Laying hands on the sick part 2

Acts 5:12-16
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the Apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 

The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. 

I will preach this until I am blue in the face, or until I can no longer type or talk but God never intended for the book of Acts church to cease. God never wanted the healing, the deliverance, the salvation, the baptisms to cease either.

People of God what is stopping us from going out into our environment and praying? When did it have to stop? To my knowledge it wasn't supposed to. Now, can I be real with you guys? I don't go to every sick person and ask them to pray over them, but why not? What stops me? What stops you from doing this very thing? Now if my boys are sick, my wife, or people in our church if they come up and ask for prayer I will do that, along with my Pastor.... but what about the rest of the world.?

Fear many times stops us from praying for others in public places. Many times the spirit of fear stops us in our tracks. Many times you will get, well what if they don't get healed? you will look like a fool. Here is my thing with that.... I can't heal people. I am not God but I can take His word and apply it to those that I pray for. Here is something.... one time at this church in Illinois I said is there anyone who would like prayer for sickness? Does anyone need any prayer? This woman came up and I knew she had cancer... I said Lord, couldn't I get a back ache or a headache or something. The Lord rebuked me yes I said that because He will do that. The Lord said, do you heal or do I? Anyways, I prayed for that woman... and the anointing was on me so strong I could hardly take it, and I felt that healing virtue leave my body and went into her. Again, I am not a healer, Jesus is the healer. What happened? This woman died a few weeks ago, and you know what? It really messed with me.

I questioned what happened during that service. I was confused... I was torn. I know what I felt. I know the power of God was there, I felt that healing virtue go out of me and into her... to this day I don't know why that woman died. Maybe someday the Lord will reveal it, not sure. But I said that to say this; we can't allow fear to stop us from praying for the sick and laying hands on them.

Another thing is this: God's word is God's Word. The Bible says lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Well I did and a woman died but does that discredit the Word? Of coarse not because there have been times in my life and times that I have witnessed in other people's lives where hands were laid on them and they were healed.

Here is my prayer:

God, get us back to the book of Acts. Get us to a place where we are not relying on man to do everything for us but we are relying on God. Get us to a place where we live our faith on our sleeve, and not hide it until Sunday morning. Get us out of our comfort zones. Get us to a place where we serve others instead of being about ourselves all the time. Get us to a place where we pray more than we complain, back bite, grumble and argue. Get us to a place where we move in power once again instead of speaking with dead words that carry no weight in the Spirit.

Get us to a place where we care more about speaking the Word of God in truth instead of cowering down in fear at what man will think.

God wants transformation and the only way to achieve transformation is by going against the grain. You may not look like the church down the block or the other 1,000 churches for that matter but as long as heaven smiles down upon you who cares what other people think. Our agenda should be to transform lives. Our goal should be to transform our cities. Our goal should be to transform our nation. But the only way is through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts transformation happened and it flipped the world as they knew it. We have the same God, same Holy Spirit today that the book of Acts church had.

We are seeking a President to change our nation but it's not the President who changes a nation it's the church. Blame whoever you want to but the world is the way it is because of the church, not the devil. We allowed it. We didn't pray, we didn't fast, we didn't stand up no matter what. We didn't come out of the closet like everybody else. Our God is greater, our God is bigger, our God is more powerful... if we just knew that and believed that.

As I close this out I want to encourage you as always to step out. Step out of your comfort zone and watch what happens. Live your faith. Let people know who you are and whose you are. You are God made, in His image and according to His likeness.

Be blessed!

Casting your Anxiety on the Lord

1 Peter 5: 7
Casting all your anxieties (cares) on Him, because He cares for you


Does anyone have a problem doing this? I mean I am sure that none of you have issues doing this right?

I like to be real and honest. There have been, and are times when I struggle with this today. Here is my thing, I will just let you in on a big problem I have. My thing is, I like to figure things out for God and also I want to know all the info that He has before I make a move.

