So your jealous of the disciples....

I have heard many times from many different people how awesome it would have been to have walked in the day of Jesus and how amazing it would be to have been selected as one of his 12 disciples. Well no doubt it was amazing to talk with Jesus and go to the local restaurant with him for lunch. I know it would have been equally amazing to listen to his teaching and be able to ask him questions about life. However there is one source of amazement that some people have which I find hard to understand; people say they wish they could have seen the miracles of Jesus and be able perform them themselves. Jesus performed many miracles, but his disciples performed miracles as well. Everything from a few fish and loaves of bread being multiplied to feed thousands, to water turning into wine, and dead men rising up to walk. I have heard people say I wish I had the power of the disciples and I wish I could be an instrument of God like they were.

Well there is good and bad news. Lets start with the good. I can tell you from experience and from the bible that you CAN see and perform the same miracles as the disciples did. Let me also step out on a limb and tell you that NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS. I say I am stepping out on a limb, but in the famous words of our current administration "I mispoke". I am not stepping out on a limb at all by telling you I do not think that anything is out of reach. Anything from stage four cancer patients being healed, to financial problems, to a headache nothing is too big or too small to be out of reach from my GOD. He is willing and wanting to help you in your situation. He would like nothing more than to give you life beyond all of your wildest expectations, but here comes the bad news.

The thing that is stopping you from being able to lay hands upon the sick and healing them instantly is YOU! God is the same God he was when Jesus was in flesh as he is today and he always will be that same God. We as americans are blessed beyond belief compared to the rest of the world so we don't realize Gods potential because we feel we have no needs. Most everybody has the convenience of a hot meal, a shower, a home, and all the essentials of survival, and then some. When we go to church and pray it usually for something that we can understand. It is for something that we can wrap our minds around. It can range from healing a sickness or a job situation, or any thing else that could easily be cured by God as could be cured by mans interaction, although I still believe it was God who caused man to interact. We pray the sick on a regular basis and I am 100 percent for it. I think we should always consult the master physician (GOD) as well as the ones he has placed on earth to help us. However these are miracles that can often times, but not always, be explained either completely or partially by medicine, not that I am against medicine. Americans have most of their essential needs met already and do not require a supernatural move for them to survive. Therefore we tend to not ask for the supernatural as much as people on other continents might. I have heard many stories from missionaries of people in other countries having deaf ears unblocked and blind eyes opened and sadly after many of those messages I have heard church members question why dont we see these things in america? Its because we dont have the need those countries have. They are in a place where they DEPEND upon God for survival. They NEED him to do something miraculous therefore they have more faith and when they pray they do it with great expectations. There are cases of this in america like the elder in my church, brother Galatas, who once had stage 4 cancer but now has a completely clean bill of health.

The disciples were able to heal the blind yet they were very disadvantaged from current day apostolics. Yes they walked with Jesus, but guess what, that same Jesus, that same almighty perfect holy spirit now lives INSIDE of me. If a disciple who had not yet experienced the holy ghost was able to heal the blind and cast out demons what is holding us back?! I can tell you the answer. They had faith in what they were doing and they did in intentionally. They didn't walk up to the blind and say, "Dear Jesus please heal this man of his blindness." or "Dear Jesus please help this lame man walk". They didnt pray and weep begging God to do something miraculous. They spoke life into the situation and did it with the intention of that person being saved and had the faith to back it up. In the case of Peter and John healing the lame man. "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk 7And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. (Acts 3:6-7). They walked up to their situation and because they knew they had faith and they knew their God had the power they could walk up and say be healed, and it was done. How many more miracles should we be able to witness? Has God lost his touch? Definately not.

We need to learn to pray for our needs and others needs with intention. We need to learn to not limit God to a fix that we can understand which can be done by taking control of the situation and stepping out on faith. Peter didnt walk on the water by some weird phenomenon. It was his faith that held him up. And we he started to doubt he began to sink. Every person has a portion of faith. When you flip a light switch lights come on. Sure you can explain this by saying that its the electrical current that made the light illuminate, but let me tell you something. Without faith that light bulb wouldn't work. The chair you are sitting in right now would crumble and collapse if you didn't have faith in it.

