Part 5: Home Sweet Home: Fight for your Family

Pray for your Family

Daniel 10:2-21 

It is rare that we get to peek behind the curtain of the invisible realm, but in Daniel 10 we get to see just how serious satan and his demons are about defeating us and causing us to live in depression and discouragement. I know that some people view the idea of spiritual warfare with cynicism or they see it as a sci-fi thriller, but passages such as Ephesians 6:10-12, Job 1, Ezekiel 28, and Isaiah 14 make it crystal clear that spiritual warfare is real and there is more to this universe than meets our human eye. 

Daniel 10 is so profound, because verses 12-13 reveal that demonic opposition hindered Daniel's prayer from being answered and an angel of God was held up for 21 days. This is amazing, because we often attribute our unanswered prayer requests to our sinfulness, our lack of prayer verbiage, or God's lack of parental care. However, Daniel 10:13 lets us know that there are times when demons are warring against our blessings from above. So what should we do? Let me list 4 things that we should do while we wait on a word from above: 

1. Keep praying. Although Daniel laid before the Lord for 21 days while his answer was being delayed, he did not cease praying. How long have you been waiting on an answer? 
2. Know that God knows all about your situation. The angel that was dispatched to assist Daniel came because Daniel's prayer was heard in heaven and God dispatched the angel. God was not aloof, on vacation, or in the dark about Daniel's hurt or his heart's desire.  Do you believe He cares? 
3. Never think that you are fighting alone. Scripture bears witness that there is a direct correlation between angelic assistance and the people of God's prayer. See Daniel 6, Acts 12, and 2 Kings 18. The Bible says that angels are ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14). What we say down here really affects what happens up there.  We are not to pray to the angels, we are not to worship the angels, and we are not to aspire to be an angel. We are just to know that the Lord uses the angels on our behalf and the demons of darkness will not prevail against Him or them. That's why Daniel 12:1 calls Michael the archangel, the guardian of God's people.  Although you are waiting, God is working it out. 
4. Being tired should never lead to being through.  As you read Daniel 10:14-21 you will see that Daniel became weary and tired. Daniel had been fighting for the Lord a long time and now he was an old man and he was just tired. When we get tired, we then want to throw in the towel. As you look at your domestic situation, are you tired today? Are you fed up today? Are you ready to throw in the towel? Be encouraged, because in Daniel 10:18-19, God used an angel to restore Daniel's strength so that he could fight on a little while longer. In fact, in Luke 22:42-43, God sent an angel from heaven to do the same for Jesus Christ as He became weary in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the re-strengthening allowed Jesus to  finish His earthly assignment, and the same can happen to you too. 

Fighting for your family is not about the size of your firearm or the sophistication of your home security system. Instead it is directly attributed to you walking in your authority through prayer, so that even when the demons try to intercept God's blessings upon your household- they stumble and fall because the prayers of the righteous really do accomplish much. 

Therefore, go ahead and stop, drop, and pray right now and ask the Lord to release from heaven whatever or whoever is needed in order to overcome the unseen demonic warfare that seeks to deter you and destroy you and your family while you are waiting on your breakthrough. Jesus is on the mainline, call Him up! 

Songs For Your Storm Part 3&4

Part 3: God is Still Amazing

Psalm 103: 1-5 & 19-22

          Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that save a wretch like me!!!! God’s amazing grace keeps us when we can’t keep ourselves. Isn’t it amazing when we lost our job that God provides for us? Or when we are going through situations where the storms of life are raging? It’s amazing in those moments when our Savior shines the Light of His glory in our situation and calms the seas of life. We learn through our storms to trust His character that He is longsuffering, slow to anger and has an abundance of lovingkindness. It is His grace that holds us and allows us to make it through our storm. We can look back and think on the goodness of God.  We can sing a song, such as, “If It Wasn’t For The Grace of God Where …would I be”. As we meditate on God’s grace, we should never stop worshiping God because He has been “So Good” to us and hasn’t dealt with us according to what we deserve from Him.

If we learn to take our struggles, our sins and burdens to the Lord, then we will realize how capable He is in healing us and given us peace.  We cannot take on the weight of the world nor can we take on weight of our sins, but salvation is available to all that call on His name. Halleluiah!! Put A Praise Right There, as Pastor Hamilton would say. For us to be in the family of God, we have to be washed in the blood of the lamb. If you want to be in the family of God you need to be under the blood.

Part 4: Mama Walk in Your Victory

Psalm 20

Victory is Mine…Victory is Mine… I told Satan get thee behind…. Victory today is mine!!! We need to keep a song for our storm. As we go through our storms we must remember that we don’t have to do battle by ourselves. God will send us someone that will be willing to do battle with us. It is when we try to isolate ourselves that Satan has a greater opportunity to destroy us. Praise God for growing us to know that we need each other to do battle.

