Pride, Arrogance and Thinking I'm Right and Everyone Else Is Wrong

Thanks to Mike Byrne who posted this on facebook:

I discovered this prayer somewhere in cyberspace recently, and found it very appropriate to me. Some of you may appreciate it too:

Dear God,

Save me from the pride of having things figured out. The arrogance of thinking I’m doing things the right way. That everyone else is wrong and I’m the only one who sees what went wrong. As if I know how to do things correctly; that somehow, I’m smart or insightful enough to be able to ride in on a high horse of judgment. Save me from my vision of religion and spirituality blinding me from loving others.

Save me from the spirit of bitterness against the church. My frustrations at our inability to be the kind of loving community You called us to be. The shoddy treatment I may have experienced at the hands of people who shopuld know better. The let-downs and disappointments - it’s easy to focus on the Church’s shortcomings. Just as it’s easy to forget that the Church is us and You don’t focus on our short-comings. Let me remember all of the wrongs the Church has committed in Your Name, let every experience sear my heart so that they won’t be repeated on my watch. Help me to remember that the Church is Your bride, however numerous her faults, and how you’ve chosen to bring about Your kingdom.

Save me from the spirit of hearing sermons “so and so” should be hearing or reading books “so and so” should read, but help me to realize that I’m the one who should be hearing and reading. Help me to do my part to inflict less damage into the world. Remind me that I am here to love “those people”, too. Remind me that too often I’ve been a part of the problem.Save me from my own hubris of the rightness of my spiritual journey. Help me as I work out my journey. Reveal Your Word to me in a fresh way so that I may know you better. Let my questions draw me closer to the reality of You. Let my life reflect Your love and healing. Let my actions help bring reconciliation.

Have mercy on me Lord and draw me ever closer to You .

Teach Me How To Pray - Jason Upton

The Lord's prayer as you've never heard it before...

Close your eyes and allow the Holy Spirit to stir your spirit as you listen to Jason Upton reach out and ask the Father to teach us how to pray.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7UowN4raUs

Walk In Your God Given Authority

WHEN YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY AND YOU WALK IN IT, THE ENEMY WILL KNOW IT TOO

For the body of Christ to be victorious, we must have an understanding of the rulership God has given to us.

In Genesis 1:26, God created man in His image and said let them rule over all the earth.

In Psalm 115:16, God says the earth He has given to man.

We are given the earth to rule over God's creation. This mandate has never been rescinded by God. God's position on rulership has never changed. Man's position changed when Adam fell. But the second Adam, Jesus, redeemed man from the curse (Galatians 3:13) and reinstated man back into rulership. We see this in Matthew 28:18 where Jesus said, "All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth."

Jesus held all power in His hands and then reinstated this power for rulership back to His body. This is seen in Ephesians 1:22-23, "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the Church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

"We have been raised with Jesus and seated with Him in Heavenly places," it says in Ephesians 2:6. In Luke 10:19, we are given power or authority. In Romans 9:17, Jesus tells us that we are raised up with Him to demonstrate His power through us in rulership in order to proclaim His name throughout the whole earth.

The reason God gives us authority is that we would rule and reign on the earth. Notice that, in Ephesians 1, all things are in subjection under the feet of Jesus. Since we are now the body of Christ, all things are in subjection under our feet. This is absolute authority that we have on the earth. We're not subject to the enemy, he's subject to us. It's this truth that we need to know, because it will set us free (John 8:32).

This truth will put us in a proper position that will change our condition. When your position is unchangeable, your condition has to change. When you know the truth--that you have absolute authority and you walk in it--the enemy will know it also.

The enemy will always measure you by how you see yourself. If you went down to a street intersection and started directing traffic with the clothes on that you're now wearing, what do you think would happen to you? You might get run over. But if you were hired by the police department and given a uniform to direct traffic, you could step into that intersection and hold up your hand and traffic would stop. It would stop because you would be recognized as having designated authority.

When you are under authority, you have all authority. God gives you His armor of authority. When you wear it with confidence, without doubt, the enemy can no longer move you. You're not subject to this realm, because you have rulership over it. We must renew our minds to this truth, or we will be conformed to the world's order of things rather than God's order (Romans 12:2). The ability for the believer to walk in authority is determined by the measure of authority we give God in our own lives.

You cannot exhibit a demonstration of God's power if you do not believe you have authority. Without authority you cannot have rulership. The way to overcome the enemy is to be overcome by God. You can't have a fulltime experience with a part-time God.

Blessings!

