Month: October 2019

Real Prayer

Thesis #24: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small

 

We sprinkle prayer into our worship celebrations – but we avoid real prayer, intense prayer, culturally offensive prayer, lament (which makes up 40 percent of the psalms).  We prefer only “pretty prayer, politically correct and positive prayer.

Prayer:  Help us as believers in Jesus Christ to not shy away from speaking the Truth and most importantly, living the Truth!  We believe Your Word, Lord, and we also believe it is the best prescription to combat the evil that exists all around us! Enlighten us to know the Truth thru reading your Word and gaining understanding and wisdom from the Holy Spirit!

Stir our spirit by Your Spirit to be strong in our resolve and courageous in our actions to address in prayer the issues that cause so much trouble in our nation.  We need Your blessing and favor, and that is going away from us because of sinful disobedience by many who choose to disobey Your commandments.  May our prayers be filled with expectation and hope of reversing the trends toward moving away from You in our laws and governance. Your word is still true that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people!”  Help us to be undeterred in our living, praying and speaking out on biblical truth, whether through prayer in our closets or in the public ear.  We know that you promised to hear our prayers when we pray in Your Name.

Establish us O God in the trenches of prayer for our nation and our world.  When the enemy comes to pilfer, plunder and destroy Your work, we expect to see the mighty move of Your power like an overwhelming flood against our enemy and his legions!

We know that through the power of the Name of Jesus, the battle will be won, the war will be successful!  And so, we pray in the Name of Jesus for victory, today, now, against our enemy and against the enemy of righteous who is the enemy of all men everywhere!

Amen!

 

Genuine Worship Leads to Repentance

Thesis #23: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small 

We have developed techniques, adopted from the world, to enhance the worship experience.  Artful worship enhancement of itself is not a crime.  It is the substitution of genuine worship for artificial engagement of the senses, a substitution for the real ‘Presence’ of God that is destructive to both our lives and to God’s purposes.

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,…”

(Acts 3:19 NKJV)

O, God, we call upon You to hear our cries of repentance today for neglecting to seek You.  Help us to make You the central focus of our worship.  Guide us to that place in our worship where we connect with You in the understanding that Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Savior, has built a bridge of acceptance, love and living before You in the grace of Your forgiveness and through the ransom of His own life and blood.

Help us keep proper perspective on the presentations of those gifted with special abilities to inspire us through their God-gifted talents of music, of dance and art.  All glory belongs to You, for all things great and small, that reveals the magnificence of Your acceptance of all who call upon You, and worship You from the depth of their own heart with all their strength and ability.

Should we lose focus on the central theme of our worship, send Holy Spirit to bring us back and reestablish our sense of devotion to You and our humility before You.

We sincerely and humbly request that you grant these petitions in the Name of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Nazarene.  Amen!

 

The Altar of God

 

 

I heard the Father God speak to me quietly the other day.  He wants us to know His Altar is a holy place, set apart unto Him.  Our response to His voice in our hearts by the Word of God causes us to come to His Altar.  It is not a place to stand in shame, but one where His glory is revealed in us.  Let the shame go and receive forgiveness and healing from Him.  Bring the sacrifice of sorrow and praise.  Sorrow for our sins and praise for His forgiveness being freely offered through the blood of Jesus The Lord.  Because of the cross of Christ, we have an open Heaven invitation for the love of God being released into our lives.  His arms are open wide waiting for our return to Him.  Let that precious love call you home today.

He loves us so much.  He is waiting for us at that Holy Altar!  Never let shame and embarrassment keep you from responding to His call to you.  Let it all go and get ready to receive the gift of Salvation, forgiveness and healing in our spirits, souls and bodies.

Psalm 43:4 The Passion Translation 

4 Then I will come closer to your very altar
until I come before you, the God of my ecstatic joy!
I will praise you with the harp that plays in my heart,
to you, my God, my magnificent God!

Isaiah 56:7 The Passion Translation 

7 ‘I will welcome you into my holy mountain
    and make you joyful in my house of prayer.
    I will accept every sacrifice and offering
    that you place on my altar,
    for my house of worship will be known
    as a house of prayer for all people.’”

Dream for the Next Season

Tree Dream

I was standing at the bottom of a green knoll.  On top of the knoll was a tall, beautifully formed tree. It had perfect, uniform bark with closely formed pieces in vertical rows.  No blemishes, twisting or knots were on this trunk.  It was perfect and straight.  It was very large around and the same size all the way up, with no narrowing at the top.  Three fourths the way up the tree where the canopy formed was burned off, with only a few dangling branches black with soot.

I woke up startled at what I saw.  I knew it was a spiritual dream and asked the Lord what it meant.  The only thing that came to mind at the time was the burning of the dross in our lives.  The Lord has been cleansing our prayer team of the inner attitudes, judgments, opinions and prejudices for several months. I thought that might be what it meant.  But I knew it had to have more meaning that just that.  If it was a purging of the dross only, there would have been branches left on the treetop.

I shared it with our Friday prayer group and they felt the same thing.  Though it was partially the burning of the dross in our lives there had to be more meaning than that.  We also knew it was for the whole Body of Christ, not a personal message to just us.

This week I was listening to Nate Johnson’s soaking message from June.  In the middle of the message he said this, “God is burning out the old season”.   I knew immediately that was the meaning of the dream.  I decided to try to visualize the dream by finding a burning tree.  When I was looking at my favorite free photo sites I noticed all the trees in the forest fires were burned from the ground up.  Even if the tree top started on fire it was from a tree near it.  The fires started at the grass, burned up and then traveled from tree to tree.  It was a deeper revelation of the dream.  This tree was by itself.  The grass was totally green.  The trunk was in healthy condition.  It could not have been lightening as lightening always scars the trunk.  That’s when I knew it was the Lord Himself who burned the top of the tree.  It came from above, but did not touch the trunk or the grass below.

Here’s what I believe the Lord is saying.

I have tried to get you to change to my new way of doing things.  You have resisted wanting to keep what you know how to do in place.  I have tried to draw you higher into my vision of the future, but you keep trying to live in what you see where you are.  Therefore, I have burned the past ways of doing things.  It is destroyed by My fire.  The foundations of faith, all that you have that is based in My Word and My ways are still there in the trunk. It will hold the new season.  It will provide life for the new season.  You will grow stronger, mightier and higher in the new season.  This time, right now is for inner growth.  Go back to your foundation faith and rebuild My way.  I will be the One leading this time.  I will be the One causing new growth and branches.  I will be the One overseeing the new season as I am preparing the Bride for my coming.  Don’t resist Me in this.  You cannot go back to the old ways as I have burned them.  All will know it is Me who has done this for the fruit will glorify Me.

 

September 2019 M.O. McKinley

The Gospel is The Way Out of Sin

 

Romans 1:16-32  New Living Translation

16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

God’s Anger at Sin

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.