Case and point: So in October of 2014 the Lord told me to move from Lincoln, Illinois to Farmington, Missouri. The Lord told me that I was to go help this Pastor. Now, I was in a great church serving as a youth pastor. I loved the teens in our church and they loved me. God was growing that ministry and He says move? I was tore up from the floor up because this was difficult for me to do. What happens? In Jan of 2015 I move to Farmington, Mo. Without a job, a place to call home... I moved because the Lord said move.

Between the months of October to December, I tried to find out all the info, but God wouldn't give me details. I tried to have a job secured, nope.... I tried to have my home quarters set, nope. I am a person who tries to figure it all out first than go, but that's not how this faith thing works. Sometimes God frustrates me because I need to know haha, but He simply won't tell me things when I want Him to, can anyone relate?

So I said all that to say this, what about you? How are you at casting all your cares or anxieties on the Lord? I am learning yes I am still a work in progress but I am learning much more about casting my cares on Him and letting Him guide me. The Bible says cast. How interesting is that? Because many of us will cast our cares onto the Lord but then we reel them back in and own them again. This isn't what the Lord was talking about. he wants us and I say us because this includes me to leave them there at the foot of the cross or the alter.

What about sin? Ready for some toe stomping? How many times have we put our sin on the alter to pick it rght back up again? Am I trying to say that we must be perfect beings and we will never sin again? I am not saying that at all because none of us are perfect. We never will be perfect but the question is, did we lay it down at the alter? Sometimes we are embarrassed that we got caught, not repentant. There is a big difference in getting caught and repenting. Adam and Eve got caught, then they tried to hide from God.

So back to this casting thing, how many of us cast our cares or our sin to the Lord but pick them back up? The alter is the place of sacrifice, it's the place of death. Jesus had to go to the cross, or to the alter to be put to death. When Christ went to the cross, the place f death, it was for all sin. I want to encourage you today to lay the cares or the sin down at the alter and allow it to be burned up for good. The Lord doesn't want us to keep our cares or our sin. He died for it. So today cast your cares onto the Lord, and leave it there, refuse to pick it back up again. The Lord knows we are a work in progress but we must allow the Holy Spirit to do His work.

I am much better today at just doing what God said instead of trying to figure it all out first. The Longer I am born again the more I realize just do it an let Him be God. This was a great faith lesson for me though moving from Illinois to Missouri. By the way God created, yes I said created a full time position for me where there wasn' full time available, and God opened up a place for me to stay. It didn't happen until I got here, but that's our God. When we are obedient and faithful, we will eat the good of the land. I hope ths helps you in your journey with the Lord today.

Be Blessed!

Where is My Help?

Psalm 121: 1-3

I look up to the mountains does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber

Ok, so it's 2:30 AM and I cannot sleep, I ask the Lord why, and this is what I get. This must be for someone because I don't get up at 2:30 in the morning, I would normally be sleeping right now.

There are some of you, and you know who you are that are going through weariness, I get it. Here is the thing, be careful in this stage because when we get weary while being between 2 doors, the enemy will reek havoc on you and your emotions if you are not careful.

I want to encourage you this morning, and guess what? I am doing this without coffee. There have been times when I have been weary. Your just tired. Sometimes you just feel like you give, and give, and give and now your like Lord, hey, yes remember me? You know I been giving and giving but where is the receiving part? Does this sound familiar? Has God forgotten about you? Has God missed you or worse, have you missed God? The answer for is no.

There was one time when I was a kid that I was going to six flags. I remember the night before I set out all of my clothes, we packed some food and drinks and got everything ready for the next day. I mean, we want to be ready right? So we go to bed early because we got to get up early and head out because we want to beat some of the traffic and get a great parking spot. Anyways, that night, the night before and in bed.... and guess what? I can't hardly sleep. I toss, I turn and can't sleep why? Because of all the fun and excitement that I am going to have on the next day.

For many of you this is where your at. Your anxious, your excited and you have every right to be, God's got some pretty big plans and things in store for you.. but you know what? Your help comes from the Lord. God is going to sustain you. Your help comes from the Lord. There is a scripture that says cast your cares upon the Lord because He cares for you. Some cast it out like your fishing. You throw out that care on the alter but guess what? You reel that thing right back in, and the devil will be sure to help you reel it back in so you can own it. It's not yours... stop throwing that care out with the fishing reel. You got to let go. Is this easy? If it were easy everyone would do it. Leave the reel at the alter along with the care. You will thank yourself for that later.

