09
Sep '20
TAKE THE WEIGHT OFF YOUR WAIT ON GOD
09
Sep '20
Don’t you just want to scream sometimes when you know God is going to do it but the wait is killing you? We all go through this and if we keep on living, we’ll go through it again.
Have you noticed waiting on God is the only time that we feel the weight of our faith? Faith under pressure is the condition that challenges us to trust God on a new level, to walk in peace even though we’re in pieces.
I remember a time when I was in God’s waiting room and everything that could go wrong went wrong. Everything that was supposed to go right went wrong. The longer I waited, the more stuff seemed to go wrong. If you’ve ever been in that position, or maybe you are now, you know that keeping your sanity is a job all by itself. After I put down the weight, I thought to myself, “If God is real, this has to be a setup.” The fact that we’re in the waiting room is evidence that it is a setup. God said, “All things work together for the good.” That means all!
It’s hard to see a setup when emotions are hot when we’re stressed up and borderline desperate. When it has to happen on our schedule, when it has to go the way we planned it, when it has to do what we want it to do or they have to do what we want them to do when we want them to do it, the wait is 10 times worse. Eventually, we realize or God forces us to understand, no amount of worry, no amount of tears, no amount of frustration, no amount of anger will make God do anything. Only faith and work can do that (Hebrews 11:6).
Put This In Your Spirit: The thing you’re waiting on is the very thing that God is going to use to grow you with. When you’re waiting on God, God is growing you in an area that almost always hinders you from walking in peace when you’re going through the process.
God’s waiting room is always about preparation. Even when the deadline is coming, or passed, it’s always about preparation. Even when we think the worse is going to happen or is already happening, it’s still about preparation.
When we’re in God’s waiting room, it’s never about what we’re waiting for, it’s about what God is waiting for. What God is waiting on to grow inside of us. There is nothing wrong with putting a timer on a blessing or a breakthrough, as long as we don’t forget these 3 things:
- We’re never waiting on God to do something, we’re growing to what God has already done. (Psalm 139:16)
- God does not work on our schedule. He works things together for the good when the time is good. (Romans 8:28)
- God is not working on what we want, God is working on what we need — the two can be the same but the fact that we’re in the waiting room says that what we wanted or when we wanted does not line up with God’s plans. (Philippians 4:19)
Remember the bible says, “Be anxious for nothing…” This is not always easy to do and the harder it is for us to do it, the longer the wait will be. “Be anxious for nothing,” doesn’t mean don’t do anything while you’re waiting, it just means that trust in God has to go up in order for our focus to stay on our peace rather than on God’s timing.
“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
If you’re in God’s waiting room, no matter how long or no matter what for, focus on keeping your peace while you keep walking. The bible says, “…And hope will never make us ashamed,” so as long as we hope right, walk right and wait right, God will make everything turn outright. Stay focused, talk to yourself, encourage yourself, you got this!
Pastor Patrick
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02
Sep '20
HOW TO DEAL WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE
02
Sep '20
What do you do when you have to deal with difficult people? You can’t just walk away from every difficult situation or just cut off every difficult person. A difficult person is not somebody who’s optional, a difficult person is somebody who we have to deal with.
Why? Optional people are not difficult. If they aren’t required or necessary, you can walk away from them instead of putting up with them. Problem solved!
No, your difficult person is not that simple. The spirit of difficulty has to use somebody who is a part of your life, who has a role and a position in your life that makes dealing with them necessary or even required. Family can be difficult, bosses can be difficult, spouses can be difficult. We can even be our own difficult person.
How do you deal with somebody who is difficult? Let’s address some points upfront. Somebody right now is being abused — mentally or physically. If this is you or somebody you know, tolerating abuse is not difficult, it’s deadly. Deadly is not to be tolerated, cooperated with, or confused with God’s will. We’re not talking about people who are a threat to our well being, we’re talking about people who we desire to get along with but for some reason, it’s difficult.
Put This In Your Spirit: Haven’t you noticed that the difficult person affects the way you deal with them? Remember, self-control is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The first rule for dealing with difficult people is, “Be the thermostat and not the thermometer.” This is easier said than done but nothing is possible until you use your power to control you first.
Some folks think that believing in God means that we don’t or won’t encounter difficult spirits. That’s foolery. Grown Christians have read: “A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating” (Proverbs 18:6).