Cal Pierce, Director Healing Rooms MinistriesEmail: healing@healingrooms.com

as posted on the Elijah List

http://www.elijahlist.com/

Dream Impossible Dreams With God

Read this article written by Jill Austin and come alive to God's purposes for your life.
Dare to dream impossible dreams and see where it takes you!

"DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS WITH GOD!"

Has your life turned out totally different from the way you dreamed it would be? Have you grown weary because of shattered hopes, delayed answers, and painful regrets? Perhaps you have gone through the routines of life and walked with God for a long time, but now you seem to have lost vision for your life. Once when you were young and vibrant in God you had a cause to die for, but instead of dying for a cause, now you find yourself dying.

Can you remember a time in your life when you were doing something that really made you excited to get out of bed each day? When you felt fully alive? Those were times that you knew you were walking in your gifting and destiny, and you felt the pleasure of God. You were invigorated and excited about your life. But then reality hits and you say to yourself, I am tired of hearing about the word destiny because that is not what is happening in my life. You begin to wonder if your life has any eternal value or meaning.

But what if destiny was defined differently? What if it was not anything we thought it was?

Destiny in Motion

Think with me for a moment. Destiny is a progression of cycles and seasons. It happens over time, spanning the decades of your life. Destiny is like a giant tapestry--maybe twelve miles high, twelve miles wide and twelve miles deep. It is multileveled and, even more, it is organic and ever changing. Your destiny is a fascinating and complex weaving that came from the very heart of Jesus.

It is true. It may be too amazing for the heart or mind even to grasp, but you started in the imagination of God. He has already dreamed about you. Your destiny is the divine journey that you are living right now. It may look different from what you imagined, but God, the masterful dream weaver, does not make mistakes with anyone's life and destiny.

For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb. I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery]. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16, amplified)

My desire is to awaken your heart to new adventures so that you are fully alive in God. I believe that you will receive fresh revelation about the process of dancing with your destiny. It involves transforming your mind so you see your life through the heart of God instead of through your circumstances.

Wild Like the Sea

There is a certain wildness about dreaming impossible dreams, but God wants to fulfill the desires of your heart. He wants you to imagine the unimaginable, and then He will take you even further. You cannot go backward--you know too much. Where would you go anyway? There is a longing in you that can be satisfied only by God Himself. This knowledge is what keeps you sharp and on the cutting edge spiritually.

I live on the West Coast, and when I think of wildness, I often think of the sea. It can change in a second from gently lapping waves to dangerous riptides, or from raging storms to peaceful settings for the sun to slip into at night.

Have you ever ridden a wave runner? For those who are landlocked, this is a "motorcycle" that you ride on water. Whenever I can, I rent one and take it outside the harbor into the wild seas--up over big waves and down into deep swells. At times it is scary to be so adventuresome, but it is also exhilarating.

There is yet another way of looking at destiny! Surfing the big waves can be frightening. It often means leaving our comfort zones. You might have been wooed out into the surf in the past only to come back with bruised bones, cracked ribs, a concussion, and strained muscles. Disillusioned, you have settled for sitting on the beach and watching others ride the waves.

But if we sit and wait for that big dream called "destiny" simply to show up like a tidal wave one day, we are likely to be even more disappointed. Destiny is not something in the future, something that we will attain at the end of life. If we wait forever to seek our dreams, we will never find them.

Will you start to dream again? Will you join me? We can do this together. Perhaps it is time for you to snorkel, to hop on a jet ski or even to catch a big wave on a surfboard.

Surfers know about adventure. They travel the world following their dream of flowing in harmony with something more powerful than they are. They are in love with the thrill of being challenged. They go into the surf knowing that the pounding pressure of the mountainous waves could kill them. Big wave surfers understand living in the moment.

Why do people do things like that? Because when you have something big enough to die for, you become fully alive. It is in the heart of every person to have a cause, a desire for radical adventures that challenge the very core of our being. There needs to be a cry in us that says, "I want to have a cause! I want to have an awakening that is big enough to dream about, fall in love with and die for."

If you are part of the Body of Christ, you have a cause: The Lord's heart aches for the lost. And the amazing thing is that your own personal dreams, your journey, can be interwoven with God's great battle plans being "strategized" right now in the heavenlies. The battle may take place on different fronts--in the nations, in your relationships, even in your thoughts. But that is part of the thrill.

The Bible tells us that Jesus spoke to someone who was, in every respect, dead to his dreams. Delayed answers and shattered hopes had left him with no seeming possibility of fulfilling his destiny. Are you in that situation? Then listen to Jesus' words: "Lazarus, come forth!"
The Lord is calling you to come forth, take off the grave clothes, and put on your surfing shorts.