There is another group of people out there and this is where you may be. You been struggling for years. You feel like you take 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. Sometimes you struggle getting 2 steps forward... You are caught and stuck and it's no fun. It's hard to paint that sweet little smile on your face on Sunday morning because when your struggling, it's not an easy thing to smile. Can we just be real for a sec? So what must you do? Can I continue being honest? There is no fairy dust that God can sprinkle and it's all gone. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning the Bible says. You know what, the Lord will sustain you. The Lord doesn't sleep. The Lord loves you. I can't explain why people go through things for years, but no matter what I go through, the Bible doesn't change. God still heals, sets free, delivers. Keep holding on until you get that breakthrough. Don't let that thing break you, keep going until you break through.

This is not easy, but with God are things ever easy? He will call you out of the boat to walk on water. He will tell you to leave everything that's familiar and call you to a place that's out of your comfort zone, and to a place where there are no connections. He will put you in a place where you are surrounded by giants. He will allow you to be imprisoned or to be in a fiery furnace and let's not forget the back side of the desert and more... but yet, I serve Him because I would have it no other way. This road isn't easy. This is the narrow road, but can I just tell you that it's worth it. The struggle is worth it, the fight is worth it, everything we go through in life, it's worth it.

I hope this has helped some of you. To God be the glory. Keep doing what your doing and don't stop until He tells you.

Be blessed!

God, perform your word through me

Jeremiah 1:11&12
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying "Jeremiah, what do you see?" and I said "I see an almond branch." Then the Lord said to me, "you have seen well ,for I am watching over my word to perform it."

Isaiah 6:8 
And I heard a voice of the Lord saying "whom shall I send, and whom will go for us?" Then I said "Here I am am, Send me."

I love these scriptures. Did you know that God desires to use you? Have you ever thought about that? I know what your saying, "I am not ready" or "I am to young" or even "I am over the hill." God has heard of all the excuses under the sun but for those who make themselves available God will use them.

Not only that but if you look into the Word you will see that God used David, Jeremiah and Samuel at a young age. God called Moses at an older age, and the disciples weren't Biblical scholars but 11 out of 12 turned out alright didn't they?

Do you know what the Lord is looking for? He is looking for willingness to go wherever He says to go and do whatever He says do. When you are willing and not stuck in your ways and your own will, you will do great things for the Kingdom.
The Bible says in Galatians that I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Do you know what that means? it means death. You say what? Yes it means death to your will and your way, because it's not about you, it's about Him but He invites you to play a major role in His plan. Sounds pretty cool huh?

God wants to send us out into the world to do great things but the question is, will you go? God gave us gifts and talents for His use. Through us, He wants to heal people, set people free and save people. God uses us to do those things. He saves people through us because how do they hear without a preacher? They get healed by people laying hands on the sick. They get set free by people who have a great anointing to do what? break yokes. A yoke is meant to limit you and keep you bound, but God places an anointing on people to speak and declare the Word of the Lord that can set people free. God gets all the glory for it all, but He uses us to do these things.

Back to he question, will you go if He calls you to go? The Bible says in Romans 8:28 for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Man God has some great plans out there for His people, but will we allow Him to mold us and shape us to walk in that purpose.

You want some joy and peace in your life? Because it comes by fulfilling the call. The first area of joy and peace comes when you accept Christ as you Lord ad Saviour, but the next level of joy and peace comes by fulfilling the call of God.

You may be reading this like well I don't have a clue what I am called to do. Here are a few steps to guide you.

1) Get involved in your local church
If you are not going to church anywhere you are up the creek without a paddle and more than likely you already know this. You cannot have a productive ministry without being a part of a local church. What about Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn? They have Pastors and have people that help them be accountable. Everyone needs to be held accountable. With this start serving in your church. Start by cleaning, nursery, helping with work days etc... The ministry of helps is needed in the local church. I don't care how big a church is, less than 10% of the church is helping and volunteering with the ministry of helps.

