Written by Jack Hayford
Showing posts with label Rivers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rivers. Show all posts
Monday, 25 March 2013
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Chaos Now For Beauty Later
Written by Claire Colvin
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19, NLT)
I am in the midst of a kitchen reno and my house looks like a disaster zone. The simplest tasks are complicated and frustrating. The kettle is in the en suite bathroom, the tea bags are on the coach, the mugs are somewhere in the living room. Everything takes longer. Nothing looks familiar.
Even when it’s time to rest it’s hard to relax in a room that is literally stacked to the ceiling. The other day I stood on the bare concrete floor and thought about the beautiful kitchen that is going in. I remembered all the years I had prayed for a place of my own and I took a deep breath. “It’s chaos now for beauty later,” I said to my roommate and I heard a whisper in my heart. Oh, there’s a lesson in that.
I am in the midst of a kitchen reno and my house looks like a disaster zone. The simplest tasks are complicated and frustrating. The kettle is in the en suite bathroom, the tea bags are on the coach, the mugs are somewhere in the living room. Everything takes longer. Nothing looks familiar.
Even when it’s time to rest it’s hard to relax in a room that is literally stacked to the ceiling. The other day I stood on the bare concrete floor and thought about the beautiful kitchen that is going in. I remembered all the years I had prayed for a place of my own and I took a deep breath. “It’s chaos now for beauty later,” I said to my roommate and I heard a whisper in my heart. Oh, there’s a lesson in that.
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Stir Up the Power
"Greatly desiring to see you, being
mindful of your tears....I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in
you.... For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and
of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:4,6-7)
There are times when
you know what God has called you to do, but you just don't feel you have the
inner resources you need to do it. Somehow you've simply run dry. You know the
Word says that "out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water"
(John 7:38). But, during those times, you can't even find the creek bank, much
less the river.
The Word of God tells
us how to handle those situations through a clear command: "Stir up the
gift inside you."
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Rivers Of Living Water
Several countries in Southeast Asia celebrate the regional new year with a water festival. Traditionally, people sprinkle each other with water as a sign of respect and blessing, but many people intensify it with wild, joyful, boisterous dousing of anybody and everybody with water. Walk or drive down the streets during those days and you might be accosted with garden hoses, water cannons, water pistols, or even bowls and cups filled with water. It is raucous. It is fun. It is vivid. Everyone knows it is out with the old, in with the new.
Water was a key feature of the ancient Jewish festival called the Feast of Tabernacles. For the first seven days of the festival, with trumpets blowing, a priest would take water from the Pool of Siloam and carry it through the streets in a golden vessel, eventually delivering it to the altar in the temple.
Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles, when, on the climactic day of the festival, he stood up and shouted out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37–38). The Gospel of John then has this explanation: “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (John 7:39).
Friday, 20 July 2012
The importance of adding action to your plans
Dr. J.B. Gambrel tells an amusing story from General Stonewall Jackson’s famous valley campaign. Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other side.
After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks, and fence rails he could find and built a bridge. Long before daylight, General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river.
General Jackson asked, “Where are the engineers, and what are they doing?” The wagon master replied, “They’re in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.”
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After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks, and fence rails he could find and built a bridge. Long before daylight, General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river.
General Jackson asked, “Where are the engineers, and what are they doing?” The wagon master replied, “They’re in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.”
Saturday, 12 May 2012
River of Revelation
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)
Have you ever been in the position in the past where every time you opened the Bible you received a river of revelation? Does it seem lately that the river's run dry? If so, I strongly suggest that you backtrack to the last revelation God gave you. Back up and see if you acted on it, if you did what God showed you to do. If you didn't, start again, digging into that revelation and then putting it into action in your life. You'll soon find new revelations are beginning to flow.
You see, revelation is most prolific when you are acting on the Word. I've discovered that for myself again and again. The more I act on the Word, the more I see into it. That's why James 1:22 tells us to not only hear God's Word but to DO IT!