If you want to be a powerful demon defeating, sick healing, miracle worker you need to learn to operate in the spirit world by praying and reading Gods word which will build your faith. But most importantly you need to pray intentionally with confidence and ask God through faith to do the impossible.

Just to give your faith a little boost I will share the events of my life this past weekend.

Matt Maddix was at my church to do his bootcamp. I witnessed 64 people receive the Holy Ghost and 18 get baptized in the name of Jesus. The process for this was rather simple too. We all ate free food, connected with church members, prayed a led prayer of repentence then began chanting a few different sayings that include "Jesus" "There aint no party like a holy ghost party and a holy ghost party don't stop" and "The holy ghost is a gift and a promise". After this Matt Maddix would stand on the stage, say the prayer of faith, which was basically "Jesus is about to pour out the holy ghost right now, if you want to receive it lift your hands and someone will pray with you. As soon as they lay hands on your forehead you will begin speaking a language you do not understand which is the Holy Ghost." He would then very briefly tell them to get ready and people started speaking in tongues as church members laid hands on them. We didnt need those souls to pray for an hour to get in the right frame mind nor did we spend 20 minutes trying to get them to speak in tongues. We simply arrived and spoke out in faith, prayed with intention, and God honored that.

There are times that you will need to ask God questions, such as what is my calling, and what direction do i need to go in with my life. However when it comes to dealing with a sickness, demonic spirit, financial issue or promises from God, pray with intention, rebuke the spirit of doubt, and keep your faith up. Be mindful that it is not always Gods will for people to brought immediately out of their trial. Everything happens for a reason and our ways are not Gods ways so we do not understand his reasoning so dont try. Just have faith, trust in him, and go with the flow.

Just to recap:
1. Pray intentionally
2. Keep your faith up
3. Operate in a spiritual realm (reading the bible and praying daily)
4. ALWAYS seek Gods will
5. Dont attempt to understand Gods reasoning

Prayer of a Lowly Servant

Lord never before have I needed your love and your grace as I do this day. Let your mercy fall down on me like rain from heaven and your grace abound as the waters in the ocean. There is so much depression, so much confusion, so much questioning going on in this world. There is no steady, no constant, no truth except for what I find in You. Never will I forget the warm safety of your presence. I can feel it stir my soul when my thoughts land upon You. Lord I now understand that everything I have accomplished in this life was because You enabled me. There is no replacement for You. My life, my job, my family, my next step, even my next breath solely depend upon You to provide. Lord forgive me for the ignorant things I have done. Lord forgive me for thinking that my efforts and my abilities were somehow brought about by my own doings. I owe You thanks and I owe You praise for blessing me with a great job and a great family. You alone deserve the praise. There is not one thing I have ever accomplished in my life without You. I used to think that if I prayed hard enough and if I read my bible enough that I would have the strength to carry myself. It was as if I believed I could charge up and run until the next service without You. God there is no way I will ever have the strength to carry myself for even a moment. Without your spirit and your hand in my life I would crumble. My mind is weak, my flesh is strong, but YOU have all of the power. The keys of death, hell, and the grave belong to you. You died on the cross, sacrificed your only son...all for me. You looked straight into my eyes in the lowest time in my life, when I was hurting you the most, and when I didn't want you. Then these words uttered from your lips, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." When You spoke those words You weren't speaking to the roman soldiers, You werent speaking to the crowd around You, You were speaking to me. When I fell flat on my face in despair, deep in sin, You looked me in the eyes and died for me. You gave a perfect faultless life to take on the sins of this world and died so I wouldnt have to. There is no love that I will ever experience that is stronger than the love You have shown me.

