A Powerful Confession/Prayer For Our Children

I came across this confession that was designed for children. Made a couple of changes, so I am not using it's origional title. Have passed it out to children and adults alike.... but especially since school is about ready to start, I thought it would be an encouraging thing for your children to have under their belt.

Is there anything more precious to us than our children?

God's Word that tells us that death and life are in the power of our tongue Proverbs 18:21
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life Proverbs 15:4,
Romans 4:17 tells us: "I have made you a father of many nations" in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did
Job 22:28 says: You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.

Even God spoke things that were not as though they were, and they came into existance. We're made in His image, and I would hope that we would learn from His example. God HELP US to HELP our children.



A Confession of My Faith

I am a servant and child of the Most High God.
Jesus is my Savior and my Lord.
I am filled with His Holy Spirit.
I obey His written Word.
I hear every Word that He speaks to me,
And I obey quickly without arguing.
I live and walk by faith,
Not by what I see.
I walk in the power of my strong spirit.
I am full of wisdom and understanding.
I lay hands on the sick and they recover.
I win people to Jesus.
I do not lie - I am always quick to tell the truth.
I do not steal - I am a tither and a giver, not a taker.
My Father takes care of me,
I do not complain,
I work hard to help my family, I honor and obey my parents
And people in authority over me.
I walk in love - I do not gossip
I am not rude, and I am never mean.
I put others first, and I am not selfish
I treat other people with respect
I am always grateful for everything good in my life.
I am fiercely loyal.
I am full of courage and refuse fear of any kind.
I am merciful and kind
I am generous and fair-minded
I do not become offended, and I am quick to forgive.
I always do what is right and I do it right.
I do all things with excellence
I am diligent and I am not a quitter
I only allow my eyes and ears and mouth to let in good things
I keep my heart pure
I live my life in honor and humility
I allow nothing to come before God

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Father, HELP US to see through our eye of faith. HELP US to decree Your Word, and to walk in a way that expresses Your character. In Jesus' Name.

Spiritual Awakening

This article is used by permission.by Pastor Alma Lampp

True Christianity is not religious. True Christianity is Life manifested in humanity. A miracle life born in the hearts of Believers. God’s mercy over His Creation opens the blinded eyes of the spirit of man to the God Revealing Discovery. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead can quicken us and make us ALIVE.

The Word of God is a Miracle Book, a recipe for miracles to Believers, separating people from dead gods/idols to worship the Living God.

If miracles happen, people will come. Where God is not manifested, people go after other gods/idols to worship. It is in the nature of man to worship. In any place where a man's or woman’s prayers are heard and answered, God brings manifestation. People will flock in to get, hear and receive. More than to hear the philosophy, orthodox, statesman, the traditionalist, theologians, even hard core atheist’s, and the one that is only a “professor”, slip in to get a “Can it really work” view of God’s power.

Education, philosophical oratory, ecclesiastical indoctrination worship man - and will never move the hand of God. Only by His Word, His Way, and His Spirit can a true awakening of the Living God in this Earth be experienced. The heart hunger for miracles is deeply rooted in man. Humanity, the offspring in the image of God, every race, nationality, be they kings, paupers, bond, free, great, small, they all deep down hunger for the real Living God. Religion is a pagan, impersonal ritual of ceremonies (lifeless formality) and when the party’s over, only the ravaged, raped, molested souls put on their best make-believe personalities and walk like mannequins or zombies to the drum beat of a laughingstock of eternity.

Education of any kind will not take God’s place. God needed miracles due to the dullness of man‘s hearing. Jesus Christ in His true Church, Word Believers, is as much a Miracle Worker NOW as He ever was. There must be a return to “Christ Living In Us“, the hope of Glory, His power and personal presence. If we preach what Christ preached, believe as He believed His Father’s Word, obey as He obeyed, we will get the same results that Jesus got in His ministry. This is called Spiritual Awakening when we submit our thinking, actions, desires, and our lives to the Lord. The teaching & preaching of modern man’s twisted theology will not produce “thus saith the Lord.”

Answer for truth that sets us free, John 8:32 Only simple faith in God’s spoken, written Word can set us free to obtain eternal life and serve the Living God. Proverbs 4:22 His Word is life to all who find it and health to all their flesh.

I Believe All of God’s Word
God Bless You
Alma Lampp

We Need God’s Divine Direction

We Need God’s Divine Direction
The nations, Governments, Humanity, Education, Families, Churches and Leaders

God has not made His Word too complicated that humanity cannot understand His instructions. If He says DO - we do. If He says DON’T DO - We know not to do it. II Corinthians 5:7 tells us that we walk by faith. Romans 1:17 says that the just shall LIVE by faith. Mark 11:22 says to have faith in God.

