Church of the Word Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Jen Ropp read Proverbs 4:20, developing a strong spirit. Jen mentions about guarding your heart and checking for the weak areas. Jen reads from Proverbs 18:14, the tendencies we have is to be body conscious versus spirit. Often people don't recognize that they are a spirit. If you have strength in your spirit, you would be able to stand. Proverbs 24:10, adversity meaning tightness or troubled. Faint means to slack in, to fail, to be feeble,  slothful, weak, or to withdrawal. Being faint is like just laying down and letting the devil eat your lunch. She encourages us to see our way through the situation (s). You have to first determine that there is a way through. You got to fight! Jen tells us not to ignore that there is a problem. It doesn't please the Lord to shrink back. She reads from 2 Corinthians 1:8. Despair means no hope or to faint. Jen tells us to quit, get up, and not to stay in despair. Because, the Lord is with us. 2 Corinthians 4:8, you can hear that fight or the roar of the lion. Perplexed is when things are questionable and can lead to despair. Do know that you just don't have to lay down. We need to prepare ourselves before the storm. 2 Corinthians 4:6, what is the state of your heart? If you are in a weak moment, you can move out of that. It's not the time for condemnation.  When despair comes, it should be your indicator to check where you are at spiritually. We are expected to grow and mature. Three things we need for spiritual strong growth are: 1) Good diet- Jesus is bread of life, 2) Exercise - bible reading,  prayer, confessing, or worshiping, and 3) Rest. Don't let your diet be full of junk to take the edge off. Do know that a spirit at rest is a spirit at peace. We have to learn how to cast our cares. We have got to live strong!

Pastor Sydney Ropp read from Galatians 5:6, our faith works by love. God is love. Pastor Sydney read from Ephesians 6:18. Prayer is specific and is where two or more are gathered to come into agreement. Prayer is an area we have become lazy in. Pastor Sydney encouraged us to find someone we can trust to be able to be specific  in what we need prayer for. He mentioned that our desires will always override someone elses's prayers. That is why it it is key for our desires to line up with the word of God. There are various types of prayer. Pastor Sydney read from 1 Timothy 2:1. Supplication means request or prayers. Petitions, prayers, intercession (an appeal or on our behalf), and thanksgiving (actual, greatful, vocal language) are four ways of prayer. Pastor Sydney read from James 5:13 and Matthew 21:22. The key component is believing. Prayer of faith cannot be prayed until there is belief. John 15:7, if you remain in Me. You have to know what the Word says about your situation. Understanding the will of God, there will be effective prayer. 1 John 5, ask God for His wisdom and thank Him in advanced for showing you. Pray the Word over your situation. Get in faith and then pray, 1 John 5:14. Ask the Lord for scripture about your situation. Your desires have to be according to His will, Mark 11:23. Trying is never doing. Let the Word become your reality, Mark 11:22.

Pastor Sydney Ropp mentioned that proper prayer is to pray to the Father through Jesus. Pastor Sydney read Luke 6:27 and talked about cutting off strife and to forgive wrongdoing. He also mentioned that it is easier to love a friend then our enemies. If your enemy is your spouse, they need to be loved too. Do good things to those who hate you. You cannot remain in hate or unforgiveness. God's love will overflow. The goodness of God is what leads a person to repentance. Luke 6:32, credit means grace. God loves justice. If we see people through the Father's eyes, we would forget about the wrongdoing people have done to us personally. Pastor Sydney read from John 13:31. He talked about where there is no place in the bible where Jesus directly says " I love you". Jesus talks in third person. Jesus went to the cross because of His love for the Father. Our motivation is not our love for one another. It is that our focus is to be on the love for our Father. Pastor Sydney read Mark 14:35, approach Him as Father. It is up to us to pray things as it is in heaven that it shall be done on earth. Pastor Sydney read from Matthew 6:9-14. God is our source. If you are not seeing answers go back and pray about the situation and ask what is hindering your prayer(s), 1 Peter 3:7. Pastor Sydney read from Mark 11:25 and Matthew 18:15. Rebuking means prayer in private. If a person dosen't know that they had offended you, go and forgive them in private!