Stregthen me Lord. Give me courage. Give me compassion. Give me compassion for the lost. Give me compassion for the hurting. Give me compassion for the burdened. Give me compassion for the souls I pass by each day that are dieing. My co-workers. My neighbors. My family. Help me show them a love. A love that you have shown me time and time again. I want my life to be a mirror up to heaven. When people see me I dont want them to see me. I want them to see a mirror that reflects up to heaven. I want them to see the love. I want to see the grace. I want them to see the mercy and the blessings that You have given unto me. Lord I am desperate. This world is desperate. They are looking for hope and change. Jesus. Our only hope is that we change our mindset and focus upon You. You are the change that will bring hope to this world, hope to our lives. Instead of bashing and critizing the events around me teach me to pray. Teach me to pray for the negativity. Teach me to fall down on my knees and weep for my country. Teach me to weep for my city. Teach me to weep for my enemies. What will I have accomplished in this life if I am the only person I bring to heaven. Teach me to be selfless. Teach me to be giving. Help me to understand that everything I have has come from You so it is not mine in the fist place. I should freely give of my time, my service, my money.

Lord above all else teach me to be like Jesus. I desire nothing more than to be a servant for you. I will happily be placed anywhere in Your kingdom that you like. I will serve You in the best way I can and I will rely upon You in everything I do.

Amen.

Life Explained

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'

The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?'

So God agreed..

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.'

The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'

The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years.. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said:

'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years.'

But the human said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'

'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the
grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service.

SEX!

Yeah thats right I said the "S" word. The sad truth is that about 20 years ago a post titled "SEX!", if blogs existed 20 years ago, would have stunned many and now many people will not give it a second look. The fact is that the society we live in has taught us that "Its just sex". There is nothing special about it and there are no consequences for having it. You do it with as many people as you can because that is what will make you cool. I have to say I honestly feel sorry for all of those who fall prey to that. In fact the opposite is quite true. There is no such thing as "just sex". Sex is a beautiful thing that was created by God and was meant to occur between a married MAN and WOMAN. Of course society has gotten that part of it all wrong too. Every time you have sex with a person you are giving a piece of yourself to them. You say thats not true I have sex every weekend and I am fine. Well thats probably because you gave so much of yourself away you don't have nothing left. The next biggest lie that movies portray is that sex has no consequences. I know there are movies that make fun of people catching crabs from sleeping with a stranger but believe me that is the least of your worries. As a matter of fact you should consider yourself lucky if that is all you get. Millions of dollars have been raised to try to cure AIDS. I know by now its no mystery as to how AIDS spreads yet the spread continues quite rapidly. So if you thing a few minutes of fun is worth cutting your life short then hey "Its just sex". Thats almost like saying hey "Its just russian roulette". Well its just a game until you find the chamber with the bullet in it then its your life.

Another lie that you may tell yourself is that I have sex with them because I love them. Well for this I will refer to my other post on what is life. To truly live you need God. I firmly believe with everything in me that you can only have a real serious relationship with one person at a time. If a man cheats on his wife it usually ends the relationship. The same is true with God. Before you are married you can only have a true relationship with one person which better be God. Once you start giving yourself to someone else before you are married you break that relationship. Many young adults find themselves struggling to get close to God. Well look at your physical relationships. Do they go across the line of what is holy to where you "cheat on God". Its odd how people know that when they cheat on their girlfriend that they are probably going to break up. Why do you expect anything different from God? He is a jealous God who loves you very much. And believe me no matter how mean you think your girlfriend or boyfriend might be they aint got nothing on God. Which brings me to sex. If you are married and you have sex with a woman that is not your wife what would you honestly expect to happen. Why would you expect anything different from God? Even beyond that the bible says that fornication is the only sin that affects your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

Heres the bottom line. If you have sex before marriage your cheating on a omnipotent righteous loving and jealous God. If you are having problems staying close to God and you read your bible and pray look at your physical relationships. And just to clear something up for all the jokers who might say "When you get married your true relationship is with your wife" Well once you are married the bible says you and your spouse become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Thus keeping the door open to have that 1 on 1 true relationship with God.

What is life?

I have asked myself many times what does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to live? This is the thought process to how I have answered these questions. God was the beginning of life. There was none before him and there will be none after him. He spoke life into existence and molded man out of sand. That was the beginning. John 15:I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Well thats pretty simple. My destiny in life is to be a branch. There are two kinds of branches, the one who attached to the vine or the one who falls to the ground. The one who abides in God produces much fruit, and the one who falls to the ground can do nothing.

