Episode 379 -  Show Notes:

• First, our prayers can be hindered when we pray with the wrong motive. Why would God answer our prayer is we were asking for the wrong reason. Sometimes our prayers can be self-centered. Instead of asking for God’s will to be done, we are asking for our will.

James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

• Second, our prayers can be hindered when we are living in willful sin. When we refuse to surrender to God, when we refuse to confess and repent of our sin, we might not receive an answer to our prayer.

Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

• Third, our prayers can be hindered when we have unbelief. The Bible teaches us there is a vital connection between prayer and faith. God wants us to come to him with faith and believe that he will answer. Listen to the caution from James 1:6-7.

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”

• Finally, our prayers can be hindered if we have an unforgiving spirit towards others. Bitterness and resentment are some of the most common hindrances to answered prayer.

Matthew 6:14-15 - “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

These powerful verses lead us to a place of examination before the Lord. The Holy Spirit is so faithful to speak to our hearts and to reveal is there is anything in our lives that doesn’t please the Lord. 

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Episode 378 -  Show Notes:

• As I record this podcast episode, I know that many of you find yourself in the midst of a storm. Some of you are facing storms in your relationships. Some are facing heath storms or financial storms. Others are facing storms in your work or even your ministry.
• Remember this, we serve a God who can bring peace in the midst of the fiercest storm. He’s never faced a storm he couldn’t calm. With just a word, Jesus can calm your storm.  All we have to do is be like the disciples and turn to him. Cry out to him today. He will either calm the storm in our outward circumstances, or he will calm the storm inside you. Either way, there is peace in the midst of the storm.
• Instead of focusing on the size of your storm, focus on the size of your God. He is fully capable of handling anything you are facing. You are not alone in your storm. He is in your boat. Look to him today for the peace you need.

Mark 4:38-41 - “The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

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Episode 377 -  Show Notes:

• I know people who once walked closely with Christ. They served the Lord. The loved Jesus, but over time something happened. They became distracted by the world. They walked away from their relationship with God. Today they wonder if God would receive them back. Would God restore the relationship they once had?
• Your relationship with Jesus Christ is like any other relationship.  It has to be maintained.  No relationship ever stays the same.  You are either growing closer to the Lord or you are drifting away.  You never just stand still.  You don’t just become a Christian and that’s it.  
• The good news is that God offers to us restoring grace.  When we have blown it, when we walk away, when we stumble and fall.  The grace of God is available to restore us and to bring us back to where we need to be in God.  
• Restore - to bring back, to reinstate, to return, and to re-establish. If you come back to God this is exactly what he will do. He will restore you! It’s important to know that being restored by grace requires a change of heart.
• Restoration requires a change of heart, a change of mind, and a change of direction. Do you know what all of this adds up to? Repentance. When we fail, we need to repent. When we do our God is faithful to restore. No one is too far gone that they cannot be restored by God.

Lamentations 5:21 – “Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old.”

Romans 5:20 – “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”

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Episode 376 -  Show Notes:

• The Bible teaches us that God is exalted. He is high and lifted up. He is above us all in power and stature. He answers to no one. He doesn’t have to defend his actions. He is holy.
• Because God is holy, he cannot allow sin to enter his presence. Sin is what separates us from God. This is why God sent Jesus to provide a way to be cleansed and purified from our sins. 
• Sin is a big deal to God and it should be a big deal to us. We might say, “Well, you know we all struggle. Nobody is perfect, right? I wouldn’t call it a sin. It’s more like a struggle, a weakness, or a problem. But, to call it a sin, I wouldn’t go that far.”
• To God sin is missing the mark of his standard of holiness and righteousness, and all of us fall short. Romans 3:10 says, “there is no one righteous, not even one.”
• So, compelled by a love we will never fully understand, God sends Jesus to pay the awful penalty for our sins. By his grace he offers us forgiveness as we put our faith in Jesus. We are cleansed and purified from our sins. We receive the righteousness of Jesus.
• God must remain holy; he cannot put up with sin, no matter how trivial it may seem to us.  God knows that even a single sin has the same net effect as many sins – both result in contamination. 
• So, we come to Jesus, undone, unclean, and impure, but through Jesus we are made clean, righteous, and holy. We are then called to live and walking holiness, recognizing our lives represent Jesus. 1 Peter 1:16 says, “for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Isaiah 6:1-4 says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.”

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Episode 375 -  Show Notes:

• Prayer is a small thing that has a great impact. I want you to see how important prayer is in our lives. Small prayers change things. Our faith is not in the greatness of our prayers, but in the greatness of our God. 
• God hears every prayer, even wordless prayers. He hears the cry of our heart when we can’t even formulate the right words. He is close to the brokenhearted. He sees our tears. He knows our heart, our feelings, and our emotions.
• We might be tempted to think our prayers are ineffective because we aren’t doing it. Maybe you think prayer needs to be long or pronounced with eloquent language. But the truth is, God knows our needs before we ask. The effectiveness of our prayers is not dependent on speaking the right words. It’s not an exact formula we follow. Prayer is communicating from the heart. If you can talk, you can pray.
• Perhaps some of the greatest prayers you can pray are, “help me, God, I need you right now, give me strength, or give me peace. More examples of powerful prayers are, “yes, Lord, I will obey, use me God, fill me with your Spirit.”
• What could God do in and through your life if you would become a person of prayer? What if you committed, even a few minutes each day in prayer? What if you incrementally added to your prayer time? Is there anything we could to that would be more impactful?

