But he answering said, "It hath been written, Not upon bread alone doth man live, but upon every word coming forth from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 (Young's Literal Translation)
I love this verse in its literal translation. Because it so clearly shows that we need the Word of God, not just the scripture, but also the actual Word that IS coming forth right now. Just like the manna, we need the Word of this morning! Jesus further indicates this in the Lord's prayer - "give us this day our daily bread". A community that is not recieving its daily bread will soon starve.
Below is a Word from God that has been given our community from Linda Marceau. I will leave it to the over all community to enter into a communal interpretation. I look forward to hearing your discernments.
God Bless, John
Reach down deep and find your faith - I have placed a good deposit within each of you. Exercise and strengthen your faith as I reveal my will and my purposes. Do not presume to know my will or my way. My ways are different than your ways. I will not share my Glory with another. My Glory is released as you worship and praise me. Live in an attitude of praise and thanksgiving. Be careful not to grumble or complain for these have no part in my Kingdom. Praise and thanksgiving is the pathway to miracles. You are my beloved and in you I am well pleased. It's time to appropriate your faith. Identify your need and find a promise for the provision in scripture. Activate with faith filled prayer and fasting until you see the fruit.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
How prayer works.
As much as I do admire much of what Soren Kierkegaard has written, I must take issue with his famous quotation, “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.” This is not the place to discuss the fullest depth of what Kiekegaard meant when he made this statement. Nor is it the place to debate the scriptural validity (or lack of validity) of this statement.
However, I often hear this quote interpreted as saying that prayer doesn’t change the world. There is little doubt that prayer does change us, but if this is all that prayer did, then there would be little use for prayer other than personal development. In fact, this is all too often how many Christians have come to think about prayer and its usefulness. It is no wonder that in so many places, we are no longer a praying church.
Prayer does change the world. It works by inviting our God into this world, so that his Kingdom and his Will reign on here on earth. This is why Jesus taught us to pray – Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This is not a prayer that simply hopes for future change. The Lord's prayer literally commands that God’s Will (or Word) be exercised here on earth. Not in some distant coming of the millennium, but right now! Over and over again I have seen miracles happen when I or others pray.
Jesus tells us that (Mark 11:24) “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This is an incredible statement, but through my experience I have come to believe that it is the truth. Over and over again I have seen prayer bring down miracles from heaven. It is for this very reason that I feel so confident when I tell people to pray over issues or problems. I prescribe this with great confidence, because I see it work - all the time! I see God responding to those who humble themselves, repent of their sins, release their unforgiveness, and seek the presence of God in prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14).
But, the best example is always testimony. Below is a testimony to the power of prayer of a good friend of mine, Joe Kucera.
(As a side note, Joe's church has dispensationist leanings, thus, they are a little weak in the prayer department, but we love them anyway and pray always that the Lord will continue to open the eyes of their heart that they may draw closer to the God's truth:)
Joe's Testimony:
"Around March of this year, I was telling John Roper about the high rate of couples in our community of friends that have been unable to conceive a child. He suggested that my wife and I choose one couple and that we pray specifically for them. My wife and I both had the same couple on our hearts, so together we began praying for them to have a baby. This couple has been trying for ~5 years to have a child & have undergone numerous fertility treatments and spent thousands of dollars to no avail... We consistently prayed for them for about 4 weeks, until we learned that she had a cyst growing in her uterus (apparently a side-effect of the fertility treatments). Discouraged once again by the inability to conceive, they decided to stop fertility treatments for awhile until the cyst went away. We, too, were discouraged by this news and eventually stopped praying for them to conceive a child... Last weekend we met them for breakfast & they had something to show us -> a sonogram of their baby (she was 3 months pregnant!!!). The doctors determined that she got pregnant during the period when she was not undergoing fertility treatments (b/c of the presence of the cyst) & classified it as "spontaneous" -> this couple thinks it happened over Easter weekend :)
This week John told me about a family that was being prayed over by the Riverside community. In describing the way that the Lord was ministering to this family, John told me how the husband of this family was being encouraged to take his place of authority as the head of that household & to claim back the ground that the enemy had taken from each member of that household. When John spoke of these words given to this husband, there was a burning conviction in my heart that I needed to do the same thing in my household. In prayer, I called for the Kingdom to come into my family & results were almost instantaneous -> I received a call 30 minutes later from a family member confessing & repenting of a sin. Throughout the day, my heart continued to cry out for eyes to see as Jesus saw. In sharing this heart cry with John, the Lord gave me eyes to see how the pregnancy of our dear friends was His answer to our prayers & also how the enemy was there to snatch this testimony away from our memory!!"