The word “faith” is God’s calling us to TAKE HOLD of all we can of Him. We are eternal beings and we must set our life in God by faith in His Word, for it is our life, and keeping power NOW and FOREVER, eternally.

Every day we are challenged either to turn to the flesh OR to take hold of God by faith. That requires us to seek God for our WAY, to gather manna daily for we encounter major World problems that no man can handle without God. Many have tried it, but the ending proves that without God’s direction and obeying it, people perish for a lack of knowledge. Destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6

Psalm 139:24: Lead me in Your Way everlasting. Isaiah 30:21 : You hear His voice say: this is the way walk ye in it. Isaiah 45:13: God will direct ALL our ways. John 14:6: I am the Way, the Truth and Life. I Corinthians 10:13: In all things I make a Way for your escape from evil.

A BULLETIN TO THE WORLD to the gates of hell, to the tried People of God, the Church, to all who read:
Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4: Man, humans, ALL People shall not live by bread alone, natural food alone, but every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Almighty. A steady stream.

We are individual beings with individual souls, spirits and bodies. Get it all into God’s hands or Perish. Don’t be a fool.
Psalm 14:1 says that a fool said in his heart there is no God. Proverbs 10:21 tells us that a fool dies for lacking of wisdom. Game playing is coming to an end. The door of mercy and grace will close at the end of that time, that dispensation, then the Rapture will take the READY Church out. Matthew 25:10: Five wise virgins will taken and the five foolish virgins were not. II Chronicles l7:14: IF My People that are called by My Name, will humble themselves, PRAY and seek MY face and TURN from their wicked ways THEN I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

PEOPLE, WE MUST GET SERIOUS WITH GOD! There is no way for “blessing” except from God. Outside of God is the curse. We must get the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus) over our homes, our substance our families, and nation or we perish. Revelation 12:11 We are made overcomers by the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus’ shed Blood on the cross of Calvary) and set free….Raised with Him in His resurrected Life, waiting for His Return.. Put away haughty, religious, stubborn foolishness. Get saved and STAY saved.

God will not be mocked. Believe in God’s Word and LIVE or doubt and do without. NOW is the day of Salvation. Either we are headed for Heaven or Hell. We all enter planet Earth by birth, we will all EXIT by death or the Rapture. Choose your destiny NOW. God’s Word is our SALVATION TICKET. A ticket that is free of cost.

Alma Lampp
M. G. T. Ministries

Finish The Race With Prayer

If you'd rather see the video of this message, it may be found HERE. (MP3 is also available.) Find the listing for April 3, 2011.

This article is used with permission.


FINISH THE RACE WITH PRAYER
by Carter Conlon

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22–24).

Considering these words of Jesus, one cannot help but wonder why it is so hard for many of God’s people to pray. After all, if we truly believed these three verses of Scripture, wouldn’t we be running into the prayer closet every day? Wouldn’t prayer be the very essence of our life? Imagine having a friend with a billion dollars tell you, “Whenever you have a need, call me and it will be yours.” Don’t you think you would dial that number once in a while? Yet we have the very God of the universe saying, “I will move anything out of your way that hinders you. I will give you all you desire if you pray and believe.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to finish the race with prayer. I have seen the fruit of prayer in great measure over the years, but I never want to get to the point of concluding that I have received enough. If God has more of His life for me, more ways that He can glorify Himself through me, I would be a fool to stop praying and start relying on something other than the words that come from the very heart of God.

So why is it so hard to pray? Obviously the devil is against prayer. All through the Scriptures we see what happened as a result of prayer—babies were conceived in barren wombs, the old were made strong, the miraculous abounded—so, of course, Satan is going to oppose us whenever we decide to pray. However, is it possible that there is something in our own hearts that hinders us as well?


OUR OWN HEARTS CONDEMN US

I believe that many people cannot pray because they constantly feel condemned. Imagine how difficult it would be to visit a friend who always magnified your faults and criticized your most sincere efforts. Although you come in happy, suddenly your spirits are dampened as this friend starts pointing out everything that you are not doing right.

Have you ever encountered something similar in the prayer closet? When I was a young Christian, I had a difficult time with this. If I prayed fifty-eight minutes, I would walk away and a small voice would say, “What? Could you not pray with Me one hour?” If I prayed an hour and five minutes, the voice would say, “Is that all of the twenty-four hours of your day that you can spare for the Lord?”