1 Samuel 3:8-10 - “A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”  Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.  The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

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Episode 374 -  Show Notes:

• Love is more than a feeling.  It is more than words.  Love is proven when it is demonstrated by action.  Jesus has shown us what love looks like by his sacrificial death.  As believes we are called to love others with this same selfless love.
• You see, God did not love us from afar. His love compelled him to come to us, to die for us, to rescue us, and to save us. His love was not just found in words, but it was demonstrated by his actions.
• Today, you and I must ask the question: how can we love like Jesus? How can we love our families this way? How can we love our co-workers this way? How can we love our neighbors like Jesus does?
• If you want a portrait of love, look to the life of Jesus. He illustrated love by the life he lived. He never showed hatred or malice. He only got angry over injustice, but that was motivated by his love for people. He went out of his way to help even those his fellow Jews despised. He crossed racial, cultural, and geographical barriers to care for people. He reached out to the unlovely and the castaways of the world. But the ultimate expression of his love was when he went to the cross, sacrificing his life for us.
• Pray and ask God to show you how to love those around you. Let your love be like Jesus, selfless and sacrificial. Love with actions, and not just words.

Romans 5:7-8 - “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18 NIV)

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Episode 373 -  Show Notes:

• God is at work in your life. He is building something beautiful. He is patient and not in a hurry. Incrementally, step by step, God continues his work in our lives. No matter how long you have known the Lord, he is still at work in your life. His goal, of course, is to make us like his son, Jesus. This lifelong process will continue until one day we meet the Lord face to face.
• He always finishes what he starts. He does nothing halfway. He never gives up. He doesn’t quit. He doesn’t throw in the towel. God completes his tasks. This truth should encourage us to know that while we struggle in many ways, God doesn’t give up on us. He continues his work. The theological term for this is the word sanctification. It’s the process of becoming all God wants us to become.
• I’m aware that spiritual growth can be very discouraging at times.  It’s like climbing Mount Everest, the closer you get to the top, the farther away it seems.  But God has a reason for all this.  He wants us to depend on him for everything in life. He designed life so that it works only when he is in total charge of everything.  When we try to run the show—which we often do—things just begin to fall apart.  If the Christian life is left to us, we will always fail. Only God can give us what we need to be victorious.
• Trust that God is faithfully at work in your life, even if you don’t see it at the moment. Sometimes our vision is cloudy. Sometimes life feels like you are driving at night during fog conditions. You can barely see where you are going. Just because we can’t see him at the moment, doesn’t mean he has abandoned us.

Philippians 1:6 - “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Psalm 138:8 - “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.”

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Episode 372 -  Show Notes:

• Dynamite is quite small, but it has explosive power. The same is true with our words. You carry around with you, all day long, the power of life and death.
• You and I can speak words of life or words of death. We can speak words that build up or words that tear down. We carry this power with us every day.
• I believe my words indicate how healthy or unhealthy I am spiritually.  If you go to the doctor for physical, one of the things he/she will do is ask you to stick out your tongue.  Because the tongue is an indicator.  The nurse will put a thermometer under your tongue – it is a barometer of your physical health.  The scripture teaches us the same thing is true spiritually.
• Our words are directly connected to our thoughts. We must be very cautious about negative and critical thoughts. They will become our words. 
• Let’s ask God to speak to our hearts. Ask him to give you wisdom with your words so that you will use them to bless, inspire, encourage, and to uplift others.

Proverbs 18:21 - “The tongue has the power of life and death.”

Philippians 4:8 - “…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

Ephesians 4:29 - “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

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Episode 371 -  Show Notes:

• I have been meditating this verse for the past few days. There is so much happening in our world that is troubling. Whatever your views on politics and Covid19, it’s so easy to become consumed by it all. We think about it all the time, we become frustrated and angry, we post online, we talk to others, and we become overwhelmed.
• It’s in times like these that we go back to scripture. What does God ask of us in difficult times? We are called, through power of the Holy Spirit, to endure. Yes, endure it. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Don’t throw in the towel. Don’t become bitter and angry. Simply endure.
• We can endure because He gives us the power to endure. We can endure and still display the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
• We can endure hardship with the love of Christ in our hearts. We can endure difficulties while maintaining God’s peace and the joy of the Lord. As Christians, we don’t have to follow the pattern of the world around us that is angry and bitter. We have Jesus in our lives, and that makes all the difference.

2 Timothy 2:3 - “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

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Episode 370 -  Show Notes:

• Does it ever seem like you are being attacked from every side? Maybe you have gone through seasons of life when everything seemed to be falling apart. You faced sickness, while navigating financial difficulties, and family challenges, all at the same time. What do you do when your whole world is crumbling?
• Job is a man who has lost it all. His whole world has crumbled. The durability of his faith in God is being examined. Can Job do it? Can he hold on? Is he only a believer because of God’s blessings? Will he continue to trust God if all of his blessings are removed?
• Every eye is on Job. It’s as if all of Heaven and Hell are watching to see what happens. At this point Job’s wife had seen enough. "Are you still holding on to your God? What's the use?" she mocked. "Curse him and die!” But Job refused and asked, "Should we accept good from God and not trouble?”
• Later Job declares his decision. In Job 13:15 he says, “Though God slay me, yet will I hope in him.”
• We gain inspiration from Job’s story. When your whole world is crumbling, when everything seems to be falling apart, you can maintain your faith in God. You can trust Him. You can continue to believe. 
• Let’s decide to be mature followers of Jesus, who do not believe because of the blessings. If the blessings come, we will follow Him. If the blessings are removed, we will still follow him. In every season, God is faithful.

Job 1:8-12 - “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”  “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”  The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

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