The Cross in Prayer

      “In that day you will ask in My name …” (John 16:26). We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to get through, yet we get through for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross represents only one thing for us—complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ—and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer.
     “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace.
     “… I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you …” (John 16:26–27). Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ? Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then “in that day” you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.
     When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason—God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.

Becoming Entirely His

“Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).
     Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink. Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives. We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work … .” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.  

The Name of Jesus Has Become A Dirty Word In Politically Correct America

Jesus said, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
      "Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.... If they persecuted Me they will persecute you... for they do not know the One who sent Me."  John 15:19-21

     In the United States today, there are very few words that provoke as much outrage as the name of Jesus.  It is being banned from graduation ceremonies, chaplains all over America are being forbidden from using His name in their prayers, and many school officials all over the nation have become absolutely fanatical about eliminating every trace of Christian expression from their schools.      

     Political correctness is spreading like a cancer in this country, and our “freedom of religion” is rapidly being transformed into a guarantee of “freedom from religion” for those that hate the Christian faith.
     Without a doubt, there is a war on the Christian faith in America today.  It is being waged in classrooms, courtrooms and churches all over the nation.
     I stand as a believer in the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross and come to exhort the Church of the Living God calling her to repentance and prayer for revival across America and in our local bodies.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14    Watch ye (a military command, be vigilant), stand fast in the Faith (don’t let the devil move your Faith from the Cross to other things), quit you like men (act like mature men), be strong (strong in the Faith, which makes one strong against the Devil).

14     Let all your things be done with charity (love).

Ephesians 6:10-13   Finally, my Brethren, be strong in the Lord (be continually strengthened, which one does by constant Faith in the Cross), and in the power of His Might. (The Source is the Holy Spirit, but the means is the Cross [I Cor. 1:18] For the Preaching of the Cross is to them who perish foolishness; but unto us which are Saved it is the Power of God.).

11     Put on the whole Armour of God (not just some, but all), that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. (This refers to the “stratagems” of Satan.)

12     For we wrestle not against flesh and blood (our foes are not human; however, Satan constantly uses human beings to carry out his dirty work), but against principalities (rulers or beings of the highest rank and order in Satan’s kingdom), against powers (the rank immediately below the “Principalities”), against the rulers of the darkness of this world (those who carry out the instructions of the “Powers”), against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 13       Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God (because of what we face), that you may be able to withstand in the evil day (refers to resisting and opposing the powers of darkness), and having done all, to stand. (This refers to the Believer not giving ground, not a single inch.)