The bottom line is that God is the only true source of life. You say but I am alive now and that is separate from God. Well you may be alive now but the wages of sin is death. The only way to remove sin is through God so therefore with a simple mathematical equation we can conclude that YOU+SIN=DEATH or that (YOU+GOD)-SIN=LIFE.

True life can only be experienced through a RELATIONSHIP with Christ. If you go to church on Sunday twice then once on Wednesday and never give any other time to GOD then its not a relationship. A relationship is an everyday constantly ongoing experience that I have been blessed with. Through my relationship in Christ I live everyday with happiness and joy. Now don't get me wrong, I do get upset and I do get down but my God is so much bigger than any problem I could ever experience that when I think of his love and grace and how many times he has come looking for me when I was hiding from him it makes me smile. It gives me a joy inside that no theory, man, law, or force in this world can take away. And that right there...is truly living.

My Life

My first post will be on my life because after all what would be the meaning of reading a blog if you didn't know anything about the author. My life started in Dec of 1988. Yes, I am almost a christmas baby, 22nd, and yes I do get jipped out of presents. Just like everyone else I have had high times and I have had low times but at all times they were with God.

I grew up in Norco, La with my father and mother and being an only child I am sure I was spoiled more than other children. Actually that is an incorrect statement because I have a half brother from my fathers first marriage however he is a good 10 years older than me and we have never lived in the same home. My personal claim to fame occurred in 1994 when my T-Ball team won the parish championship.

All throughout my school years I have never wanted to be the cool kid. I was always fine with being known as "the really big guy". Everyone knew my name but not many people knew much about me. I wish I would have taken the time to change that and share more of my life with the people I grew up with so they could experience the same thing I have.

Earlier I mentioned that everything I have done in my life I have done it with God. That doesn't mean that I always did everything right, or that I always put God first. Luckily for me I have alot of people who love me and who were willing to pray for me when I refused to pray for myself.

The roughest time I have ever experienced in my life is when I was 16. I was young and dumb and I knew better but my girlfriend turned up pregnant. I didnt realize it at the time but it was part of God's plan. Since I had been involved in church ever since I was young and appeared to do the right thing the people around me were shocked. The truth is that I was wearing a mask. I knew how to act at church to fool everyone and I knew how and when to say and do the right things to make people think everything was ok. That could not have been further from the truth.

I know the youth group at New Life has heard this 100 times but I am going to say it 100 more times until the youth and the young adults listen. My downward spiral started at the age of 13 when I decided I was going to listen to worldly music instead of church music every change I got. I would get home one hour before my parents and turn the radio to 105.3 and listen to the light rock that they played on that station at the time. That in itself isn't bad but I have come to understand that everything in this world has an influence and if it goes unchecked you will end up in a world of trouble.

Like all things the light rock progressed into alternative, the alternative progressed into hardrock, and by the time I hit 17-18 and had my own truck I was listening to bands like Godsmack, Disturbed and others. If you don't know about these bands take a look at their home page and you wont have to see anymore to know what they stand for. According to the bible darkness and light cannot coexist. Needless to say there wasn't much light left in me. Luckily for me I had a God fearing mother who wasn't afraid to get on her knees and pray but I will speak more to that later.

I went down all the wrong paths took all the wrong turns and here I am with this 1 yr old son. I don't know what to do because I am still a kid myself so I made more wrong choices. I would ignore my responsibilities as much as possible and do as much as I could for myself. I was in a place where I went to church but I didn't care. The only thing I was worried about was having fun and I did whatever it took to do it. I don't believe I need to go into detail for you to get the picture.

Little did I know that the whole time I had a mother and a church family that was praying for me the entire time. I thought I had them fooled but they knew better. At times I felt that they turned their back on me but in fact it was me shutting them out. I do have to say I am thankful for Keith Delaune in this aspect. I have never told him this or anyone else until now but when I first found out my girlfriend was pregnant and the news got out and I turned my back on everyone Keith was still there. I don't know what it was or why he did it but he always made it a point to come shake my hand and ask my how I was. I never got into details with him but the notion was enough.