It may seem that the things God has revealed to you are very insignificant. They may not even make good sense to your natural mind. But do them anyway! If you had insight into the spirit realm, you'd see they're far more important than you think.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
What Are the Keys to God's Blessing?
I believe that the key to God’s blessings starts with obedience to His Word. We see this theme borne out through the Scriptures time after time where the Lord promises to bless those who will obey what He says.
gotquestions http://www.learnthebible.org/what-are-the-keys-to-gods-blessing.htmlPsalms 1:1-3
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Proverbs 3:1-4
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Jeremiah 7:23
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
James 1:22-25
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Becoming God's Voice for Breakthrough
Debbie Przybylski, Intercessors Arise
“As God’s representative on the earth, He has given us the authority to speak for Him. When we speak under the leading of the Holy Spirit, we speak as His voice on the earth. During strategic times, the Lord will prompt us to pray prayers that will bring breakthrough.” --Barbara Wentroble
When we look around us we hear so many voices. There are so many voices we can listen to every day. There are many words we can speak every day, both good and positive or negative and evil. God’s voice can appear small to us when mixed with all the satanic and evil voices all around us. There are false voices in the media, in the school system, in talk show hosts, and even in the church. We must be able to discern truth from error and the true from the false every day. In the end times we must learn to drown out the other voices and know God’s voice and speak it.
We had a car but it wouldn’t start. Doesn’t that sound like a familiar situation to many of us? My husband checked the battery to make sure there was power there. Yes, there was plenty! He then checked the starter and replaced it with a new one but when he turned the key, no power was getting to the starter. He examined the cables. He discovered that the negative cable was not grounded to the frame. It reminds me of many of us. Just as the car had no power to start when the cable wasn’t attached right, we can have lots of good things in our Christian life but if we are not grounded in the Word of God and speaking it out, the power of God can’t flow freely through our lives.
The battery of our life needs the Word of God to empower us to be and do all that God intends.
As His representatives on earth, we must learn to be His voice and speak clearly with His authority. But do we really know how powerful God’s voice is? Do we realize that we can become God’s voice for breakthrough?
God’s Mouthpiece
We are the voice of the Lord on the earth as we positively declare his will through our prayers. God many times is waiting for something to be done on earth, but He needs someone to pray his will. We become God’s voice on the earth for breakthrough by praying His will as we listen and obey. He wants us to be His mouthpiece on the earth. We can accomplish great things as His mouthpiece. Heaven responds to our prayers -- God listens and acts on our behalf -- good things happen in the spirit realm when we learn the secret of positive confession.
The atmosphere changes -- we change -- our life changes.
Think of what Jeremiah accomplished after he became God’s mouthpiece. He was called to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:9-10). That’s a powerful calling. Through our prayers we can do the same. We need the Lord to touch our lips and put His Words in our mouth. So often we can have negative words flowing from our mouths rather than positive words that confess God’s truth. But God’s Spirit wants to flow through us as rivers of living water (John 7:38). We must believe this, and as the days darken we must learn to be His voice and speak His truth!
If ever there was a need for being God’s voice on earth, it is now. God’s voice is powerful and accomplishes great things. Let’s look at some Scriptures to put into perspective how mighty our God is. Psalm 29:3-9 says:
“The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, 'Glory!'"
One of the things that the voice of the Lord does in these verses is to break (shabar). This means “to burst, to break into pieces (like a wild bear); to destroy, to perish (such as kingdoms, a city, or a people); to cause to break forth, to open (the womb)”. The broken places need repairing. Nations are in turmoil, evil is rampant, people are discouraged and frightened. We can stand in the gap and bring healing to the earth as we are God’s voice of hope and life. We can help destroy the works of evil and rebuild, repair, and restore through our prayers. Kingdom people know how to pray in His Kingdom. We read in Isaiah 58:12:
“Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”
Positive Confession
When we pray with positive confession, we pray with expectancy and faith. It’s easy to be negative when you are going through a difficult time in your life. I know that I am tempted to complain during those times. It is so easy to talk about the problems. During testing times like this, we must especially watch our speech. As we go against our feelings and positively confess God’s truth and praise His name, our hearts change. Our mindset changes and confusion, discouragement, and anxiety flee.