Of course, this constant condemnation was from my own heart, although it is easy for us to mistakenly attribute such thoughts to God. Because of this, we enter the prayer closet in a manner much like Peter in Acts 10. The Scripture says that Peter went up on a rooftop, and as he began to pray, a sheet was let down by its four corners and contained all kinds of unclean beasts, birds and insects. This is exactly what our prayer life can be like—as we go into that secret place and get on our knees to pray, immediately a sheet comes down containing all our failings, faults, struggles and shortcomings.

Does this sound familiar? All the things you did wrong, all the places where you fell short as a Christian, all these little things come to your mind—as if that is all God remembers. However, notice that the Lord instructed Peter, “Rise, Peter; kill, and eat” (Acts 10:13). In other words, “Be nourished, Peter. Strengthen yourself during this time of revelation that I am giving to you.” Peter insisted, “No, I can’t do that because there is such uncleanness here.” In a similar way, many people today cannot grow in grace or lay hold of the promises of God because of a constant awareness of their uncleanness.

The Lord replied to Peter, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:15). When we go into the prayer closet, we must understand that we have been cleansed from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we are not to call ourselves unclean anymore. The Bible says that in Christ we are the righteousness of God. In other words, we are as clean as God is—which would actually seem almost blasphemous if it were not written in the Scriptures.

I thank God for the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ. I thank God that I do not have to be strong to go into the prayer closet. As a matter of fact, the book of Hebrews tells me that it is in my time of need that I should go to the throne of God. It is when I need strength, direction, empowerment and help that I should go boldly to the throne of grace (see Hebrews 4:16). As His children, we have an open invitation to come into the presence of our heavenly Father.

Remember that the apostle Paul said, “Be careful for nothing...” In other words, do not be weighed down; do not let the enemy or your own heart condemn you. “...but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). How can we come into the prayer closet with thanksgiving if we do not believe that we are already received of God? We must be convinced that it is God’s delight to manifest the life of His Son in us—to give us the things that we need to represent Him on the earth. That is the key to praying with thanksgiving.


ASKING AMISS

Another reason we may have difficulty praying is because our desires are not in line with God’s desires for us. “...Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:2–3). You and I are left on the earth to make known the love of God—the love that sent His Son to a cross—and to glorify the Son. Christ bought the redemption, but we are to bring the reality of that redemption—the reality of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Yet when we forget this purpose, we ask amiss, and then we wonder why our prayers are not answered.

Think for a moment of what can result when we pray in line with God’s desires. When the 120 came out of the Upper Room in the Book of Acts, God had supplied them with the strength that they had prayed for—a supernatural strength that replaced mountains of fear and unbelief. There they were, 120 predominantly uneducated people, simply bursting into the marketplace among those who still had the blood of anger on their lips toward followers of Jesus Christ. Yet these disciples were filled with boldness and the presence of God.

The Greek word megaleios means they were speaking of the anticipated outworking of the inward life of God. They were speaking about what God was going to do, what He had given them, the faith that was alive in their hearts. The religious looked at this and essentially said, “Wow! There is nothing of our religion that has ever given us anything like this! What must we do to be saved?”

Or consider the story in Genesis 24 where Abraham told his servant to go back to his country and find a bride for his son Isaac. This servant journeyed out to the land of Abraham’s family and prayed, “Lord, if You have prospered my journey, and if You are going to be favorable to my master, lead me to the bride for his son” (see Genesis 24:12–14).

The Scripture says that before he was done speaking, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder (Genesis 24:15) before he was done speaking! This servant had traveled a long distance, was in a very large place among a crowd of strangers, and did not even know where Abraham’s family was. However, he prayed, and the miraculous began to unlock. I thank God that Abraham’s servant was not a strategist. I thank God there were no phone books or cell phones available. In that generation he did what every man should do—he prayed! And when he prayed, God sovereignly began to answer that prayer. Rebekah was grafted into the lineage of Jesus Christ, and from this came Jacob, the patriarchs of Israel, and ultimately the Son of God Himself. What incredible results we see when we do not ask amiss.


FEAR OF WHAT GOD MAY ASK

Many times we cannot pray because we are unwilling to follow the pathway that may open up before us. We are afraid that God is going to ask something of us that we are not willing to give up. In Acts 8, we read the account of a man named Philip who had a marvelous ministry in Samaria. Multitudes were being saved and healed and even the original apostles had taken notice of his ministry. Yet, while in prayer, Philip was asked to leave what most would view as security and success—all to go to a barren place, into a situation he did not understand.