When people write things like this they usually leave the details out like "I would cry at night" or "I felt empty". Well excuse me but let me be completely transparent. You may be thinking, big deal here is just another teenager that likes to party, worksout alot and listens to evil music. Well its not that simple. In this life there is a constant battle that is going on between good and evil. Well when you are mixed up in evil and there is some good God fearing people who are praying for you your life is the center of a battle ground. I would find myself wishing I wasn't born. The mental anguish that I lived with for those two long years was almost more than I could bear. I never showed this side of myself to anyone. I was ashamed.

I was real big into working out and impressing girls. I thought there was nothing more important, including my son, than working out. I worked out religiously to the point where it was an idol. I never missed, but what I did miss was what was going on in my life.

When I turned 19 years old I started working with the girl of my dreams, but I didn't know it at the time. We started casually dating and to be honest neither one of us thought it would ever go anywhere. Meanwhile I was still being my ignorant self and having what I thought was a good time.

One day I had had enough. I couldn't take the lifestyle I was leading. I found myself at the alter of the church, a place I frequented but never took seriously, and this time I was desperate. I didn't want something from God I needed something from God.

That night was the turning point. Did I instantly turn around? Nope. Did I walk away feeling 100 times better? Nope. But God had me in his hands the whole time.

I started to realize that my son was more important in my life than anything else besides God. I wanted to do the right thing and be there for him in ways that only a father can. Then I had Rae Anne. She is amazing. I wanted to be my best for her. I still didn't imagine we would ever end up married but I wanted to prove to her that I could be that guy.

I started doing little things like reading my bible in the morning, nothing major just a chapter and sometimes only a few verses. Well let me tell you something. There is something magical about that book. I didn't always understand what I was reading yet somehow it blessed my life. I started praying more in church. Then after 3 or 4 months of this I felt I was ready to get involved in the ministry again.

Let me add another note in here. That last paragraph makes it seem like an easy journey. There wasn't nothing easy about it. Remember that battle that I spoke of earlier that is occurring constantly. Well neither side wants to lose. The fact of it is that the battle isn't between God and satan. Satan is nothing. God created him and God can end him. Nuff said. The real battle occurs in your mind and its against this thing called flesh. Were all attached to it and none of us can get rid of it. Well I struggled. It wasn't all a shiny journey I went up mountains then crashed down into valleys the whole way.

In the meantime me and Rae started getting more serious and I was thankful. The mixture of being in a serious relationship and having a son made me mature way beyond my age and this was key in my walk with God.

Now I can look back on all these events and I have skipped some and I have been very brief. There is much more detail I can go into but it is not appropriate for this post. However I can tell you this. Everything that has happened to me, from the best of times to the worst of times, has first gone through the hands of God. There was a reason everything happened. The truth is that if those things wouldn't have happened I may not be in church today. It would have been much easier to continue on the path I was on without the responsibilities that were put in my life.

God knew this and he let me fall, but he was always there to help me back up. At times I am sure that he carried me because I could not walk on my own. He is my salvation, my direction, my help, my healer, and he gives me mercy, shows me kindness, and helps me forgive others.

Everywhere I look I see Gods hand in my life. He has shaped and molded me from birth and will continue until my death. I submit my life fully to his will and want to fulfill all that he has planned for me.

I want to publicly thank my mother and my church family for never giving up on me. They were with me from the very beginning and they will stand with me and fight for me when I am unwilling until the very end.

Needless to say I hope that someday I can extend the compassion and love that has been extended to me. I hope that I can be in the gap for someone and help them along their journey when they cannot stand on their own.

I am happy to report that God has tremendously blessed my life. All day everyday I am surrounded by God fearing men and they lift me up more than they know.

I am now 21 years old, a single (soon to be married May 15th) father, a home owner, a full time college student, a singer at church, a guitar player at church, a youth worker, and the most God loving person you can come into contact with. In a economy where things are down my God has provided for me. You see when you receive the Holy Ghost and you are baptized in Jesus name your life is no longer bound by the rules and fluctuations of this world. I live my life through the economy of Christ and I enjoy giving to him because he has blessed me more than I ever would have imagined.

Hows that for an intro?