Prayers : Part 16

God gave prayer for one reason: to answer us. There are no “ifs,” “buts,” or “maybes.” When we ask, we are to receive. Prayer not a game of chance, it is guaranteed with God. Hebrews 4:15, 16 tells us that if we come boldly to God’s throne, we will receive both mercy (covenant, defined = I withhold from you the destruction you earned and deserve), and grace (covenant, defined = I give you all you do deserve).

Therefore, think of prayer in this way: if you can’t receive any negatives but all the positives are added to you, it is impossible for you to lose! We should be displaying His answers, not to show off, but to please Him.

Today, we’ll address the most commonly known of the prayers, but it’s also the one prayer that tends to trip people up. People tend to use the prayer of faith by their means, and when they get their results, try to pin the lack on God. There are spiritual laws in place that must be observed.

The prayer of faith (otherwise known as petition prayer)
This prayer is you, one on one alone with God. It is all about relationship. The first thing you have to do according to this prayer is:

1. Identify what you want. This is a desire such that your joy is not full if you do not have it. If spend time with Christ and are in a relationship with Him, you will change and therefore your desires will be in line with His. Know your inheritance if you plan make a demand on it. An inheritance is legally yours; you just haven’t come into it yet! Don’t let misguided people distract you.
   Meditate on the following Scriptures:
   John 16:23, 24; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3; 1 John 5:14, 15
   
   The second part is to:
2. Believe you have your request. Don’t pray until you believe, and the exact moment you pray: believe. You cannot believe before you pray. Why would it help now if your belief was 10 minutes ago? Mark 11:24 does not say, “believe that you will have the request,” but rather “believe that you receive...” Faith and God is in the now.

Matthew 9:27 – Jesus credits a believer’s faith for what God is able to perform. Not His works or the tools or methods used to perform miracles.

Resurrection Sunday

Jesus' Resurrection Guarantees our Inheritance



Today, Pastor Rick discussed how important the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is in our lives every day.

The resurrection power of Jesus Christ is alive today. It is an everyday present reality for people in Christ because it works in us. The resurrection power of Jesus Christ should be operating in our lives all of the time.

Unfortunately, Christians struggle with this power because of what is in their minds. We have to let go of traditions, customs and the like to receive the truth so that the truth can manifest in our lives. The resurrection power only happens as we believe and receive. The resurrection power works all the time, but only where faith is present. It flows through us, as Christians, because we believe in the Lord.

Jesus guarantees us an inheritance by his resurrection. One of the purposes for the resurrection is for us to get an inheritance. The resurrection is about use getting our inheritance. Jesus suffered and died to give us our inheritance. The same glory that God gave Jesus, Jesus gave to us. There is no waiting – we live in the inheritance now.

The resurrection is about us getting our inheritance now. Jesus is alive today enforcing His will. He is at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf and enforcing His will. We have to change our minds and free ourselves so that we can receive the inheritance that Jesus died for us to have. No one can do it for us. How we see Jesus, whatever we say about Jesus, determines how He is on our lives.

Jesus did everything for our sake, so our faith must be in Him (Hebrews 2:9-10). All things are for Christ and belong to Him. Everything was made for Him and by Him here on earth. Jesus died, pardoned and paid it all so that He could bring all things for us. Jesus did this so that He could make “many sons to glory.” When we were born into the world, we received the spirit of bondage again to fear. When we received Christ, we received the spirit of adoption and we became legal members of the family of God (Romans 8:15-17).

God chose us – He adopted us – to be a Father to us and to be our Provider. Jesus’ inheritance, and thus our inheritance, is peace, joy, prosperity, healing, forgiveness of all our sins and so much more. Whether we knew we had an inheritance or not, we still have it because Jesus died for us to have it. We are “joint heirs” with Jesus Christ (John 14:12-14; John 16:23-24).

This means that we have the authority to receive the inheritance together with Jesus Christ. If we say we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, we have to live like Him and pray like Him. Unfortunately, people limit God and try to put Him in a box. We have to get rid of the things in our mind that keep us from receiving our inheritance. We have to let Jesus be who He is and not put Him in a box (John 20:16, 17). Jesus Christ lives in me, He chose me and he adopted me by the Spirit of God to give me all that He is – this is why we have to learn how to pray the way that God always answers.

God has an expectation that we would take His inheritance and look like Jesus Christ. We receive Christ’s power in order to be witnesses to Him throughout the world.
There is no power in tradition but there is power in Jesus Christ. The prayer of faith tells us how to pray like Jesus, which is part of our inheritance.

Prayers : Part 14

The prayer of faith or petition prayer

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Mark 11:24

The prayer of faith or petition prayer is the cure for a lack of anything in our lives. When Jesus was alive, the disciples went directly to Him to get the answers they needed or desired. As Christians, we pray to God in Jesus’ name to get answers that we need or desire (John 16: 23-24).

Sometimes, however, we pray and our prayers go unanswered. Unanswered prayer may be a sign that we aren’t putting faith into our prayers. The prayer of faith or petition prayer will not work without faith. Faith is like a “spiritual currency.” God only can move when we give Him the “spiritual currency” of our faith. He is waiting for our faith so that He can provide the answers to our prayers. Oftentimes, the only reason we don’t have what we have asked God for is a lack of faith. That’s why it is essential that we have faith in hand to receive whatever we are asking for when we pray.

We must have faith to accompany the requests that we make of God. People often think they don’t have enough faith, but we all have a measure of faith. You have to use the measure of faith that you have and build your faith from there. You can start building your faith by using the faith that you have on lesser things or things that aren’t as important, such as faith for a parking space, for example.

When you strengthen your faith for the little things, you can build upon that and use your faith for more substantial things. Before you know it, you will have the faith to move mountains!














































































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Prayers : Part 13

This week Pastor Rick continued on in this series entitled "Prayers That God Always Answers". Pastor helped to further illustrate how we have been praying for the wrong things. He read a question from an individual that pointed out how a spouse was not changing, even after they have prayed continually for them.

Pastor Rick used this as an opportunity to continue to teach on the prayer of intercession. He further made it clear that in our walk with God, and our lives in general, we allow our "buts" to get in the way of doing what is right. Our "buts" are our excuses. "I know I should (pray, be patient, or be kind), but I (don't, can't wait, or give them a piece of my mind). We can see how these actions are contrary to God's Word, and how they do not get us the positive results out of life that we are all seeking.

Instead, we need to grasp the Word of God and change the way we conduct ourselves. As an alternative to using the "but" we should use, "so I do". We are guaranteed to see victory in areas of our lives we had previously seen defeat. Especially when we make sure that the "so I do" is in agreement with God's Word. For example, "I know I should (pray, be patient, or be kind), so I do!"

Change the way you speak. Change the way you pray. Change the way you live your life. God wants nothing but the best for you.




























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