You and I tend to have a view of what our lives should be and what success is. Therefore we are not willing to go into the prayer closet lest God ask us to do something that is not on our agenda. That is why some churches today are filled with people who are simply using Jesus Christ to further their own agenda rather than the will of God.

Philip chose to obey God and left Samaria for a desert place. It was in that desert that he experienced a miracle—a man of authority from Ethiopia being brought to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. After baptizing this Ethiopian eunuch, the Scripture says that Philip was translated by the Spirit of God. The Lord just took him and placed him in another city about thirty miles away! Obedience to leave what we view as success can actually be what opens to us the supernatural.

Of course, that does not mean that once we have a willingness to obey, we suddenly understand the full picture. God simply calls us to take that first step of obedience by faith. Philip’s obedience brought the gospel—the first record we have of the gospel of Jesus Christ—into the northern parts of Africa. As we walk in obedience to the will of God and our desires are in line with His, we have the right to come into the prayer closet and say, “Lord, I need this” and suddenly we see the miraculous begin to unfold.

Later in the book of Acts we find the story of a disciple named Ananias. As Ananias was praying one day, God said to him, “There is a man called Saul of Tarsus staying down at his house on Straight Street. I want you to go down and lay hands on him. I am going to heal him and fill him with the Holy Ghost” (see Acts 9:11–12). Ananias essentially replied, “Lord, is this the same Saul that has done great harm to Your people in Jerusalem? I have heard that he has authority from the priests to put in prison all who call upon Your name. Now You are asking me to go lay hands on this man?”

Nevertheless, Ananias obeyed the word he received in prayer. As he prayed for Paul, scales fell from Paul’s eyes and he soon began to go out and preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Christ. Thank God for Ananias’ obedience! What if he had not obeyed God—if he had gone into the prayer closet and pushed out of his mind everything that was detrimental to his own safety and security?

I cannot get over the thought of the incredible, explosive power that is available if we have the courage to go to prayer and ask, “Lord, what would You have me to do?”—and then have a heart that is willing to obey whatever God asks of us.


SPEAK TO THE MOUNTAIN

Just preceding our opening Scripture (Mark 11:22), Jesus had cursed a fig tree that had an appearance of fruitfulness but was actually barren. He had come to what was a type of religion, a type of a relationship with God. He looked for life on it, but there was none. The fig tree represents everything within us that has no ability to let the power and strength of Jesus be manifested through us to others—everything in us that hinders, everything that does not represent the life of God, all that falls short of His glory. Remember, it was fig leaves that Adam and Eve used to cover themselves in the Garden of Eden. You and I have the power in Christ to curse this—to speak to this area in our own hearts and say, “No longer will you govern me.”

“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). Jesus said we have the authority to speak not only to the fig tree but also to the mountain. The mountain is the soil—that which gives life and allows things that do not represent God to survive. We have the power to cast into the sea everything that feeds this powerlessness and allows God look-alikes to flourish in our lives. We can cast them away and expect God to replace them with what we need to glorify Him on the earth.

In other words, whatever the devil has said you cannot do, whatever your own heart says will never change, whatever fear there is within you—that is the mountain. That is where you must stand and say, “I do not believe the lie—I believe what Jesus has spoken. Today I speak to this mountain, and I command it in the name of Jesus Christ to be cast away from me and planted in the midst of the sea!”

It is time to have faith in God. It is time to pray and expect the Lord to answer. Oh, what an hour to rise up and be the Church again! What an hour to go into the prayer closet with boldness despite all our weaknesses and come out with the strength of God. What an hour to have a clear mind, a clean heart, a fresh vision for the future, new strength that comes from God alone. What an hour to be equipped with the power of God.


Thank God that as we come to Him in faith, He will hear our prayers and give us strength. He will open our mouths to speak His Word. He will vanquish our enemies, endow us with giftings that we do not naturally have and enable us to face the days that we are living in now. There is going to be a new song in our hearts, and we are going to finish the race with prayer!



Carter Conlon
©2011 Times Square Church

The Day That Jesus Left His Friends

THE DAY THAT JESUS LEFT HIS FRIENDS
by Carter Conlon
This article is used by permission, and can be found at:http://www.tscnyc.org/

I am so thankful for friends and fellowship in the body of Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to be able to encourage one another, to spur each other on to continue in the faith, to have a word that might help lift another’s burden. The Bible clearly exhorts us not to forsake assembling together— in even greater measure as we see the Lord’s return drawing nearer (see Hebrews 10:25). Yes, I have enjoyed many marvelous moments of friendship over the years. Nevertheless, I also have found that God often calls me to a place where I must journey alone.