Remember, they are difficult because they are necessary, important or not optional at the moment. Every difficulty in life, every wall, every challenge is a symbol of our difficult person. Sometimes God puts us in difficult situations because there is no way around it except through Him — If we allow it, our most difficult person or situation will cause us to go deeper in Him and higher in power.
Without difficult situations, we would not know what Jesus meant when He said, “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). The difficult person, difficult situation is going to be overcome by your power. This is what is meant by, “Turn the other cheek.” Turning the other cheek has nothing to do with letting somebody slap you twice. You’re not literally turning the other cheek, you’re turning to power to respond instead of turning into them, acting like them, or turning your power over to them. Turning the other cheek and owning your power, feelings, and response is your victory in difficult situations.
When the situation or the person, the problem or the difficulty has control over us, we are owned by them and that’s what makes them difficult. Think about it — If you’re smart enough to know they’re difficult but you’re letting them dictate how you act or feel — they’re controlling your temperature. You have to flip the script — be the thermostat and not the thermometer and watch what happens.
Every difficult person, difficult situation and the difficult problem has one thing in common, purpose. When God allows difficult, He’s preparing you for a greater release of your power.
They may never change, the problem may never change but the victory is not about them or it. The victory is about walking in power when you have to deal with difficulty. If you stay in power, God will move or remove what will not change.
Share and be blessed.
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05
Aug '20
WHEN HELL GETS THE GLORY
05
Aug '20
“Looking saved,” without being healed gives hell the glory. Dancing in church without scoring in life might impress the church people but it gives hell the glory. Promoting faith that cares more about how high we jump as opposed to how healthy we are or how we walk when we come down, gives hell the glory. Anything that causes our faith to not represent our Truth, hell gets the glory.
Pastor Pete Scazzero once said, “A true surrender of our will to God’s will is a learned and struggled-for obedience.” We don’t glorify God by glorying in pretentiousness, pretending as if saved means solved or acting like salvation means we fell from heaven – we all came up from hell, and we’re all fighting or struggling to go higher in faith every day (Philippians 2:12).
I have never met a perfect Christian and I’m not looking for one. What we should see are Christians humbly working, and growing through adversity, tests, and trials that produce greatness. Christ died for our imperfection, not to confirm we don’t need God (Romans 4:25). If we don’t have anything else in common, we have this: We will all always need God.
Denial and pretentiousness give hell the glory, denies our story, and prevents us from being transparent with each other. Iron sharpens iron when it’s transparent, not when it’s wearing a mask – A testimony cannot have blood in it if we were not cut for it (Revelation 12:11).
Christ said to the Apostle Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Peter’s sifting positioned him to help his brothers, not his belief alone (James 2:19). Just like Peter, belief does not grow us, what we grow through grows us.
We cannot strengthen each other if we’re not strong enough to admit that our strength comes from being sifted, not from being perfect. We cannot disciple people if we’re too busy trying to be too holy to be any earthly good (Romans 7:23-25).
An authentic relationship with God is between the natural and the Supernatural, the weak and the Strong, the Holy, and the unclean. We should be reminded of our condition whenever we are in the presence of God unless we’re deceived by our own ego – “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
Our greatest challenge is not being saved, it’s embracing the meaning and the purpose of worship. Catch this: 1 John 1:8 said, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” If we didn’t know, now we know: If we claim to be without sin we cannot worship God in spirit and in truth – because the truth is not in us.
Nobody comes right out and says they’re perfect in God’s sight but it’s in our lack of humility, compassion, and judgment of others. It’s in our inability or refusal to sit with those who Christ called us to. It’s in our denial and lack of sympathy for human conditions that cause us and others to struggle, that cause us to need God (Galatians 6:1).
Nothing is more powerful than our ability to fellowship with one another (Matthew 18:20), but we cannot fellowship or help each other, in or out of the church, if we cannot be real with each other. Are you comfortable letting God use your truth, your healing, and the compassion that comes from your forgiveness to lift others up? Our greatest sacrifice, highest honor is to be used by God to help others.
As Christians, we are safe places for people to grow, for people to be sifted and for cutting to take place that produces the blood of our testimony. When we love God, we are acknowledging that we’re all in it together, God is the potter and we’re the clay, we need the blood of each other’s testimony to survive, we are no better than and, our story gives God the glory. God is lifted up when we show up perfectly imperfect.
Share and be blessed.