But we first must trust God and His character. We must trust His Word and not our feelings. He will carry us through. Faith is expecting what I pray will happen. We do not just believe God can do something, but that he will do something. Positive confession is bold and confident in it’s praying. Once we know Gods heart, we boldly pray it and then we walk in faith that it will be so, even when the answer is not there yet and even when difficulties are all around us.
Positive confession is confidence in God and acting on that confidence. We must pray with confidence that God will answer our prayers according to His wisdom and goodness. We must trust that He knows what is best for us. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” It’s so easy for us to lean on our own understanding instead of boldly leaning on God and His Word. Faith acts on God’s Word, His truth. Look at the example of Abraham in Heb. 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Abraham went by faith. His life was a positive confession of God’s promise.
In declarative prayer that positively confesses God’s truth, we expect God to answer us. We pray with assurance when we know we are asking in His will. When we have the assurance that a promise is from God’s Word for us, we can pray it confidently and claim it authoritatively. We don’t just believe but we say exactly what we believe.
We hold firmly to the faith we profess -- “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Hebrews 4:14).
We confess with confidence -- “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:6)
We confess with our mouth -- “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:10).
For our faith to be effective, we must positively confess it. It will never be mine, until I say so. We may have to pray many times. Elijah had to pray 7 times for rain. Jesus had to pray 3 times in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are encouraged to keep on asking and keep on seeking in Matthew 7:7. We have to keep on until we have the assurance from God and then we begin giving thanks.
What are you facing in your life today where you need to practice positive confession of God’s truth? Are you standing upon His promises and practicing declarative prayer? Are you leaning upon your own understanding or are you boldly leaning upon God’s Word? Are you God’s mouthpiece in a world that desperately needs to hear His voice?
Let’s pray with an attitude of expectant faith. Let’s pray that we will be God’s mouthpiece on earth today in our prayers and actions.
“When we are really praying in faith, our attitude will be one of expectancy rather than wish or desire. Faith means that we’ve moved beyond believing that God can do something to believing that He will do something when we ask.” --Jonathon Graf
Together in the Harvest,
Debbie Przybylski
When we look around us we hear so many voices. There are so many voices we can listen to every day. There are many words we can speak every day, both good and positive or negative and evil. God’s voice can appear small to us when mixed with all the satanic and evil voices all around us. There are false voices in the media, in the school system, in talk show hosts, and even in the church. We must be able to discern truth from error and the true from the false every day. In the end times we must learn to drown out the other voices and know God’s voice and speak it.
We had a car but it wouldn’t start. Doesn’t that sound like a familiar situation to many of us? My husband checked the battery to make sure there was power there. Yes, there was plenty! He then checked the starter and replaced it with a new one but when he turned the key, no power was getting to the starter. He examined the cables. He discovered that the negative cable was not grounded to the frame. It reminds me of many of us. Just as the car had no power to start when the cable wasn’t attached right, we can have lots of good things in our Christian life but if we are not grounded in the Word of God and speaking it out, the power of God can’t flow freely through our lives.
The battery of our life needs the Word of God to empower us to be and do all that God intends.
As His representatives on earth, we must learn to be His voice and speak clearly with His authority. But do we really know how powerful God’s voice is? Do we realize that we can become God’s voice for breakthrough?
God’s Mouthpiece
We are the voice of the Lord on the earth as we positively declare his will through our prayers. God many times is waiting for something to be done on earth, but He needs someone to pray his will. We become God’s voice on the earth for breakthrough by praying His will as we listen and obey. He wants us to be His mouthpiece on the earth. We can accomplish great things as His mouthpiece. Heaven responds to our prayers -- God listens and acts on our behalf -- good things happen in the spirit realm when we learn the secret of positive confession.