Pastor Bruce Ladebu mention you have to experience your faith. There is some pain in the process. It is supernatural to love your enemies. We can be fear filled Christians  or faith filled Christians. Pastor Bruce read from James 1:2. If we understand the dynamics of God we can live extraordinary lives. We don't want to be unstoppable. 2 Peter 3, desire brings pursuit and pursuit brings capture. Pastor Bruce talked about a person can choose to let pornography or whatever it is to get a hold a hold of them or they can choose to follow God. No one can fulfill your calling and destiny. Put feet to your faith, God responds.  You can pray for the poor but, until you get up and go feed them or clothed them we are not doing the action piece of things. We got to get to the point where our life is not our own.

Pastor Bruce Ladabu talked about how we need to see ourselves as the Lord sees us. Pastor Bruce read Luke 4:17 and John 14. We have small portions of the church doing what they are suppose to do. Pastor Ladabu read Ephesians 4. He mentioned that  a church that does not evangelize will fossilized, quoted by another author. We have to become the living church. Pastor Ladabu read from John 8:31. Abide means to live in permanently. Disciple is a disciplined follower of Jesus Christ. 1) You must believe in Jesus. 2) Live permanently in Jesus, abide in the word. 3) Become disciples.  We need to seek out someone to disciple us. Romans 12, present you bodies as a living sacrifice to God. You can't connect with God unless you have a transformed mind. Pastor Bruce read from Matthew 8 and Matthew 9:27. Jesus wants you to dream so big. Get a vision. We haven't stepped out. You are a champion of God. You have to understand that the power is within you, anyone filled with the Holy Spirit. Faith begins when the Will of God is found. Meditate and memorize the Word. It will begin to change you. Don't look at your circumstances. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Pray and obey. Pastor Bruce mentioned that we are to know God, find freedom, and discover your purpose. God wants to make us into warriors. We all have stuff that may anchor us down. Our hearts desire should be that we want to cleanse ourselves of the junk. God wants to utilize us for His kingdom.

Pastor Bruce Ladebu read out of 2 Corinthians 11. We make Christianity so complicated. He talks about how we need to come to a place where we don't doubt. We should never limit God. We need to get our faith out there and start expecting. God is taking anyone who is willing, teachable, and available. Pastor Bruce talked about a undeniable or unquenchable faith. We put God in a box when he is the God who created the Earth. Pastor Bruce mentioned that faith begins where the will of God is known. He mentions that we are the living book of Acts 29. He read out of Hebrews 11, faith is ownership. Diligence means that there is a lot of heart that goes into something. Pastor Bruce uses Pastor Sydney and Jen as an example. Pastor Sydney sought Jen out diligently. Pastor Bruce mentioned that we are at a time where we have to be established. Faith has action to it. The arc is a place of protection. When we start obeying God revival comes. Pastor Bruce read Hebrews 11:33, it was through faith. Faith is being fully convinced.

Apostle Dale Armstrong read from Romans 1. Faith is our decision to act on His integrity. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. We seed the power of salvation to everyone.  Romans 1:17, power of God equals salvation. It is from faith to faith and moving from glory to glory is an increase. God wants our faith to increase. Apostle Dale read from 2 Thessalonians 1:3. Apostle Dale referenced Romans 4:19, weak faith.Romans 4:20, strong faith. Apostle Dale references Mark 4:40. Acts 6:5, full of faith. James 2:22. 1 Timothy 1:5, sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:19. 1 John 5:4, overcoming faith. Apostle Dale compares a car and its gas tank to how our spiritual life is. He read from Mark 11:20. Apostle Dale encourages us to enlarge our perception and receptivity or our inner man. He read from Hebrews 11:3, when God spoke He created life. Use faith the way God is speaking faith, Mark 11:23. Jesus raised their expectations. He raised our capacity. Apostle Dale read Hebrews 10:35 and II Corinthians 4:13. He mentioned that we are going to have use some sort of imagination or vision. You have to see it before you believe. If you don't enlarge your heart you wont be able to take your faith at a greater magnitude. Meditation is soaking in the word. Biblical meditation fill our minds with the living word of God. You can gain more on the inside with meditation. If you are not careful you'll start to looking for experiences. Which is equivalent to being a substitute neglecting the word of God. Meditation will scar you in a good way. Apostle Dale continued to read out of Mark 11:24. When we meditate we develop desires. Faith gives substance. Things hoped for or desire is the common denominator. Your desire is for the righteous.