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29
Jul '20
Faith Under Pressure
29
Jul '20
Scripture Reference: James 1:1-12
Life is not a cakewalk or a bed of roses all of the time. We know this but that doesn’t make life’s pressures or pains any less difficult. When our faith is being tested, we can feel alone, weak, defeated, anxious, and overwhelmed. Notice I said, “feel.” When life happens, the natural instinct, normal reaction is to feel first — as long as we’re human this will be true. Feelings tell us what to think about what we see.
We are never ready for a test, we can only be prepared to grow. God knows how to grow us because He created us. God doesn’t cause everything that happens in our life but He causes everything to work together for the good (Romans 8:28). Pressure busts pipes, and when the enemy has us under pressure, he usually has us believing and thinking things that cancel whose we are, who we are, and what the truth is (2 Corinthians 10:5).
No matter what the trial or pressure is, even if we’ve caused it, God is faithful (1 John 1:9). The bible says, “…And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). When we find ourselves under faith pressure, we have to fight every temptation to let emotions override our truth.
Confidence releases pressure. The bible says, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). In other words, God’s power increases as we release the pressure of doubt, fear, and anxiety through trust in God and hope in the divine assurance that no weapon formed against us will prosper, that with God all things are possible, that he who the Son sets free is free indeed, that every setback is set up and every miracle needs a mess. It’s not easy to turn off emotions or pretend as if hurt does not hurt — decreasing does not mean to dismiss what happened, it means to intentionally surrender emotions that stand between us and doing what beasts do, what greatness does to honor self.
Some have been tempted to believe that trials or pressure only comes to those who lack faith. Not true. Trials and pressure do not discriminate and they have no respect of person. In fact, without pressure faith would not grow — faith grows when our trust in God grows: “…When I am weak then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). God allows our resistance to cause pressure to grow us beyond our comfort zone. Destiny does not come to where we are, we grow to it. The pressure is pushing you into destiny love, destiny joy, destiny peace, destiny visions.
When someone leaves your life, that’s not the test. The test and the pressure is whether or not we will trust in God’s word and “lean not to our own understanding,” about a season. God said, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). This is God’s covenant with us, this is our pressure release valve — Hope and confidence in God’s promise is the only way that we can release the pressure that comes from the weight of hurt, fear, and failure.
Releasing weight is not easy. Releasing hurt is not easy. Pressures in life don’t come from easy issues. Conflict, guilt, disappointment, struggle are emotional attacks that will rage, war, and battle against us until we find the courage to hope in the Lord and walk in the strength that comes from releasing and being set free from the emotional weights that cause our pressure (Hebrews 12:1).
The bible says, “…Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5); the morning of our joy — in any situation, trial or test, is the moment when we rise up in faith and tell our emotions, “Peace be still.” The morning comes when faith overrides what we see and confidence in our truth declares the victory, the healing, the recovery, the breakthrough, the divine intervention — in advance. In other words, morning comes when we tell hell, “No, not today, not this time, not as long as I’m breathing.”
Life will sometimes blind you, people will sometimes hurt you, jobs will sometimes lay off, losses will occur and life lessons will come but God’s grace is sufficient to endure, to stand up in it, and release the emotional pressure that causes us to walk by sight and not by faith. It takes work, it takes time, it takes prayer for strength and courage to walk out of emotions and walk in power. But there is no other way out.
Stand in the faith. Focus on the release. Know that when you’re in life’s gym, you’re getting stronger, better and wiser. You might not see it or feel it right now but you are a miracle in the making — pressure produces diamonds. Grow through it, don’t die to it. When life works you out, do your faith work and remember, God is faithful to your faith!
Share and be blessed.
Pastor Patrick
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22
Jul '20
It’s An Inside Job
22
Jul '20
Haven’t you noticed that the biggest fights come from what you cannot control, what you cannot work out, or what you cannot change — on your own. When God is working on the inside, the outside is impossible to change, impossible to fix, and impossible to control.
The power, the wisdom, the favor we desire and should expect, is a result of God’s ability to mold and shape our faith through adversity, challenges, and weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:10). When God is working on the inside, He’s preparing us to produce His fruit on the outside: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you” (John 15:16).
Obedience is not just about doing what’s right, obedience is about the position. When God is positioning our thoughts, emotions, or growing us out of our comfort zone, life shows up to make blind spots visible and to make us uncomfortable being comfortable where God is trying to grow us from. God desires to give us the desires of our heart but our heart has to desire what is in God’s will, what is in God’s plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11), and that our faith is mature enough to handle.
