accuser, incessitantly charging us with our failures and playing on our weak consciences that our acceptance before God is based on our performance, on our doing. I shared how as I was in this state and trying to pray that I felt the Lord impressed on me Micah 6:8, "What does the Lord require of thee O man, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." I received grace at that point and understood the simplicity of pleasing our God. It is not our "works" that please Him but our heart that seeks Him.

As I continued to consider this passage over the next few days I began to understand more. While meditating on the passage in Micah which said we should "walk humbly" this came to me; walking humbly means walking in submission and yieldedness to our Lord. This was confirmed as I then remembered the Scripture in Phillipians 2 "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus... ..and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, by becoming obedient unto death, even to death on the cross. "

This issue of obedience is critical in our walk with the Lord. It is a fundemental (foundational) prerequisite if we are to go on and fulfill our destiny; it means we must hear and obey. If we have heard and not obeyed; we must repent. We must go back to that point where we said "No" and say "Yes." If we are in submission and obedient we will eat the good fruit of the land; we will see the power of God come in our midst; we will fulfill our destinies.

Pursue obedience, desire obedience, ask for an obedient heart.

Your brother... Brian

P.S. We need to be sure that what we hear from the Lord is indeed from him and not another. Not everything we hear that we should do is from Him, even though it may sound right and good. For example, when the rich young ruler came to Jesus he was told to go and sell everything and give it to the poor; there is no record of this instruction being given to anyone else, this act was specifically for this man. Another example is at the end of John's Gospel when Peter was being told by Jesus what was expected of him . Peter asked a question wondering what fate awaited John. Jesus answered saying, "If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!" So again, the Lord deals with each of us with personal and specific instructions. Trust that He will lead you and speak to you, He promised that He would.

Brothers,
I have been reading a book that Justin and Flora loaned me called "The Elijah Task", by John and Paula Sandford. It is actually 30 years old, but it is very good. Anyway, it talks about intercessory prayer and that it should be done more in the way of faith and less in a way that leaves questions.
For example, consider these two prayers,
1. "O God, please save my brother from tragedy."
2. "I praise You, Lord that you are entering in to save my brother from tragedy."
The Author states that the first prayer leaves the question, "I wonder if he will do it?" And if He does do it, the petitioner will have to wrestle with pride because he may think that he prevailed on God to move in his behalf, as though God didn't want to or had to be jarred into activity by prayer.
The author say's that this second prayer is in the way of faith, and for one to pray this type of prayer, "One must first ascertain the fresh, present will of the Father in the situation, and then describe what God is doing, affirming that He is the one who loves, not we."
I like this a lot, for we know that it is the Fathers Fresh and Present will to meet all of our needs, and it is His unchangeable love that transforms us, saves us, and heals us.
This second prayer also sounds to me to be in line with DR Ogilvie’s word about claiming that supernatural power.
I really enjoyed his final words that Dwayne has shared on the blog.
"Are you ready to move on?" Then (1) Claim your redemption. (2) Commit yourself anew to it. (3) Claim that supernatural power.
I know that many within CCF agree that we are eager to move on and that God's supernatural favor is at hand for us to do just that, so just to reconfirm what we have been saying for some time now, "our prayers should be with proclamations and decrees."
Blessings
Bobby

Claim That Supernatural Power . Dr. Ogilvie

"Prayer is the way to release the power of God in the earth, and in us (you & me.)" "... God then led me into a deep, contemplative way of life -- everyday in prayer."

These are a couple quotes that stood out to me when Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie spoke at Fort Smith's 36th annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, July 20th. It wasn't a charismatic, evangelistic type meeting that they are known for, but about 500 of us just listened and felt as though we had spent meaningful time with the man personally. Meaningful because you sensed a humble man of great presence - a man who had just been with the LORD, and who had been with the Lord much of his life. I wish you could have been there with me, and I encourage you to get the CD from the local CBMC who sponsored the event. I'm in the process of doing just that.

He ended with, "Are you ready to move on?" Then (1) Claim your redemption. (2) Commit yourself anew to it. (3) Claim that supernatural power.

Are you ready to move on? I am. -=db=-

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." II Tim 1:6-7 NIV

Love Those Hogs! Matt 8:34

"Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region." Matt 8:34 (NIV)

I realize this could be an unpopular or dangerous topic in Razorback country. But one that needs to be addressed.
"Do we care more about our pigs than our people?"
Think about it. They did, and I fear we do.
What are the pigs in you life?
By your life and your actions, are you asking Jesus to leave your region?
He's on a mission to "seek and to save those who are lost." But if you ask Him to leave, He will. -=db=-