Dear Berean Family, this video was prepared a while back and I am just using it now. I trust it blesses your hearts. May the Lord use us to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to the world in which we live. God bless you all!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving this week! I will be sharing with you on Wednesday night as we praise God and give Him thanks for all of His many blessings.
If we are going to develop a significant prayer life we need to keep in mind the following things:
1. We must have faith- faith that God does exist and that He does, in fact, hear us when we pray and that He delights when we draw near to Him in prayer and holy communion.
2. We must have passion- a passion that drives us to our knees and that moves us from apathy, indifference, and lethargy to a passionate storming of the throne of grace in pleading before God.
3. We must have a secret place- a place set aside where we can call it our Bethel (house of God) where we draw near to God in secret and passionate prayer.
4. We must have a specific time- a time where each day we get alone with our God and pour out our hearts to Him in prayer and supplication.
5. We must have a plan- a plan that gives us direction and a framework by which to lift up our petitions to our Lord. Pray through the Psalms or the Lord's prayer. Make a list of your prayer requests and keep a journal on you prayers and answers you receive to your prayers.
By all means make sure you are spending time every day with the Lord wrestling in prayer. The Hidden Life of Prayer by David M'Intyre is a wonderful book on prayer. Anything you can read by E. M. Bounds on prayer will be a great blessing to your soul.
In the days to come let us join together at the throne of grace and seek God's blessing on our loved ones, friends, and our nation that we might see God's mighty hand once again in our land.
Recently, my wife gave me a book to read by Erwin Lutzer, senior pastor of Moody Church. The book was Who are You to Judge? It is an excellent read on a topic that so many Christians are greatly confused by. I recommend that everyone read this important study on biblical judgment and discernment. Many times when a pastor takes a stand against something that is evil, corrupt, or dangerous he is viewed as a trouble maker, a sower of discord, a judgmental person or a divisive person. I have seen a number of godly pastors called these things over the years. And this is tragic!
Without commenting on all of the sections of this book there was a section on integrity that I thought was especially good. D. L. Moody said “Integrity is what you are in the dark.” People can hurt your reputation but they cannot hurt your integrity. I have known some people over the years that work extremely hard to build a good reputation while neglecting character. Unfortunately, many people do not know the difference between these two.
Here is a list of things that people of integrity do not do. People of integrity do not:
Fear man
Compromise their convictions
Lie
Fail to keep their word
Allow money, fame, or love of popularity to influence their decisions
Fail to keep their commitments
Make themselves look better than they really are
Take advantage of others
Lord over others
Use false guilt to manipulate others
Let their emotions or feelings cloud their judgment
Break their promises
Promote themselves
Allow others to promote them with false praise and hero worship
Refuse to take counsel from godly sources
Think more highly of themselves than they ought to think
Walk in the spirit of pride
Justify sinful behavior
Read their own press clippings
Manipulate others with gifts, money, or praise
Use self pity to attack others
Show partiality
Fail to bind their conscience with the Word of God
Intentionally mislead and deceive others
Speak out of both sides of their mouth
We all talk about integrity. We all want integrity. But how difficult it is to truly be a person of honest character, and deep personal integrity. May we all strive to be holy men and women for the Lord that we serve.
I am praying for our Berean family that the Lord will bless you all and manifest Himself to you and fill you with His peace and love.