The breakup, the letdown, the struggle, the argument, the disappointment, the difficult choice, the hurt that cripples us, the relationship that nearly breaks us, the career that stalls, the job that quits us, the faith in wrong things all present a fight that will cause us to go deeper in Christ or go crazy in emotions.
Haven’t you noticed the more it hurts, the harder it is to pray? The more afraid we are, the angrier we are, and the more disbelieving we are, the more distracted we are? The bible says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35). Are you separated from God by the problem, is your obedience to the truth subject to what’s happening? Can you trust God, own your peace through confidence in what God said even when all hell is breaking loose…when you’re in the fiery furnace or the lion’s den?
When God is working on the inside, the outside will tell us why. Did you give up on your life because a season ended? Did you trust the enemy and doubt God because the situation looked impossible, because doing what comes next was uncomfortable or because emotions overrode the wisdom of God (Proverbs 4:7)? God is saying, “A storm is a Situation That Overrides a Righteous Mind.” The only thing that can and will bring us back into position to be blessed is obedience to our truth — lining up our thoughts with the wisdom of God, our hope in Christ, and God’s plans for our life (Psalm 23:4, 2 Corinthians 10:5).
If God is working on the inside, He’s not working on what’s going on outside. He’s not trying to fix them, He’s working on you. He’s not working on that job, that turndown, that failure or that rejection, that closed door or that wrong, God is working on the inside to keep what happens on the outside from destroying us. We have this assurance, “God works all things together for the good…” (Romans 8:28).
God wants your obedience to His word. No matter how bad it hurts right now, no matter what emotions say, God desires our heart to tremble at the truth and not the situation: Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).
You’re not being punished, you’re being prepared. This is God’s power move. God is proving that you were stronger than you thought you were. He’s drawing you closer to unstoppable, fearless faith. He’s building up your confidence, He’s making your path straight and He’s reminding you that, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” This is your setup for your divine come up. Get in position, get in the truth, God is getting ready to turn your fire into your fruit.
Share and be blessed.
Pastor Patrick
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15
Jul '20
When Storms Come
15
Jul '20
If you’re like most of us, a storm can seem like all hell is breaking loose. Winds of confusion can beat up against our faith, and problems can look like rivers overflowing the banks of our hope. A storm can come from any direction and can occur at any time.
The one thing we know about storms is that everybody will go through them (Matthew 5:45). Every storm has clarity in it, a blessing in it, and destiny power in it. The biggest problem we have in a storm is getting over the initial reaction. We don’t have to pretend like we’re not hurt or that the storm feels good — hurt hurts real people and to hurt is human (2 Corinthians 4:17).
When a storm comes into our life, a storm is almost always necessary. Storms bring clarity. The disciples went through a storm with Jesus (Matthew 8:23-27), just like we will. They were with Jesus when the storm came, just like we are. They were frightened by the storm, they got in their feelings and their feelings overrode their trust in Jesus. Sound familiar?
While the disciples were stressing, Jesus was sleeping (Matthew 8:24). Can you imagine what God is thinking about the storms that come up against us? Are you able to see the storm as God sees it? God sees, “No weapon formed against you will prosper.”
When the disciples woke Jesus to tell Him about the storm, Jesus said, “O you of little faith” (Matthew 8:26). Here’s where the clarity comes in. Jesus was not telling the disciples that they had a little amount of faith, He was telling them that they were not even using a small amount of the faith they have (Romans 12:3). Every storm will give us clarity about the level of faith that we’re on; the level of faith we’re on decides how “Furious” the storm looks.
There’s a blessing in the storm. To get the blessing out of the storm, to see the mess turned into a miracle, we have to move past the initial shock, awe and hurt to remember that the storm is not the threat, a lack of faith is the threat. The bible says, “Be it, according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29). Faith does not mean the absence of a storm, faith gives us power in and over the storm (Matthew 17:20, Hebrews 11:6).
Your storm is pushing you into your destiny. A storm says, “It’s time to move, it’s time to go higher, it’s time to let go, it’s time to trust on a destiny level. When destiny is growing us out of our comfort zone, it gets uncomfortable. What is God growing you out of? What were you afraid of before the storm? What was holding your confidence back, your peace back, your love back, before the storm? The storm becomes a blessing when we understand its purpose.