2) Prayer and fasting
We have to keep the lines of communication going between us and the Lord. If the lines of communication are open, that will help you in hearing the Lord. Prayer and fasting will do this

3) Right timing
God may not reveal your purpose to you right away. Sometimes He does, sometimes He doesn't. All of this depends where we are at with Him. Remember, God is a know it all.. literally... He knows when and what to tell you. Can I tell you a secret? I can be an impatient brat who throws tantrums sometimes when God doesn't reveal things to me when I want... but the thing is He knows that and He doesn't want me to blow it so He reveals things to me just at certain times. He will give you steps. Take the right steps at the right time.

I hope this ministered to you and helped you. Remember, answer the call, because God wants to use you to perform His Word to a lost and dying world that is controlled by darkness. Be the light in the dark place like Christ.

Be Blessed!                                                                                            

You Can't Quit Now

YOU CANT QUIT NOW

I want to speak to many of you right now who are going through some things. I just want you to know that I am in this battle with you. I am not exempt from battles and trials but this is a part of it. When I invited Christ into my life I knew that it wasn't going to be a life of gumdrops and rainbows.

I knew the enemy would fight me harder than ever because he knows God has a plan for me. You guys are no different than me. As you turn your life over to Christ, the real battle begins. The devils goal ultimately is that you forfeit your God given destiny and just give up because it's to hard. He wants you to throw in the towel because it's simply to difficult.

I get that your tired, your weary and you just get to a point of saying, what's the use in fighting right? Sound familiar? Have you ever said this or are you at a point now in saying this very thing? Well if you have ever said this welcome to the party. We have all been there. Let me just say something about this season. This is going to be the most powerful, explosive season that the world has ever seen. There will never be another time like this ever again. You thought the day of Pentecost was powerful in the book of Acts? We are walking into a season where things will be simply explosive.

Ministries and chuches will explode. God has already started. This isn't going to be something that's going to happen in 3 to 5 years, it has already started. So, let me ask you something. If you were the devil what would you be doing right now? This may be difficult but can can you see things from his point of view. He is scrambling to put out all the fires that he can. This is why you simply can't quit now.

God has already started. The shift has already started to take place. We simply have to be stubborn an refuse to give up. I want to encourage you today to dig deep and fight back with everything that's within you. Don't allow the enemy to win. I went to a church years ago and the Pastor would always say, "the devil mght have won the battle, but we will win the war." Maybe you have lost some battles,  we all have, but you know what? You got to get back up on that horse and fight again.

I hope this encouraged you today. Keep fighting! Don't quit!

Be Blessed

Be Strong in Him

EPH 6:10 
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 

How many of us are going through something? Put your hand down I already know. How do I know? Because almost all of us are battling with something in some shape or form. If you are a follower of Christ, you are dealing with something.

Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily no it just means that the enemy fears you so he is paying a lot of attention to you. It's all good don't be upset or scared that the enemy is messing with you and doesn't like you. If it makes you feel better he doesn't like Jesus either.

So, your going through something and your struggling a little bit or maybe even a lot, it happens. I hate to admit it but there are times that I struggle also.  Sometimes I am impatient, sometimes I like to argue with God, don't lift your brows you know you fight and argue with God too. We all do it every now and then. So what do you do when your struggling to catch your footing?

Well here is a good start, get into the word. You may be saying where at? If you don't know much about God's Word aka the Bible than Google may be your best friend, isn't it anyway? Pinpoint the struggle and Google the problem and use the Bible to your advantage. Maybe it's a healing thing look up scripture about healing to help encourage you and keep you going. Maybe it's a sexual sin the Word is filled with verses. No matter the struggle God's word is your guide to get you through.

