6th May, 2008
Determining Your Future
Your future is important! It is important to you, to your family and to God. Each decision that you make can enable or disable you to move into what God has for you. Finding your purpose in life can be a great deal of pleasure and coupled with prayer there is enormous opportunities also. So many choices are placed before you each day that it can become pretty complex when all you wanted was to just get up and get through the day! The concern that may be burdening you may also be the one that is keeping you from making the right decision for your future. It is always best to pray and wait! Yes, wait for the direction from the Lord when making decisions that will entail your present and future actions. There are so many that have just “jumped” right in and found out that it was impossible to “jump” back out!
I am so glad that when God “jumped” into the womb of Mary that He did not “jump” right back out. He made a decision to enter into life as He created it the same way that He had us enter into it! Not only that but He showed us the way to go through this life with Him. The results are dynamic and rewarding when we keep His Word in the forefront of all our decisions. The wisdom from the Lord will bring results that will show favor in your life and those involved.
Proverbs 8:34-35 (AMP)
34 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord.
Waiting for wisdom and finding wisdom will help greatly in your path and journey to find what your purpose is. This is a wise way to determine your future.
Best and be happy
Dennis
All scriptures in this blog post are from The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
Posted at 10:37 pm | Comment (0)
16th April, 2008
What A Thought - Being a Maniac For Jesus
Today, I realized that I am not just crazy about change in the Church and my ultimate goal, heaven but I am an enthusiast for God! Right now I probably would say to myself, if looking into the mirror of life, ‘You really want to see a religious revolution in this generation birthing from the 21st Century….’
Frankly, I am really weary of “church talk” and “church games”. How about you? Are you there with me and a multitude of others who just want to be in a deep and passionate relationship with Jesus? Just to be like Mary and sit at His feet and worship Him! Listening to His voice in the inner-spirit of the spiritual DNA that we are made up of! I am sure there will be people who will complain that there is work to be done and no time to sit at His feet! Some only want to present themselves not the Christ of their salvation or deliverance.
Personally, each day I get more like a maniac for Jesus! We should let the world know that the infrastructure of the church is solid and will not break apart even though the upper layer of the church acts like they have been waiting to long for a bus! You know, frustrated and full of excuses and complaints. When you get this reality check that Jesus is also really cool about change that will bring a positive influence into society rooted in His compassion and truth. Then your spiritual DNA begins to resonate the the praise and wisdom that premiers His presence.
“THEREFORE THEN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds. ” (Hebrews 12:1-3, AMP)
Get off the bench and get crazy for Jesus! Don’t stop and think this is all there is! There is more, much more when you simply believe!
My Heart To Yours
Dennis
All scriptures used in this blog article are The Amplified Bible, containing the Amplified Old Testament and the Amplified New Testament. 1987. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
Posted at 9:18 pm | Comment (0)
17th January, 2008
Inspected By
Have you ever wondered who “13″ is or “554″? You know what I mean don’t you? When you buy a new clothing article and in the pocket you find a loose tag. That tag usually has these words: “Inspected by (’a number’)”. I have often thought who is this person? Since a child I have found these tags. I would be really impressed if someone came forward and said I am the one who has inspected all these clothes for all these years. I am sure it would be a bunch of people, however, who are they?
So lately I have been trying to tie this into the scripture in some way. I found a great word from Peter instructing us on how to live amongst the unbelievers of this world. Oh yeah, also the unbelievers that attend church and act as though they are believers!
Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may by witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection [when God shall look upon you wanderers as a pastor or shepherd looks over his flock]. (1 Peter 2:12 AMP)
Thank God, He will be doing the inspecting and not men! Also, it is really cool to know that we know the inspector! We are tagged (sealed) by His Holy Spirit! (Ephesians 1:12-14). No one can come along and say “Hey, not this one or that one, no not at all, I have inspected them.” the Lord Himself will inspect us, as He inspects us everyday. The Word shines deep into our hearts. Each day we wake the Holy Spirit bears witness in our hearts that we are the children of God. (Romans 8:14-17). When reading further into the Word, we find in the Old Testament that the Lord sent Nehemiah to inspect the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:10-16). No one knew he went out to inspect either! Yes, there were men that did not want the walls to built nor inspected. Just like today! There are people that do not want to know who the inspector is and they do not care. They just want to leave everything broken and in disrepair. How wonderful and magnificent it is to know that God has sent His Holy Spirit to rebuild the walls of our lives and to restore that Church on the foundation of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Yes, the nay sayers and the scoffers do not want it done, nor do they want you to be faithful.
The best wisdom I have for anyone is this: Through skillful and godly Wisdom is a house (a life, a home, a family) built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation], (Proverbs 24:3) AMP)
God is the inspector of your life and your thoughts. Your sealed and free to build with wisdom and with knowledge (understanding) it (your life, family, home, church, ministry) will be fulfilled.
Peace
Dennis
All scriptures used in the blog article are The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation. Links are BibleGateway.
Posted at 12:45 am | Comment (1)
29th December, 2007
I Understand
Today was really a special day for me. I spent plenty of time in prayer and seeking Him! I prayed for so many and the lost souls of this earth. It was so refreshing. I sensed a deep call to prayer throughout the day. The uniqueness of this prayer time was what the Lord spoke into my spirit during prayer. During the many names that I prayed for and the many issues of burdens that I brought to Him. These words were few but so profound and comforting. This is what the Lord spoke to me over and over as I made my requests and supplications to Him with thanksgiving: “I understand.” This was so deep and beyond the understanding of my own mind and soul. He said: “I understand.”