This is not just a storm, this is a divine wind, this is a supernatural force that is pushing you to trust God on a whole new level. When Jesus rebuked the storm it immediately calmed. Jesus was not only speaking to the storm, but He was also speaking to the emotions of the disciples. Before we can have peace on the outside, we have to calm the storm on the inside — through faith and confidence in Jesus.
Get your blessing out of the storm. Your destiny is too important not to!
Share and be blessed.
Pastor Patrick
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21
May '18
YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS STRUGGLING BECAUSE…
21
May '18
Everybody in a relationship should keep this posted in plain sight: “Of course we experience relationship struggles, becoming one can and will be a struggle.”
Relationships that believe otherwise are doomed to sink in the quicksand of unrealistic expectations. It might survive but love will be a recess between the hell. What makes us all, Christians, have to deal with relationship struggle with purposeful intent is that we know that God did not put us on this earth or in a relationship to suffer (Jeremiah 29:11).
The devil wants you to play emotional ping pong with hurt and to keep wounding each other with friendly fire. Here it, the devil is at the center of mess. When I say the devil, I’m not talking about the spooky, I’m talking about familiar spirits.
Familiar spirits activate familiar, toxic behavior. You’re sitting in the relationship, you’re going back and forth over a problem but you’re talking about everything except the problem. You’re talking about what they did and why you did what you did, and on and on, knowing good and well you’re not solving anything.
Put This In Your Spirit: You cannot solve any problem by fixing a symptom. A symptom is the result of the problem, not the underlying problem or root. Problem solving is for grown people. You know like I know that kids fight without any intent of solving anything — they haven’t emotionally matured to this level, that’s why we call it tantrum.
When relationships waste time throwing tantrums, revisiting and rehashing symptoms, staying in old feelings instead of healing feelings, you have a mess on your hands that messes relationships up. We’ve all been there. Don’t look at the grass next door, it’s only green because they’ve done their work. They did the work if the grass is not artificial.
Most of us have heard, “Do your work.” But most of us don’t learn how to do the work until we lose the job. Lose the love, lose the relationship. Familiar spirits activate emotional demons, dysfunction and feelings that keep us from doing our work. Everybody has to agree to cut the mess out if you’re going to put the devil out.
Familiar spirits are the enemy of love. They speak into the problem to bait ego, pride and, unrealistic, unhealthy and even fantasy emotions that deceptively justify tantrums and division. Doing the work is a decision that can only be made after agreeng that the love you signed up for is the love that you’re going to fight for.
The bible says, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it” (Habakkuk 2:2). Don’t do another thing until you write the love vision down and make it plain. Not a thing. Did you hear the point and purpose of this scripture: “So he may run who reads it.” You cannot run without knowing where you’re going.
The recovery, the healing, the restoration is not possible unless there is a vision that all minds, emotions and intentions agree to (Amos 3:3). Getting and using the tools, resources or whatever is takes to run in the direction of the vision is what love has to do to love on purpose. You cannot have an outcome that requires two people if only one person is working or both people aren’t working towards the same goal. Write the vision and make it plain, then be clear that everybody is on board and ready to die to self for the cause of love.
Is it ever easy? No. But if you’re with the right one, the one God assigned to you, all things are possible. It takes commitment, vision and complete and total surrender to your goal of having the best love daily. It takes abiding in the Holy Spirit and a dedication to casting down all contrary spirits, emotions and thoughts that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Don’t let anybody tell you that great love does not require great work and — The ability to forgive, to be vulnerable, to extend grace, to move past the past, to shut down familiar spirits, to prioritize actions that produce healthy love, and the ability to love the love of your life even when you don’t like them or what they did. Green grass, not artificial grass, is the result of serious work, compassion, desire and motivation that never stops — can’t stop.
It’s not a secret. It’s not magic. It’s work. It’s knowing the price before you pay it. We can and do lose the love of our life when familiar spirits overrule and override love, and the will to prioritize actions that run after the vision as opposed to division. Love is in the work — and work is for those who are ready and able to submit to God’s plan for relationship to be the most incredible love that two people will ever experience on earth (Ephesians 5:21-33).
Remember, you aren’t love. God is love (1 John 4:8). How much love we give is based on how much of us we move out of loves way: “He must increase but I must decrease.” That’s intentional love work.
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