Join me. It is time for the adventures to begin.

Jill Austin Master Potter Ministries
Email: info@masterpotter.com
As posted on www.elijahlist.com

Forgiven

Turn on you speakers, watch, listen and remember that if you have confessed your sins you are forgiven.

http://www.interviewwithgod.com/forgiven/highband.htm

When God forgives He forgives completely.

Where Is Your Hope?

Do you keep putting things off?

Do you delay taking time to spend with God?

Do you put off doing things even though you know God has told you to do them?

I wonder if you have as much time as you think you do.

It's time to wake up.

Your enemy isn't sleeping or taking time. He is using every opportunity to kill, steal and destroy.

It's time to get into God's presence, no more delay. Study and learn God's ways.

Father God wants to prepare you to be a shining light in the increasing darkness of the world's foolishness.

Where is your hope?

If your hope is in the things of this world rather than with God, you're headed for trouble.

Don't allow yourself to be lulled into apathy. Spend time in God's presence. He loves you. He desires the best for you. In Him you have a hope and a future.

God is looking for people to pour His anointing through. He's looking for people who can be trusted to work miracles, signs and wonders. He can only do that through prepared vessels.

Desire holiness, purify your motives and purify your heart. Walk in love, put your hope in God. Then, wait and see what He will do through someone like you whose heart is turned to Him.

The Power of a Thankful Heart

God's word encourages us to be thankful in all circumstances. What are you thankful for?

A THANKFUL HEART - PART 1

By Francis Frangipane

The very quality of your life, whether you love it or hate it, is based upon how thankful you are toward God. Our attitude determines whether life is to us a place of blessedness or wretchedness and misery. Indeed, looking at the same rose bush, some people complain that the roses have thorns while others rejoice that some thorns have roses! It all depends on your perspective.

This is the only life you will have before you enter eternity. If you want to find joy, you must first find thankfulness. Indeed, the one who is thankful for even a little enjoys much. But the unappreciative soul is always miserable, always complaining. He lives outside the stronghold of God.

Perhaps the worst enemy we have is not the devil but our own tongue. James tells us, "the tongue is set among our members as that which . . . sets on fire the course of our life" (James 3:6). He goes on to say this fire is ignited by hell.

Consider: With our own words we can enter the spirit of heaven or the agonies of hell! It is hell, with its punishments, torments and misery, that controls the life of the grumbler and complainer! Paul expands this thought in 1 Corinthians 10:10, where he reminds us of the Jews who "grumble[d] and were destroyed by the destroyer."

The fact is, every time we open up to grumbling and complaining, the quality of our life is reduced proportionally--a destroyer is bringing our life to ruin!

People often ask me, "What is the ruling demon over our church or city?" They expect me to answer with the ancient Aramaic or Phoenician name of a fallen angel. What I usually tell them is a lot more practical: One of the most pervasive evil influences over our nation is ingratitude!

Do not minimize the strength and cunning of this enemy! Paul said that the Jews who grumbled and complained during their difficult circumstances were "destroyed by the destroyer." Who was this destroyer?

If you insist on discerning an ancient world ruler, one of the most powerful spirits mentioned in the Bible is Abaddon, whose Greek name is Apollyon. It means "destroyer" (Rev. 9:11). Paul said the Jews were destroyed by this spirit. In other words, when we are complaining or unthankful, we open the door to the destroyer, Abaddon, the demon-king over the abyss of hell!

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Multitudes in our nation have become specialists in the "science of misery." They are experts--moral accountants--who can, in a moment, tally all the wrongs society has ever done to them or their group. I have never talked with one of these people who was happy, blessed or content about anything. They expect an imperfect world to treat them perfectly.

Truly, there are people in this wounded country of ours who need special attention. However, most of us simply need to repent of ingratitude, for it is ingratitude itself which is keeping wounds alive! We simply need to forgive the wrongs of the past and become thankful for what we have in the present.

The moment we become grateful, we actually begin to ascend spiritually into the presence of God. The psalmist wrote,

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing. Enter
His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him;
bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His
faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:2, 4-5

It does not matter what your circumstances are, the instant you begin to thank God, even though your situation has not changed, you begin to change. The key which unlocks the gates of heaven is a thankful heart; entrance into the courts of God comes as you simply begin to praise the Lord.

Blessed Lord, forgive me for being a complainer. Help me to offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving in all things. Lord, I come this day to covenant with You. By Your grace, I will be thankful regardless of what my life seems to be. Oh God, remember Your covenant pledge and gather me near to Your heart. In Jesus' name. Amen.

www.frangipane.org