Next thing you have to keep up with is prayer. Oh yes prayer. Prayer is communication between you and God. You may say God already knows and yes I am sure He does but prayer is good for us. We got to get all that stuff that is locked up on the inside of us out. We have to pray. There is something about us speaking and interceeding that can help bring about change. The Bible says we have not because we ask not. Does it matter if God knows or not? Nope. Here is something that prayer does, it keeps relationship alive between us and God. Isn't it something when Adam and Eve sinned they tried to hide themselves from the Lord? How you going to hide from God?

Once we get into the word to get encouraged and once we pray which means keeping our relationship on a good level than this makes the 3rd thing so much easier.

Our verse says be strong in the Lord... and in the power or strength of His might. This verse is talking about leaning and trusting in God and His strength, His might. God will see you through but you got to believe that He can do this thing. God is all powerful, and guess what? If you are a Christian that's your Father. He's got you through thick and through thin.

I don't know what your dealing with and facing but I do know this, if God be for you, who can be against you? When Job went through his mess he still trusted God even though his wife and so called friends said not to. His wife even said, curse God and die.... wow how would you like her for a wife? Juse saying. But anyways I want to encourage you today to trust in God, His strengh, His power, His might. We all go through seasons.. but it's just that, a season.

Be blessed!

Get out of the boat and walk

GET OUT OF THE BOAT PETER!

So last night I went to our church and prayed about some things. Last night during prayer I actually got on periscope and watched someone who was talking about let it go! It just really spoke to me and then this morning I was thinking about Peter getting out of the boat to meet Jesus.

In Matthew 14: 22-33 tells the story of Peter walking on the water to meet Jesus. What a sight that must have been to see a man walk on water. It's one thing to see Jesus, the Son of God walk on water but for Peter to walk on water, that's a miracle.

So this boat was in the middle of the sea... and the disciples see Jesus walking on water towards them. They weren't sure if it was the Lord or not so Peter says, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water (V28). So Jesus simply says, come. What was Peter thinking while being in the middle of the sea, and deciding to step out of the boat, and onto the water?

I think that is like many of us today, we are so afraid to take that 1st step. God may say to do this or to do that and we are like... ummmm I don't know about all of this. Did Peter say, hey Jesus, I tell you what, you come to the boat so I can see you better? No, that's not at all what happened. This story is much different. What is it about this 1st step that makes us fear so much? It's the fear of the unknown. I get it! I understand it! It's the game where you choose the $100 instead of what's behind door #1. You can see the money, you can see everything, it's tangible. When it comes to the door your vision is blocked. That's where so many of us are. We always choose the money or the tangible thing because with our natural eyes we can touch it.

God many times will lead you to the door but so many of us are afraid because we can't see all that God sees. So many of us are stuck and don't launch out because of fear of the unknown.

So what else is great about this story? Well, Peter had to keep his eyes on Jesus and not on the water. It doesn't quite make sense that Peter walked on water but it happened. If you read a lot of stories in the Bible it will leave you saying what? how did that happen? Well, it's a God thing. God says my ways are not your ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts. If we could only learn to see with His eyes we would always choose whats behind the door... that is, unless He leads us to the money or the tangible thing. When Peter kept his eyes on Jesus He walked on water. He did something that wasn't in his ability to do. When was the last time you walked on water? But isn't that our Jesus? He will always call you to do something that you can't do it, that way, He gets the glory and He keeps you humble.

This story does have some suspense because once Peter took his eyes off of Jesus because the winds blew and Peter looked down at what he was doing he started to sink. Do you want to know how quickly your ship or your life will sink? Just take your eyes off Christ when the winds blow and you will see. With God all things are possible, without God... good luck! With God, He will lead you into doing things you didn't think was quite possible but without God you get to stay in your nice comfy spot like always. You will end up being the person who doesn't quite fulfill all that God had for you.

Near the end of this story Jesus doesn't let Peter sink and drown but He, being Jesus saves Peter. How many times has the Lord saved you and I? To many times to count. Always remember the Lord will guide you not drive you.

It is my hope and prayer that all of us examine where we are in life and ask the Lord, do I need to get out of the boat? Am I being to comfortable? Only you and the Lord can deal with that question but just don't allow fear to stop you from fulfilling God's call on your life. The time is short. God is moving here on the earth, so what are you waiting for?