Pastor Bruce Ladebu read out of 2 Corinthians 11. We make Christianity so complicated. He talks about how we need to come to a place where we don't doubt. We should never limit God. We need to get our faith out there and start expecting. God is taking anyone who is willing, teachable, and available. Pastor Bruce talked about a undeniable or unquenchable faith. We put God in a box when he is the God who created the Earth. Pastor Bruce mentioned that faith begins where the will of God is known. He mentions that we are the living book of Acts 29. He read out of Hebrews 11, faith is ownership. Diligence means that there is a lot of heart that goes into something. Pastor Bruce uses Pastor Sydney and Jen as an example. Pastor Sydney sought Jen out diligently. Pastor Bruce mentioned that we are at a time where we have to be established. Faith has action to it. The arc is a place of protection. When we start obeying God revival comes. Pastor Bruce read Hebrews 11:33, it was through faith. Faith is being fully convinced.

Pastor Sydney read out of James 5:13. Pastor Sydney mentioned that he cannot force anyone to believe anything. He talks about being aware of when you hear yourself say things like "we prayed them in". It can put the wrong impression on others. Pastor Sydney continues to teach on the reason why we pray. The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful. Prayer is a legal thing. His love for humanity has not changed. God is not in control of everything. Pastor Sydney read from Ephesians 6:19, their success is dependent on our prayers. Philippians 4:5, remember that God is near. There is rest in faith. Pastor Sydney read out of Colossians 4:2, are you devoted to prayer. He encourages us to assess ourselves. He also read out of Ephesians 5:15. Your prayers can make a tremendous difference. 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, prayer brings about change. Just because something is God's will, you still need to pray. When praying make sure you are praying in faith. 1 John 5, pray accordingly. Luke 18:10, being self conscious. Matthew 6:5, praying in public is not public speaking. Pastor Sydney also read from John 16:23-24 and Luke 6:27. Pastor Sydney encourages us to pray in love.

Pastor Sydney read from James 5:16. How did Jesus tell us to pray? Why pray? Prayer changes things. 1) We pray because we believe that there is a God. 2) We have to know that He wants to reward us for seeking Him. When you talk to the Father you are going to Him in the legal right of Jesus. Jesus is your attorney. Prayer is a legal thing. Luke 5:16, Jesus prayed often. Most times we are looking to get something when going into prayer. When prayer goes from something we do to something we do to spend time with and have relationship with the Lord. We treat prayer as if it is something we have to do when it should be something we want to do. Pastor Sydney uses him spending time with his wife as an example. How it is a privilege to spend time with her. That is how our prayer with the Father should be. It should be a privilege to be able to go and pray and talk with the Father. You receive major revelation when you pray. Pastor Sydney read from Luke 9:2.  Pastor Sydney asked if there is value an hour of prayer? An hour of prayer could be of value or not depending on your outlook. If you are looking to put in a certain amount of time or pray in unbelief, it is equivalent to having no value in prayer. Take time and get away with the Lord. Take a date and get past the surface and back to the basics. Don't forget that the Father is always with you. Pastor Sydney read from Luke 18:9, still talking about what prayer is. Prayer is a two way conversation or a dialogue.  Prayer is not talking to other people but over God's shoulder. Prayer is not people preaching to other people through prayer. Prayer is not talking to the devil. It is not losing and binding, we are not talking to God when we do that. In the throne of Heaven or courtroom there is no need for the sword. God is our judge. Pastor Sydney read from Isaiah 56:6-7. Prayer is not mournful. Matthew 6:5-6, there is a correct way to pray and there is wrong way to pray. You pray to the Father. You do not pray to Jesus or the Holly Spirit. Deuteronomy 5:4, do not pray to other gods. Pastor Sydney referenced Matthew 12:4 and John 16. Pastor Sydney encourages us to pray like Mary did. Pastor Sydney mentioned that we want answered prayers but, we do not honor His name. He talks about using God's name in vein. We are to honor His name.