Peace
Dennis
Posted at 11:48 pm | Comment (0)
27th December, 2007
Walking Worthy
Through prayer and many nicks on my shins for failing God, I have come to the most important conclusion: I cannot walk worthy of my calling without His Holy Spirit leading me at all times. If I am going to live in the Spirit I must walk in the Spirit. If I am going to walk in the Spirit then I must live in the Spirit. I must surrender all that I am to Him and hope that He will have mercy on my prideful and unworthy soul. Coming into His presence in prayer knowing that I have failed Him in some way, always gives me the uneasy feeling of that I have been thinking above what I ought to think! I owe Him so much for what He has done for me! Not just for me but for this world of sin and despair. He could have started all over again and who would have argued? Adam and Eve? The devil, himself? The angels? The heavens? No, not even amongst the One True Godhead! He is so just and loves us so much that He has given us chance after chance to repent and ask for forgiveness. I have decided to make forgiveness the focal point of my ministry! I want to forgive and I want to be forgiven. I want to see mankind in heaven! This is a tall order! But my prayer is that I would see the God miracles in this San Francisco/Monterey Bay Area! I have no rhyme nor reason why God called me to do what I do, but I must walk worthy of that calling! So I invite the Holy Spirit, again, to walk by my side and keep me from being ignorant about God’s will!
I saw the movie “Coal Miners daughters” today. One line stuck in my spirit: I may be ignorant but I am not stupid (This is a paraphrase so I do not use the word that segregates a certain community of people). I laughed at this!
Then I saw this in my spirit: I do not want to be ignorant of God nor do I want to be stupid in my ways serving Him!
Peace
Dennis
Posted at 11:09 pm | Comment (1)
5th December, 2007
The Rainbow Effect
The other day I was really wrestling with everything I could think to wrestle with. I know that sentence sounds “like a ramble”, it is meant to! The reason for this madness in this blog is that there are days when you wake up and before you can put the feet to the floor the enemy jumps on and the fight is on. Well, it was one of those days. Seriously, I felt like just standing in the middle of the world and screaming! I was really tired of wrestling with everything! So I knew what to do! I would go to Costco and wrestle with the crowd of people who seem to go there to get in someone’s way. It didn’t work at all. I began to have my “wine and cheese” session right there in the middle of Costco with God! He just listened and I just, you guessed it, whined my little heart out! It didn’t work either. Now I was hoping that someone would just bump my cart so I could slam mine back intro theirs. It did not work, because no one bumped me! As, I was leaving Costco, I looked up and there in the sky God spoke to me! Not in words but in a rainbow. Reminding me that I was His child and He would not forsake me or my family! In an instant of time the bell rang and I was declared the winner! I took a picture of the rainbow. I hope that it may speak to you also! God is really cool, isn’t He?
Peace
Dennis
Posted at 12:48 am | Comment (1)
4th December, 2007
God’s Plan Works Better
Monday night is always special for us. This is the night we go down to the “avenue” and just build relationships with the hurting. Actually, we build relationships with the whole community. We spend about three hours just walking the “avenue” waiting for the Lord to speak to us about who He would have us minister too.
Tonight was really different and surprising. When Kathy and I stepped out on the “avenue” it seemed that all the people were acting really strange and almost unreachable. Most were dissolved in their own personalities. Wow, I thought, this is really off set! Then is hit me, the enemy does not want us here! (DUH moment on my part, oops!) We continued on though and about an hour and a half later I looked at Kathy and said “It is lifted, the enemy has ceased the attack!” Everyone was cool and the night went on to be very fruitful and helpful to many.
As we were leaving to go home, we thought it would be nice to go out and get a bite to eat. Well, we went to the Santa Cruz Diner and as we were entering in, there was one of the guys that we help standing out front: “Bear” is his street name! (By the way he can really play the guitar). Most of the people who think these are just “bums” and “rejects” do not realize that these hurting people have a story and lot of talent! Anyway, we invited him in for dinner and he politely refused and ask for some money that he needed for tobacco! So, yes, I gave it to him! (Sorry to shock you religious people). As Kathy and I took our seat, in walked one of the most famous homeless persons in all Santa Cruz County, my friend Levi. He was drunk and walked right by me. I reached out and grabbed his arm and ask if he would join us for dinner. He was so stoked, that he sat down and I ordered him, mashed potatoes and Yankee Pot Roast with vegetables. We all ate dinner together and laughed.
The cool thing about this is we were all done for the night, heading home, thinking it was a great night! It was not over though! God had a better plan. To take Levi to dinner at one of the most popular restaurants in Santa Cruz. Here is the key: As we were eating, Levi stopped for a long moment and looked at me. He said: “Preacher, would you pray for me tonight? Because I may not wake up in the morning” My heart broke, my eyes swelled with tears and of course I agreed to pray. Wow, God had a plan! Here we are thinking it is over and God sets up a prayer meeting!
“A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure. ” (Proverbs 16:9, AMP)
I just wanted to share this exciting moment with you! The picture is of Levi!
Peace
Dennis
P.S. Kathy and I are going to do a prayer walk on a different night in Santa Cruz on the “avenue” We are going to just pray up and down the street. Breaking the enemies power over this city!
All scripture references are: The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
Posted at 12:42 am | Comment (1)
5th October, 2007
Listening To The Voice OF God
Listening is a huge part of relationships. Often when we interrupt we miss what is really being said or heard. Prayer should be treated in the same philosophical sense. In essence when we pray we should take time to listen. There are times when you just want to be heard but most prayer, it seems, in this post-modern day we live is determined not by approach or posture, but interaction. The Lord is a great listener ( He listens all the time). We must also be great listeners. God has something to say to each of us. Be patient and listen. He thinks your worth it.
Peace
Dennis
Posted at 10:36 pm | Comment (0)