Month: May 2020

Stressed & Annoyed (ATP)

How do we deal with stress and annoyance at work? 

Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” First, if we’re dealing with stress and the temptation to be annoyed in the workplace, in the home, or in other places, we are to turn our attention to God. I have found that God can change a lot more hearts than I can.

With this, we must consider a couple different things. First, is this something we are a culprit in? Galatians 5:22-26, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Are we choosing to walk and act in accordance with the born again spirit living on the inside? Are we being kind, demonstrating love and joy, creating an atmosphere of peace as much as it’s up to us, and focusing on being patient or what the Word calls long-suffering? Too often, we as Christians, forget that we are the example to follow and we don’t live and act in such a way that demonstrates our understanding of this truth. Matthew 5:13 says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?….” If Christians don’t take the high road, no one will.

Secondly, we need to consider the source of the stress and annoyance. Is it hurting people looking to hurt people? Is it a matter of poor leadership in the workplace? Is it too much work, too little help? There are many things that cause us to feel overburdened, stressed and annoyed if we let them. But the answer to these concerns is prayer. Look to the Ephesians 1:16-19 prayers, “do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” Pray for your boss, pray for your colleagues, pray for the business, that the hope of God and the understanding would be clear. That the eyes of your colleagues and your employers would be opened to the revelation of God. It’s amazing what we can accomplish through prayer that our complaint and our complacency won’t get us.

Now, if we have done everything we know to do and we have prayed and have been perfectly patient, loving and kind but the situation still doesn’t change, we need to ask is this a healthy environment for me? Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” But sometimes, it’s not possible. We have to turn our hearts to the Lord to seek His answer in this. Is it possible to have peace here? If it’s not possible, the Lord will help you find somewhere else to go. Remember when Elijah was led by the Lord to the Brook Cherith where the ravens came and fed him and sustained him? This was the avenue the Lord provided to sustain him. 1 Kings 17:6-7, “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.” After a while, the brook dried up. Sometimes, there’s a time for us to work somewhere and a time for us to move on. We need to decide this with the Lord’s guidance.

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée

Unsuspecting or On Guard?

Ignorance is NOT bliss. The Bible says in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” In other words, God’s people are destroyed by ignorance, and really willful ignorance.  You can’t be a true Christian and choose not to seek the knowledge of God. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Too many Christians don’t put this simple and crucial commandment of God into practice. We must choose knowledge of Him and His Word if we’re going to be successful in this life.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (AMP) says, “Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.” Be sober. Seek knowledge. Avoid ignorance. Be ON GUARD! The enemy has fierce hunger and he tries to roar to scare you!

The opposite of being on guard is being unsuspecting. 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us an important truth, “lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” Right now, many unsuspecting Christians are being devoured by deception and fear. The enemy is using the media and a worldwide pandemic to change the face of humanity and Christianity. We must be sober about these things. We must stand our ground as faith people and refused to be transformed by these things. Be on guard Christians! So how do we do this?

1 Timothy 2:4 says, God “…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” It’s the truth that will save us from the temptations and the trials. There’s truth in His Word that He will protect us and keep us whole. We stay on guard as we stay in His Word. We choose not to be ignorant of satan’s devices and we choose to fortify ourselves in the Word of God. Remember Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée

It’s Time to Rise

Christians, I’m talking to you, and to me. If there’s one thing this time of societal unrest and chaos has taught me, it’s that we have been too busy being distracted and too lazy as a body of Christ. I include myself in this. 

Matthew 22:14 says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” As I was reading my Bible in the book of Acts, I began to realize how true that was of Judas and it was sobering. Look at Acts 1:16-17, “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.” Forever, for eternity, Judas, who was chosen among the twelve apostles, having a part in the ministry of Jesus, sold out to the devil and gave up his call. If we go on reading we see the horrific manner in which he died, but then in verse 20 we see the Old Testament prophecy coming to pass. Acts 1:20, “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it; and, Let another take his office.’

Let another take his office. The Word says in Isaiah 55:11, “… My word be that goes forth from My mouth, It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please…” Do you know what we must understand about the testimony of Judas? When he would not fulfill his call and purpose, God needed to find someone else who would. When Judas was selling Him out, I bet he never considered that he would be giving up his eternal destiny. He was distracted and his eyes were on making a quick buck. 

Now let’s go back to Matthew 26:14-15, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.” Judas was willing to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver! There is much debate about the value of that 30 pieces of silver in today’s terms, but what the Dake’s reference Bible says is that it was the price of a slave. Others say it would have been between $200-$600 dollars roughly, in today’s terms. Regardless, think of the price tag Judas put on Jesus! 