Praise God! Thank you, Jesus! Let us enter into his gates in thanksgiving and praise! This is how our merciful God works. He is faithful. Let us not take council from those who have not experienced his Love and power, but let us always give thanks and praise for the work of his hand.
Dear father please continue to pour out your mercy, grace and power over our community so that by these mighty works our Savior Jesus will be glorified and blessed. As you bless us to bring your Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
Amen
God bless
John
However, I often hear this quote interpreted as saying that prayer doesn’t change the world. There is little doubt that prayer does change us, but if this is all that prayer did, then there would be little use for prayer other than personal development. In fact, this is all too often how many Christians have come to think about prayer and its usefulness. It is no wonder that in so many places, we are no longer a praying church.
Prayer does change the world. It works by inviting our God into this world, so that his Kingdom and his Will reign on here on earth. This is why Jesus taught us to pray – Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This is not a prayer that simply hopes for future change. The Lord's prayer literally commands that God’s Will (or Word) be exercised here on earth. Not in some distant coming of the millennium, but right now! Over and over again I have seen miracles happen when I or others pray.
Jesus tells us that (Mark 11:24) “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This is an incredible statement, but through my experience I have come to believe that it is the truth. Over and over again I have seen prayer bring down miracles from heaven. It is for this very reason that I feel so confident when I tell people to pray over issues or problems. I prescribe this with great confidence, because I see it work - all the time! I see God responding to those who humble themselves, repent of their sins, release their unforgiveness, and seek the presence of God in prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14).
But, the best example is always testimony. Below is a testimony to the power of prayer of a good friend of mine, Joe Kucera.
(As a side note, Joe's church has dispensationist leanings, thus, they are a little weak in the prayer department, but we love them anyway and pray always that the Lord will continue to open the eyes of their heart that they may draw closer to the God's truth:)
Joe's Testimony:
"Around March of this year, I was telling John Roper about the high rate of couples in our community of friends that have been unable to conceive a child. He suggested that my wife and I choose one couple and that we pray specifically for them. My wife and I both had the same couple on our hearts, so together we began praying for them to have a baby. This couple has been trying for ~5 years to have a child & have undergone numerous fertility treatments and spent thousands of dollars to no avail... We consistently prayed for them for about 4 weeks, until we learned that she had a cyst growing in her uterus (apparently a side-effect of the fertility treatments). Discouraged once again by the inability to conceive, they decided to stop fertility treatments for awhile until the cyst went away. We, too, were discouraged by this news and eventually stopped praying for them to conceive a child... Last weekend we met them for breakfast & they had something to show us -> a sonogram of their baby (she was 3 months pregnant!!!). The doctors determined that she got pregnant during the period when she was not undergoing fertility treatments (b/c of the presence of the cyst) & classified it as "spontaneous" -> this couple thinks it happened over Easter weekend :)
This week John told me about a family that was being prayed over by the Riverside community. In describing the way that the Lord was ministering to this family, John told me how the husband of this family was being encouraged to take his place of authority as the head of that household & to claim back the ground that the enemy had taken from each member of that household. When John spoke of these words given to this husband, there was a burning conviction in my heart that I needed to do the same thing in my household. In prayer, I called for the Kingdom to come into my family & results were almost instantaneous -> I received a call 30 minutes later from a family member confessing & repenting of a sin. Throughout the day, my heart continued to cry out for eyes to see as Jesus saw. In sharing this heart cry with John, the Lord gave me eyes to see how the pregnancy of our dear friends was His answer to our prayers & also how the enemy was there to snatch this testimony away from our memory!!"
Praise God! Thank you, Jesus! Let us enter into his gates in thanksgiving and praise! This is how our merciful God works. He is faithful. Let us not take council from those who have not experienced his Love and power, but let us always give thanks and praise for the work of his hand.
Dear father please continue to pour out your mercy, grace and power over our community so that by these mighty works our Savior Jesus will be glorified and blessed. As you bless us to bring your Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
Amen
God bless
John
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