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:26–30).

Here we see fellowship around a table, with Jesus openly declaring His intent to obey the calling of His Father, regardless of the personal cost. He was essentially telling them, “As you see this bread broken, I am going to be broken for you. Not only for you, but for all people who will turn to God through Me. Just as you see this juice being poured out, My blood is going to be spilled upon the ground for the redemption of all humanity.”

I am sure many of us have openly declared our desire to obey God to the fullest. We have gone to an altar and prayed, “Oh, God, take me the full journey; use my life for Your glory. Make me into what You want me to be!”

Six months after praying a prayer like that, you may have found yourself screaming, “Lord, what are you doing to me?” And the Lord answers, “Well, I am just answering your prayer. You said you wanted to take up your cross and follow Me, so that is what you are doing!” It is not merely a theological cross that you take up, of course. There must be a practical inward and outward working of it.


UNFULFILLED PROMISES

“Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended...Likewise also said all the disciples” (Matthew 26:31–35).

We have all had friends say, “I am in this with you; we are going over the finish line together!” I cannot help but wonder if, in this context, Jesus was tempted to lean on His friends for this final and most pivotal part of His earthly journey. Hebrews 4:15 tells us Jesus fully understands and feels our struggles and weaknesses, for He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” The God side of Jesus Christ could not be tempted, but the man side of Him could be.

“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy” (Matthew 26:36–37). Jesus was approaching that final moment when He would give His life for all the sins of humanity. Into this place of prayer He chose to take Peter, James and John—His closest friends on earth, His inner circle. They had seen His transformation; they had been with Him when He raised the dead—they knew who He was.

As Jesus took them into the garden of Gethsemane with Him, He shared with them the agony of His heart. “...My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). In other words, “I am going into a time of intense agony, and I am asking you to be with Me. I am asking for your support, your prayer, your help. You promised Me that you would not deny Me. You promised Me that you would stand with Me, even unto death. You promised Me that no matter how difficult it got, you would not walk away from Me. Now I am asking you to stay here with Me.”

Jesus went a little farther beyond them into the garden and began to pray, His sweat dripping as blood because of the agony that lay ahead. I find it very interesting because He then got up and went back to His inner circle. Although Jesus was seeking strength from His Father—the only source of true strength—He also went back to His disciples. When He found them asleep, He said to Peter, “...What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). Do you think Jesus could have been tempted to be disillusioned, perhaps even bitter, with His friends? He could have been tempted to question Peter, James and John, “After pouring My heart and life into you for over three years, could you not have given Me one hour when I needed you most?”

During our journey, there will be places where God calls us to go individually. However, it is during those times that we will often be faced with the temptation to lean on our friends. While we theologically know that our only source of strength is God, we all have the human tendency to come back and lean on people. You and I run into a crisis and go into the prayer closet—yet we are not even halfway through our prayers when suddenly we are on the telephone calling somebody seeking counsel. We are looking for strength from God, but we also are looking to people for what only God can give. And there is a temptation in the heart to get bitter when we are looking in a dual place.

Remember that the Bible says, “...Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm...” (Jeremiah 17:5). Flesh will always fail. As wonderful as fellowship is, as wonderful as the promises that we have made to each other are, we simply are not capable of keeping those promises, for we are all built of the same frail cloth. The disciples were not at a place in their spiritual journey where they could share in or understand what Jesus was asking them to do.

“He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy” (Matthew 26:42–43). I see this as a last backward glance for the help of man. After all, why did Jesus come back a second time instead of just staying there to pray? It is as if He simply was looking for help, for companionship, for strength—only to find His disciples asleep.

It is only my opinion, but I believe that the Father in His mercy put them to sleep, for it was the strength of God alone that could take Jesus on this last and final step of His journey. There are times in our lives when God calls each child of His into his or her own Gethsemane, and nobody else can understand it; nobody else can help them there. People may offer words of encouragement and promise, but ultimately they will end up asleep because it is not their moment.


NECESSARY WOUNDS

A specific tree in Israel normally yields large amounts of fruit, yet sometimes it starts bearing less than it should. In our natural compassion we would start reading manuals about how to encourage this tree, how to go around the root system, how to give it certain types of fertilizer to help it grow and bear more fruit. Yet the true keeper of the vineyard comes with a huge machete in his hand and literally hacks the tree full swing on the side, causing the sap within to bleed out. At that point the tree has only two choices—it either goes down deep to find water or it dies. Most of the trees go down deep and eventually the wound heals because it finds itself in a root system drawing water from depths that ordinary trees cannot reach.