We may all be feeling a little appalled and heartbroken at the thought of this, but I present this truth: many of us have  betrayed Jesus for a lot less. We have been greedy with our time, with our money, with our resources, and we have forgotten the invaluable gift we’ve been given. Have we stopped to think about whether or not we are trading our eternal destiny? 

There were others in scripture who gave up the call of God for their lives, such as Esau who gave up his birthright to Jacob because he wanted his flesh satisfied, and the Israelites who gave up the promise land because they didn’t want to put effort in and fight the good fight of faith. Then there were people like Jonah who tried to fight the call until realizing it was worse going against God than it was going with Him! But see, the ones who stayed the course, those are the ones we see God blessing, multiplying, protecting, and glorifying. 

Church, it’s time to rise from the ashes. It’s time to stand up and to take a stand in your life that Jesus is your Lord, that you will do things His way, that you will fulfill the call without letting the distractions take your destiny. Remember what Jesus said in John 4:34, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” In other words, my sustenance, my blessing, and my quality of life, is fulfilling God’s will. It’s time to put God first. It’s time to be His and let Him be yours.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée

Focus In Prayer (ATP)

When you go to pray and just can’t, not because you’re mad or you don’t believe God will answer, but because you can’t focus, you try to pray but 2 seconds later you lose focus, something else enters your thoughts, or it’s just blank, is this a spiritual thing or mental thing?

This is a good question, but before I answer this question I want to ask and answer another: what is prayer? I do this because as it often is with the things of God, you need to ask different questions. Why would this be? The Bible says to ask and be answered, seek and you will find. This is because God desires that we know Him.

So what is prayer? Prayer, in its simplest form, is conversation with God. There are many types of prayer but in one way or another it comes down to this. Knowing this, I believe we need to change our approach. If you look at the way religion prays, you can quickly understand why we approach prayer wrongly. I am not just talking about Christian religion, but all religions seem to have a similar approach to prayer. Jews and Buddhist monks, Muslims, and even Christian denominations are similar in that when they approach God there are almost strange rituals that accompany their attempts. Notice I said attempts. Is this really what God desires? Is this what you would desire? I would point out, this is precisely the reason people (including myself) have struggled with prayer.

God loved us so much He sent us Jesus. Then to make it even more personal, He placed His Holy Spirit on the inside of us; Not next to us, not near us, but inside of us. God has revealed His desire and His character. He is a personal God and He wants to interact with us on a personal level! The reason most people struggle in prayer is because of their approach. I have been really seeking this out in recent times and this is precisely where God keeps leading me. If we approached our spouse or friends with the same tone or sense of obligation we often do with God, we would have terrible relationships wouldn’t we? Therefore we need to approach Him differently.

First, we must believe God. Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a REWARDER of those who DILIGENTLY SEEK Him.” Also James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who GIVES TO ALL LIBERALLY and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” When we come this way, we start off in joy. Who wouldn’t be in joy knowing they are about to converse with their creator and He’s looking to bless them for it? When we change our way of looking at it from obligation to enjoyable conversation, we become more “into it” as many might say.

Second I say, start before you pray in His word. Any conversation with anyone is much easier when you are freshly acquainted with them. When I talk with my wife I’m almost always at ease. I know what she likes and doesn’t, I know my boundaries. We can talk in joy for hours because we KNOW each other. Similarly, we need to continually reacquaint ourselves with God and this because we can’t see Him. Romans 12:2 and 10:17 remind us to be transformed by renewing our minds and that faith comes by hearing His Word. We can sometimes forget that these apply as much to prayer as anything else.

Third, I’ll say this, don’t make prayer a “thing”. Yes, there are different types of prayer and it would behoove us all to learn them. However, we need to start with just seeking Him. Sometimes I praise, sometimes I ponder. Sometimes I pray in the Spirit (tongues), sometimes I sing songs. In all, I have been endeavoring to just spend time with my Heavenly Daddy! I make it personal, I get personal, I love on my God and He loves on me. I love what the mighty man of God, Smith Wigglesworth said, “I never pray more than 15 minutes but I never go more than 15 minutes without praying.” I do my best to keep my heart, mind, and mouth continually on the Lord and in this I have found the most satisfaction and effect. God wants us to know Him on an intimate level. We need to bring the candles, our desire.

Approach God in prayer like you want Him. Desire to know God in every area of everyday. As you do, the burden of prayer will be lifted and your prayer life will become what both you and God want it to be! Amen!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff