Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Friday, April 17, 2015
Simone's latest blog
http://postsbysimone.blogspot.com/2015/04/perfect-love.html?m=1
Please check out Simone's newest blog, "Perfect Love" by clicking on the link above.
Simone will be speaking at Breakthrough 2015 on June 27th.
Please check out Simone's newest blog, "Perfect Love" by clicking on the link above.
Simone will be speaking at Breakthrough 2015 on June 27th.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Move of God
By Bryon Taylor Sr.
October 9, 2008
We have all prayed for God to move on our behalf. When we’re sick we pray for healing, when we need a job or finances, we ask for God’s help. That’s what He told us to do right? Sometimes we seek for the move of God for others, like when our children are sick or lost and in need of Salvation, or if a family member gets a diagnosis of a terminal disease or some other catastrophe. We can do this with confidence because God has promised to honor those requests in His Word.
It has been said before yet bears repeating, that “If God said it, it is so”. We don’t have to whine, grovel, coerce or manipulate God to answer our prayers and petitions. All we need do is to believe that He is righteous and honorable, willing and able to fulfill the promises He has made and are right there, forever written down for our access in the Bible.
The Holy Bible is a legal and binding covenant or contract between God and man, written by God through men, for the comfort and security of man. He didn’t have to have His Word in writing in order to be held accountable because He alone is Holy and righteous. He “is not a man, that He should lie”. His Covenant Word is in writing as a memorial for us to know from generation to generation what the Will of God is. There are some of us (far too few) who pray for the move of God over cities, regions, nations and governments.
We pray for deliverance, revival and the Salvation of the lost. There are even some who volunteer to be used by God to see these prayers fulfilled. To have the courage not only to pray for someone we don’t even know but to ask God to use us, to take our lives and use them for His purpose.
There is an interesting law that God has chosen to set in place revealed in:
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
Well now that seems to take the majority of us off the hook doesn’t it? I mean we’re not all prophets… are we?
I’d like to challenge your mind set on that very question. I submit to you that the very act of prayer, with faith believing God’s Word is much less a prayer of petition then a prayer of prophecy.
Notice the verse in Amos doesn't say that the Lord will do nothing until the prophets tell him what is needed. In fact it is saying exactly the opposite, that it is the Lord who reveals the secret. His Holy Spirit speaks His Will into our hearts and prompts us how and what to pray. This suggest to me that prayer is, sometimes at least, not so much “battering down the gates of heaven” as it is coming into agreement with God’s will. In other words, to pray as the Lord leads rather than what we think.
This is an awesome concept if you give some time to think about it. Our prayers seem fruitless and impotent because we pray from our mind, we pray what we think the problem is and/or what we think the answer is. We pray telling God what we think the best strategy is, or we are desperately seeking strategy, or deliverance, or any of a variety of petitions. This is a corruption of the plan of God for men to pray. The enemy has confused the minds of many, including highly respected theologians and teachers that we must convince God to Move. Simply put, the Move of God is not getting God to comply or agree to our petitions, it is us coming into agreement with His Will over any given situation.
That’s why He told Amos; I will do nothing unless I reveal it to my servants the prophets.
Do you know that there are no “great” and “small” things to the Lord? It is just as easy for God to move a mountain, as it is to move a grain of sand. It takes no more effort for God to heal AIDS or Cancer than it does to heal the flu or an aching back. He can, with equal ease of effort, provide 50 dollars to pay a water bill as feed millions of people every day for 40 years. God is not challenged by the magnitude of a need, but we tend to be. We see a child who is hungry and we pray for his needs to be met, even participate in helping meet those needs by giving some food and clothing, but most of us get overwhelmed when we see thousands upon thousands of needy children.\
We think things like “there are too many, how can God use me to help so many”. I submit to you that God never told you to be the answer to your own prayers, even when you are able. Yes, step out and help people with the resources God has put at your disposal, but know that it is not, nor ever has it been, your ability to help that brings the answer to those prayers. It is the loving, tender mercies of our heavenly Father that answers those needs.
God may or may not use the blessings He provides to you directly to fulfill a particular need. We are not limited to what God has given us; in fact we are not limited at all. It is God’s unlimited resources that He provides from; whether it is the portion He gave you stewardship over or not. The concern for us then should never be, “how can God accomplish this” but always “how does God want me to pray”. If we can get that straight in our minds, it open up our hearts to hear God better so that we can agree with Him in everything we pray.
There are many examples of the move of God recorded in the Bible. Some come to mind that do not at first seem to have required the cooperation of man for God to move:
1 Adam and Eve did not pray for forgiveness for God to provide the animal skins for them to wear, thereby covering their sin with blood.
2 Abraham did not know who God was, much less pray when God called him.
3 Moses spent 40 years in the heathen environment of Egypt, then another 40 herding sheep in the wilderness when God spoke to him from the Burning Bush.
These are all examples for us to ponder. We can see that it was God who “revealed the secret” and instructed each of these people how to come into agreement with His Will. They did not discern the need but responded to whatever God told them to do. We should take these examples to heart.
I think of the case of Moses and God’s plan to deliver Israel from the captivity of Egypt. The people cried out for deliverance because of the oppression they suffered, but the answer doesn’t seem to be as much a response to their cries as it was a part of the sequence of God’s plan of redemption for His people.
We read in Exodus 3:7 “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.”
God said that He heard their cry but that was only a part of the equation. He starts with “I see”; God could see their affliction but guess what, He didn’t have to wait for it to occur for Him to see it. Remember that God “sees” everything in time at once. For us time travelers, this is a difficult concept to grasp. Pastor David Hanes astutely noted that God is at the end of time, drawing us up through time toward Him. Therefore it would be proper to say that He “sees” all events at once. He does not wait for the event to happen to see it. It is equally improper to think of God “having seen” in the past tense; He “sees” everything, everywhere and everywhen.
Proof of this is given us throughout Scripture. I chose this event out of many because it seemed to be such a familiar record to most of us. The plight of Israel’s captivity in Egypt was the topic of conversation between Abraham and God over 400 years before it occurred in man’s perspective of time. Gen. 15:1214 “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.” This is confirmed by Moses after the event, as recorded in: Ex. 12:4041 “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” God did not require the “cries of Israel” to discover their plight. He can see it because He sees it all at once. Even from our perspective, we can’t say “He saw an event before it happened” but that He sees it before, during
and after the stream of time carries us through.
Isn’t that awesome? Even though we might only have a glimpse of understanding God’s position outside of time, we can take comfort that He is, and sees every aspect of every event completely and that He has it all integrated into His perfect plan.
Summation:
God moves. He has chosen to include His children in every part of His plan, sometimes revealing His plan, like He did by telling Abraham of Israel’s captivity. Sometimes revealing little more than His desire for us to trust Him and obey His directions, like He did by telling Moses to go tell Pharaoh to “let my people go”. In either case, God did not continue to supply information until the listener had complete understanding of what God was planning, only enough to allow them to come into agreement with Him. God does not depend on the cooperation of man, He allows it; He does not require information or action from man to fulfill His plan, He offers the opportunity for partnership.
A great picture of this can be visualized by thinking of a father carrying an armload of firewood and allowing His toddler son to carry a few sticks of kindling. The father does not require the child’s assistance but rather offers the opportunity to help as a gift of love, an opportunity to share in what the father is doing. God’s Will is to work together in loving camaraderie and not codependence. God just loves to be active in our lives and for us to be active in His!
All that we need do to see a “Move of God” is to be in agreement with Him, working with Him, as He “reveals the secrets” to us as to our part to fulfill His purpose. I am challenged to no longer ask God to move but to ask Him how to move with Him. I hope you are too.
If you feel that God is speaking to you today in this message. If you are like me and have desired to see a move of God, I want to invite you to come forward and we will pray for our heavenly Father to show us how we can move with Him to bring His kingdom into this world. Let’s choose this day to no longer only be petitioners in the court, but prophets declaring the Word of God.
October 9, 2008
We have all prayed for God to move on our behalf. When we’re sick we pray for healing, when we need a job or finances, we ask for God’s help. That’s what He told us to do right? Sometimes we seek for the move of God for others, like when our children are sick or lost and in need of Salvation, or if a family member gets a diagnosis of a terminal disease or some other catastrophe. We can do this with confidence because God has promised to honor those requests in His Word.
It has been said before yet bears repeating, that “If God said it, it is so”. We don’t have to whine, grovel, coerce or manipulate God to answer our prayers and petitions. All we need do is to believe that He is righteous and honorable, willing and able to fulfill the promises He has made and are right there, forever written down for our access in the Bible.
The Holy Bible is a legal and binding covenant or contract between God and man, written by God through men, for the comfort and security of man. He didn’t have to have His Word in writing in order to be held accountable because He alone is Holy and righteous. He “is not a man, that He should lie”. His Covenant Word is in writing as a memorial for us to know from generation to generation what the Will of God is. There are some of us (far too few) who pray for the move of God over cities, regions, nations and governments.
We pray for deliverance, revival and the Salvation of the lost. There are even some who volunteer to be used by God to see these prayers fulfilled. To have the courage not only to pray for someone we don’t even know but to ask God to use us, to take our lives and use them for His purpose.
There is an interesting law that God has chosen to set in place revealed in:
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
Well now that seems to take the majority of us off the hook doesn’t it? I mean we’re not all prophets… are we?
I’d like to challenge your mind set on that very question. I submit to you that the very act of prayer, with faith believing God’s Word is much less a prayer of petition then a prayer of prophecy.
Notice the verse in Amos doesn't say that the Lord will do nothing until the prophets tell him what is needed. In fact it is saying exactly the opposite, that it is the Lord who reveals the secret. His Holy Spirit speaks His Will into our hearts and prompts us how and what to pray. This suggest to me that prayer is, sometimes at least, not so much “battering down the gates of heaven” as it is coming into agreement with God’s will. In other words, to pray as the Lord leads rather than what we think.
This is an awesome concept if you give some time to think about it. Our prayers seem fruitless and impotent because we pray from our mind, we pray what we think the problem is and/or what we think the answer is. We pray telling God what we think the best strategy is, or we are desperately seeking strategy, or deliverance, or any of a variety of petitions. This is a corruption of the plan of God for men to pray. The enemy has confused the minds of many, including highly respected theologians and teachers that we must convince God to Move. Simply put, the Move of God is not getting God to comply or agree to our petitions, it is us coming into agreement with His Will over any given situation.
That’s why He told Amos; I will do nothing unless I reveal it to my servants the prophets.
Do you know that there are no “great” and “small” things to the Lord? It is just as easy for God to move a mountain, as it is to move a grain of sand. It takes no more effort for God to heal AIDS or Cancer than it does to heal the flu or an aching back. He can, with equal ease of effort, provide 50 dollars to pay a water bill as feed millions of people every day for 40 years. God is not challenged by the magnitude of a need, but we tend to be. We see a child who is hungry and we pray for his needs to be met, even participate in helping meet those needs by giving some food and clothing, but most of us get overwhelmed when we see thousands upon thousands of needy children.\
We think things like “there are too many, how can God use me to help so many”. I submit to you that God never told you to be the answer to your own prayers, even when you are able. Yes, step out and help people with the resources God has put at your disposal, but know that it is not, nor ever has it been, your ability to help that brings the answer to those prayers. It is the loving, tender mercies of our heavenly Father that answers those needs.
God may or may not use the blessings He provides to you directly to fulfill a particular need. We are not limited to what God has given us; in fact we are not limited at all. It is God’s unlimited resources that He provides from; whether it is the portion He gave you stewardship over or not. The concern for us then should never be, “how can God accomplish this” but always “how does God want me to pray”. If we can get that straight in our minds, it open up our hearts to hear God better so that we can agree with Him in everything we pray.
There are many examples of the move of God recorded in the Bible. Some come to mind that do not at first seem to have required the cooperation of man for God to move:
1 Adam and Eve did not pray for forgiveness for God to provide the animal skins for them to wear, thereby covering their sin with blood.
2 Abraham did not know who God was, much less pray when God called him.
3 Moses spent 40 years in the heathen environment of Egypt, then another 40 herding sheep in the wilderness when God spoke to him from the Burning Bush.
These are all examples for us to ponder. We can see that it was God who “revealed the secret” and instructed each of these people how to come into agreement with His Will. They did not discern the need but responded to whatever God told them to do. We should take these examples to heart.
I think of the case of Moses and God’s plan to deliver Israel from the captivity of Egypt. The people cried out for deliverance because of the oppression they suffered, but the answer doesn’t seem to be as much a response to their cries as it was a part of the sequence of God’s plan of redemption for His people.
We read in Exodus 3:7 “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.”
God said that He heard their cry but that was only a part of the equation. He starts with “I see”; God could see their affliction but guess what, He didn’t have to wait for it to occur for Him to see it. Remember that God “sees” everything in time at once. For us time travelers, this is a difficult concept to grasp. Pastor David Hanes astutely noted that God is at the end of time, drawing us up through time toward Him. Therefore it would be proper to say that He “sees” all events at once. He does not wait for the event to happen to see it. It is equally improper to think of God “having seen” in the past tense; He “sees” everything, everywhere and everywhen.
Proof of this is given us throughout Scripture. I chose this event out of many because it seemed to be such a familiar record to most of us. The plight of Israel’s captivity in Egypt was the topic of conversation between Abraham and God over 400 years before it occurred in man’s perspective of time. Gen. 15:1214 “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.” This is confirmed by Moses after the event, as recorded in: Ex. 12:4041 “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” God did not require the “cries of Israel” to discover their plight. He can see it because He sees it all at once. Even from our perspective, we can’t say “He saw an event before it happened” but that He sees it before, during
and after the stream of time carries us through.
Isn’t that awesome? Even though we might only have a glimpse of understanding God’s position outside of time, we can take comfort that He is, and sees every aspect of every event completely and that He has it all integrated into His perfect plan.
Summation:
God moves. He has chosen to include His children in every part of His plan, sometimes revealing His plan, like He did by telling Abraham of Israel’s captivity. Sometimes revealing little more than His desire for us to trust Him and obey His directions, like He did by telling Moses to go tell Pharaoh to “let my people go”. In either case, God did not continue to supply information until the listener had complete understanding of what God was planning, only enough to allow them to come into agreement with Him. God does not depend on the cooperation of man, He allows it; He does not require information or action from man to fulfill His plan, He offers the opportunity for partnership.
A great picture of this can be visualized by thinking of a father carrying an armload of firewood and allowing His toddler son to carry a few sticks of kindling. The father does not require the child’s assistance but rather offers the opportunity to help as a gift of love, an opportunity to share in what the father is doing. God’s Will is to work together in loving camaraderie and not codependence. God just loves to be active in our lives and for us to be active in His!
All that we need do to see a “Move of God” is to be in agreement with Him, working with Him, as He “reveals the secrets” to us as to our part to fulfill His purpose. I am challenged to no longer ask God to move but to ask Him how to move with Him. I hope you are too.
If you feel that God is speaking to you today in this message. If you are like me and have desired to see a move of God, I want to invite you to come forward and we will pray for our heavenly Father to show us how we can move with Him to bring His kingdom into this world. Let’s choose this day to no longer only be petitioners in the court, but prophets declaring the Word of God.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
ANOTHER SHOT AT KEEPING THE COVENANT
Jim will be speaking at our "Breakthrough" event June 28, 2014. Please enjoy his most recent blog:
By James Wilson
Human beings are designed for covenant. Unique among the creatures of
God we are capable of voluntary, reciprocal, and developmental
relationships. Dogs are either pack or solitary – they don’t choose
social or solitary each morning. If your dog bites my dog, mine will
likely bite back, but if your dog bites me I will likely call a lawyer.
And when a dog reaches maturity he is all the dog he can be. When I
reach adulthood I will continue to change and – hopefully – grow the
rest of my life. This maturity occurs in relationships in which I live
and move.
Covenant – as opposed to a contract with fixed terms, conditions and
boundaries – is a shaped relationship remaining open at the front end.
When God tells people (Micah 6:8) they know what He requires – to act
justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him – He shapes the relationship
without limiting its growth. Ditto when Jesus calls the heart of
covenant with God that we love God with all our might and neighbor as
ourselves. We are not just designed for covenant living; we attain the
fullness of humanity only within that context, whether in the most
intimate setting of the marriage covenant or in the social covenants of
friendship and constitutional community.
In California we’ve done a poor job – at best – of keeping covenant with God and with one another.
We lead the nation in divorce and co-habitation without marriage, and
these are covenant breaking and refusal to covenant at all,
respectively. Yet most of us remain blissfully unaware of – and in
denial of – the degree to which covenant breaking is a lifestyle in our
culture and history. When our ancestors arrived in California they
discovered more varieties of Native American tribes than in any other
state. They entered into covenants – treaties – with more frequency
than in any other state – and we have broken virtually all of them.
That breaking has often been accompanied by violence of a unique
ferocity.
The Natural Bridges Massacre is one of the worst examples. The gold
miners of Weaverville lived in peace with the Nor-el Muk band of the
Wintu nation until a famine came and six Indians begged food from a
hate-filled Weaverville grocer. He suggested they eat grass instead.
When his body was found with grass stuffed in his mouth a posse formed
and reacted. They never found the suspects, but they murdered more than
one hundred fifty women, children and elderly Wintu at Natural Bridges
for revenge. To this day tourists and locals alike think the area a
playground instead of the shrine it ought to be; graffiti covers the
rocks where the dead are still not permitted to rest in peace.
Even worse was the Etna area massacre of Shasta people. Whites entered
into a peace treaty with the tribe and – to celebrate – invited the
tribe to a barbecue. They laced the beef with strychnine and three
thousand Shastans died. Those who did not succumb to the poison were
gunned down as they fled. To this day the federal government denies the
event took place, but I saw xeroxed copies of contemporary newspaper
accounts of the slaughter. It happened; denial only worsens the
atrocity.
Covenant breaking is unique among the master sins of California in that
it does not stop with polluting the physical environment as much as the
hearts of we who live in it. It degrades our very nature as beings
designed for one way of living and one only. What does repentance
resemble?
The first thing is simple enough – fess up where we have messed up.
The second is just as simple – choose to recognize the God Who makes us
as the God Who understands our best interests far better than we;
re-focus our attention on Him and His ways and forget our excuses that
too much time has passed or we are not our ancestors. We accept the
Gold Rush benefits they bequeath cheerfully enough; we can accept
responsibility for righting their Gold Rush wrongs with the same
cheerfulness.
Of course such recognition would change our decision-making – one
decision at a time – from whatever seems necessary to me to whatever
seems important to my Maker. It would embody Jesus’ words that when we
sacrifice life claims for others we come into His abundant life, but
when we hang on to self-serving survival we only postpone death for
awhile.
Prayer is the most important third dimension. When we pray before and
after doing we are reminded – should we forget – that the Good Samaritan
remains the model of ultimate covenant keeping and Micah 6:8 still
defines the covenant lifestyle.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
Friday, January 24, 2014
Who is worthy to perform miracles?
Breaking Bread
This is our guest page, where Pastors and friends can submit messages and items to share with our followers. If you would like to submit something, please go to our "contact us" page and send it for review. All submissions are subject to the approval of God, and Senior Pastors Walt and Sharron Scott.
Thank you so much!
This submittal actually first appeared on our facebook ministry page, https://www.facebook.com/letgoandsoarministries. Bryon Taylor and his wife Terri Sue have been an active part of our ministry since 2009 and we are continually blessed with their wisdom, insight and their heart for Jesus. Please enjoy!
by Bryon Taylor Sr. on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 1:13pm
I pray that those who enter into this study, will first go before the throne of God, seeking His wisdom. Lord please let this be an inspiration to these folks to dig into your Word themselves and discover the treasures you have for all of your children there. Let your truth shine through into their lives so that they can know you more intimately. Give them grace to understand your will. Most of all Lord, this day help them to understand that it is your love, grace and mercy, that makes us to be worthy vessels for your use. I pray this in Jesus name and for His glory. Amen.
Acts 19:11 "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." Wow! This looks like the hands of Paul were pretty awesome and powerful! Doesn't it? Once again God asks us to look a little closer. God performed the miracles; Paul's willing hands are what God used to do them. Paul was very careful not to take credit for any miracle attributed to him. He said in Acts 14:15 "And saying, 'We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God.'" What? Paul is saying he's only human, like the rest of us! All that set Paul apart from others was his unquenchable faith and his desire to obey God whatever the cost or the circumstance. It was his commitment to Jesus that made him the supple clay for the Master's hand.
An awesome thing to remember is that Paul started out as a religious zealot, under the authority of and in agreement with the Sanhedrin (the Jewish theocratic government). He believed that this "Way" of Jesus followers was blasphemy and heretical, subverting the common folks from proper obedience to God's Law. He was, in his own understanding, doing great works for the glory of God. Destroying this "way" by killing, or at least condoning the killing of some, like Stephen and imprisoning others.
Even though Paul was an enemy to the gospel of truth, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again the third day in victory over sin and death, so that we might rise from the dead with Him. God met him on the road to Damascus and quite literally blinded Paul with truth. Acts 9:3 "And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6(a) And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Paul's entire religious conception was remolded that day. He still served the same God, with the same zeal, but now He had God's guidance and interaction in his life. He no longer worshipped and obeyed God with his mind and understanding only but now he knew God personally!
This was Paul's moment of life changing enlightenment, to know God instead of only knowing of God. This is the recipe for all of God's children to be a part of the miracles God has in store for His people. Acts 9:6(b) And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. 8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. 9And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. (skip to) 15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. 17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized."
Let us take a moment to observe the importance of "how" we are baptized. Acts 19:3 "And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied." Paul did not say that the baptism of repentance was "wrong", but incomplete. Not once but throughout the book of Acts we see the fundamental importance of being baptized in Jesus name. If this is an issue for you, I suggest you do a thorough study on this subject for yourself. As with any study, remember to ask God to enlighten you with His wisdom and truth, resisting the temptation to conform your study to your own preconceptions.
Now, back to the study at hand. I should note that this started out to be a simple note to a friend who has worthiness issues, in the hopes of showing her that God can and will use anybody, at any time, for His purpose, if they will just be willing and obedient vessels, to be used for His glory. I'm quite sure that she is not alone in this feeling of inadequacy. No one, on their own, is worthy. Only as we stand in the righteousness of Christ are we made worthy for the Master's use. A humble attitude is not only suggested but required. Even when God is using us to perform awesome miracles and wonders, whether it be intercessory prayer, healing of the sick, raising the dead or leading a new convert to pray through, to God alone be the glory. We must never usurp the glory that is due to God, yet we must also never belittle what He has done, in the name of "personal humility". The best way to give Him the glory is to say so, or better yet shout it out. Celebrate the mighty move of God for His people. Rejoice that you have been used to bless somebody. Be anointed by it! That doesn't mean a little sprinkle, it means to be immersed in it, filled to overflowing with the power of the Holy Ghost! This alone will allow you to continue to be the vessel unto honor that God is shaping you into.
James 5 spoke of, "17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are (sounds like what Paul said at the top of this study), and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." This same Elijah called fire down from heaven in 2nd Kings Ch. 1, three times and again in Ch. 10 he was used to call down the fire from heaven that destroyed the prophets of baal. Yet immediately afterward, Elijah ran and hid in a cave, for fear of Jezebel's wrath. Showing his human weakness, or as James put it, he was subject to like passions as we are. Admittedly, we are inconsistent creatures, even when we know God intimately.
The best we can do is to glorify and honor our heavenly Father in all that we do and do our best to continue in it. It is a useless waste of time and energy to knock our selves for past failures. In truth this is a sin of ingratitude for the grace and forgiveness you have received under the Blood of Christ. Let go of yourself and watch God do great things in and through your life!
With love in Christ, Bro. Bryon
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