Similarly, if you desire to walk as Jesus did, you will not escape the classroom of being wounded. People you trusted will fall short. Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend...” Faithful. Did you know that God will even assign people to wound you—to fail you, to fall short of what you think friendship should be—in order to get your roots to go down deeper? Are you convinced that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose? (See Romans 8:28.) We tend to spend so much time rehearsing wounds of the past that we fail to understand that God is the author of these things in order that we might bear much fruit in His kingdom.

“And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words” (Matthew 26:44). Jesus left them! There simply comes a point when you have to leave your friends. You must leave this reliance on flesh and move into that place where the Holy Spirit is calling you—a place deeper and farther than natural man can go. It might even be a small journey from where you are today—just a small step. It does not mean that you leave your friends behind. It means that you come back and are more committed to them than ever.


RETURNING IN POWER

The last part of the journey is where you and I are called to be fully given for all people in spite of their response to us. Nobody but God can give us the strength to go to that place—to the place where we come back. The Scripture says that Jesus left the disciples, and when He later returned, He said to them, “...Sleep on now...” (Matthew 26:45). Jesus was not looking for strength from them, but instead He returned with the strength of God in Himself for them.

Note that when Jesus came back this third time, He was not bitter or indifferent. In fact, the fellowship was about to become sweeter. Genuinely sweet fellowship in the church of Jesus Christ is when I am not looking for anything from you, nor are you looking for anything from me. Instead, we are both given for each other. That is the sweetest fellowship there is.

Jesus Himself said, “No one that the Father has given me is going to perish except the son of perdition” (see John 17:12). Chosen to wound Him; chosen to betray Him—that was all part of the plan of God. Yet how many people fail at this point? How many get saved, walk with God, attend Bible studies, embrace the Scriptures, sing the hymns of Zion, but fail right at the finish line because they cannot accept that this kingdom is all about being given for other people? It is all about a God who is good to the unthankful and the unholy; who sends rain on the just and on the unjust. We are called to represent Him in the earth, yet how can we do so if we do not carry the heart of God within us? How will we ever make a difference unless we have been empowered by God Himself to come back and, whether or not it is ever reciprocated, be given for all people?

Remember that Jesus had to endure the betrayal of all His disciples, who fled in fearfulness. Yet God ultimately brought Him to a point where He could come back and enter an upper room full of those who had denied Him and simply say, “...Peace be unto you” (John 20:19). Jesus then breathed on His disciples, saying, “...Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22), and sent them out as the Father had sent Him.

And what do they end up doing? They go back to their fishing! Nevertheless, Jesus returned to them and was on the shore baking bread and cooking fish—calling them in, talking about love. He had come to a place where He was fully given for His friends.


LETTING GO OF GRIEVANCES

It is time for us to leave behind those moments when we were failed by the people we needed. Perhaps for you it was parents in your youth, a marriage partner who walked out, or church leaders who disappointed you. Whatever the circumstance, you must get beyond the grievances of man—beyond harboring and nurturing in your mind the failures of humanity.

Over the years I have seen that many people never get beyond that point. They sit in church, but when you dig down deep, it becomes apparent that they still have an inner grievance against people, particularly those they once considered to be their friends in church. They can still sing the songs, still clap their hands and say, “Praise the Lord”—as long as the one who betrayed them stays about five feet away. Their fellowship becomes selective, and they start seeking out people they believe will not hurt them again. Unfortunately, they do not realize how far short of the glory of God they have fallen.

When we choose to press in to find the strength that only God can give, we will no longer have our list of grievances. Instead, we will have a heart that says, “Slap my face if you will, but by the power of God I shall be given for all people. Put me in jail, laugh me out of the workplace, but God has given me the strength to be given for others.”

There is a time when we must leave our friends for just a moment and find strength that can come only from God. God forbid that in this hour you and I should stop just near the end of the journey—that short distance of going from leaning on people to coming back in the power of God.

When we return in the power of God, we do not come back aloof or with resentment toward others. We come back ready to be given for all men, even our enemies. We are no longer looking to draw from others, and therefore we return to experience a fellowship that is much deeper and sweeter—the true fellowship of Christ!

Carter Conlon
©2011 Times Square Church

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Father, thank You for HELPING US to lean upon YOUR EVERLASTING ARMS, in Jesus' Name.