The atmosphere changes -- we change -- our life changes.
Think of what Jeremiah accomplished after he became God’s mouthpiece. He was called to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:9-10). That’s a powerful calling. Through our prayers we can do the same. We need the Lord to touch our lips and put His Words in our mouth. So often we can have negative words flowing from our mouths rather than positive words that confess God’s truth. But God’s Spirit wants to flow through us as rivers of living water (John 7:38). We must believe this, and as the days darken we must learn to be His voice and speak His truth!
If ever there was a need for being God’s voice on earth, it is now. God’s voice is powerful and accomplishes great things. Let’s look at some Scriptures to put into perspective how mighty our God is. Psalm 29:3-9 says:
“The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, 'Glory!'"
One of the things that the voice of the Lord does in these verses is to break (shabar). This means “to burst, to break into pieces (like a wild bear); to destroy, to perish (such as kingdoms, a city, or a people); to cause to break forth, to open (the womb)”. The broken places need repairing. Nations are in turmoil, evil is rampant, people are discouraged and frightened. We can stand in the gap and bring healing to the earth as we are God’s voice of hope and life. We can help destroy the works of evil and rebuild, repair, and restore through our prayers. Kingdom people know how to pray in His Kingdom. We read in Isaiah 58:12:
“Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”
Positive Confession
When we pray with positive confession, we pray with expectancy and faith. It’s easy to be negative when you are going through a difficult time in your life. I know that I am tempted to complain during those times. It is so easy to talk about the problems. During testing times like this, we must especially watch our speech. As we go against our feelings and positively confess God’s truth and praise His name, our hearts change. Our mindset changes and confusion, discouragement, and anxiety flee.
But we first must trust God and His character. We must trust His Word and not our feelings. He will carry us through. Faith is expecting what I pray will happen. We do not just believe God can do something, but that he will do something. Positive confession is bold and confident in it’s praying. Once we know Gods heart, we boldly pray it and then we walk in faith that it will be so, even when the answer is not there yet and even when difficulties are all around us.
Positive confession is confidence in God and acting on that confidence. We must pray with confidence that God will answer our prayers according to His wisdom and goodness. We must trust that He knows what is best for us. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” It’s so easy for us to lean on our own understanding instead of boldly leaning on God and His Word. Faith acts on God’s Word, His truth. Look at the example of Abraham in Heb. 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Abraham went by faith. His life was a positive confession of God’s promise.
In declarative prayer that positively confesses God’s truth, we expect God to answer us. We pray with assurance when we know we are asking in His will. When we have the assurance that a promise is from God’s Word for us, we can pray it confidently and claim it authoritatively. We don’t just believe but we say exactly what we believe.
We hold firmly to the faith we profess -- “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Hebrews 4:14).
We confess with confidence -- “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:6)
We confess with our mouth -- “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:10).
For our faith to be effective, we must positively confess it. It will never be mine, until I say so. We may have to pray many times. Elijah had to pray 7 times for rain. Jesus had to pray 3 times in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are encouraged to keep on asking and keep on seeking in Matthew 7:7. We have to keep on until we have the assurance from God and then we begin giving thanks.
What are you facing in your life today where you need to practice positive confession of God’s truth? Are you standing upon His promises and practicing declarative prayer? Are you leaning upon your own understanding or are you boldly leaning upon God’s Word? Are you God’s mouthpiece in a world that desperately needs to hear His voice?
Let’s pray with an attitude of expectant faith. Let’s pray that we will be God’s mouthpiece on earth today in our prayers and actions.
“When we are really praying in faith, our attitude will be one of expectancy rather than wish or desire. Faith means that we’ve moved beyond believing that God can do something to believing that He will do something when we ask.” --Jonathon Graf
Together in the Harvest,
Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
deb@intercessorsarise.org
http:www.intercessorsarise.org
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