The proof of loving God is your connection with others. It is about community. We have to have faith that God will deliver us. God is our provider; that God is our healer and God will save us from our storms. If God be for us, who can be against us? We have been created for victory.

Songs for Your Storm Part 1&2

Pastor Hamilton started an amazing sermon series a few weeks ago designed to encourage us. We will, as children of God, go through storms. The question is do you have a song for your storm? If you are going through a storm, this series is for you. If you have made it through your storm, this series is for you. If you have a testimony to tell, this series is for you. There is something in this series for everyone. Do you have a song for your storm? We need some encouraging news to help us through our storms.

Part 1: Everything Will Be Alright: Psalm 46

Do you remember your favorite TV show superhero? The show always had a villain that would try to destroy the city. The people in the show would panic when the villain had devised a scheme that would destroy the city. The city would become paralyze with fear. They would cry out for help. The music would play cueing the hero, which would let the people watching the show know that help was on the way. The superhero would appear “in the nick of time” to rescue the people he loved.

We have a superhero as children of the most High God. Our superhero is the Creator of the universe and we have varies songs of deliverance. We have songs such as; “Our God is an Awesome”, “What a Mighty God We Serve” or “I know it was the Blood”. These songs of deliverance remind us of His greatness and grace. How are you trust in Jesus to show Himself as your place of refuge? Jesus is our very present help in the time of trouble.

Part 2: I’m Still Standing: Psalm 3

During this past Super Bowl, allegations were brought against Ray Lewis regarding an illegal drug substance he supposedly had used to heal his torn tricep. It was their attempt to rattle the team from their goal of winning another Super Bowl for Baltimore, but their plans to destroy the Baltimore Ravens unanimously failed.

The enemy will always try to get you to lose focus on how trustworthy God is and destroy your confidence in the relationship you have with your Father through Jesus Christ. Our God give us rest, when the attack of our enemies is strong on our heels. He is our forward and rear guard and He knows how to protect His sheep. What the enemy refuse to acknowledge is that we have a song that describes our God and how he quiets our soul. Our spirit begins to sing songs like “My God is a Big God”. Can you think of a song of deliverance regarding the goodness and glory of Yahweh?

Part 6 PUTTING AWAY CHILDISH THINGS

You Gotta Add Love

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

The main ingredient to a healthy Christian walk is LOVE. Can you imagine baking a cake and forgetting to add flour? All the other ingredients will not blend well without something to hold them together. Now think of going to a church that is all about "God's business" and the people refuse to love their brother or sister walking with them. What kind of relationship do you really think we would have with Christ if this was our way of thinking? 

"What is love" Everybody seem to believe that love is a good thing. However, not all agree what is love. Is love the warm touchy-feely a person has when he is with a familiar person? According to the Bible, love is caring in action. Love isn't what we feel, but what we do." quote by Rich Deem

Always Examine Your Motive for Ministry

A person’s motives are always revealed when they do not get the recognition they feel they should have received. Can you handle NOT being up front or getting the credit for doing something for the Lord? If we are bothered because we didn’t get a “pat on the back” we need to check our motives.

Ask the Lord to Help You

Ask and you shall receive. If we are sincere and love as Christ loves, then we will be willing to do what we can to help God accomplish His goals for His glory for His kingdom. We must be mindful that it doesn’t matter how small or great our service is to the Lord. He would bless all of our efforts the same.

Aim for the Son

If we keep our eyes fix on Jesus, it will not matter whether we are recognized for our works by man. We know that God will honor our service. We need to take our eye off of man’s approval and look to the hills from where our help comes from. 

Part 5: Putting Away Childish Things

God has hooked us up?

1 Corinthians 12: 1 – 11

Can you think back to a time when you were hooked up? Did you feel like you were on top of the world? Just think! It was all about you! Someone thought enough of you to give you things that you may have been wanting or it may have been “just because” they wanted to bless you. How can the way you were hooked up by someone compare to the gifts God has given you?

Allow the Holy Spirit to be Your Guide

The Holy Spirit is our help within us, therefore knowing the truth about the Father’s Son. He gives us clarity to know Jesus as both the God the Son and the Son of Man.  Christians are the only humans that know and trust in the truth that Jesus is Yahweh the Eternal Son that became flesh to redeem humanity back to the Father. Because we have knowledge of this, the Holy Spirit will guide us on how to live for the Son’s glory. How do you know whether or not you are allowing the Holy Spirit be your guide?

Always Remember it’s Not About You

Why did God bless you with a certain gift? How can you use the gift you were blessed with to bless others? We need to make sure that our motives are not about us, but instead it should be about edifying the body of Christ and honoring the Son. Our gifts were given to us to show the Father’s Kingdom on earth. Our lives should show we no longer live in the kingdom of darkness, but instead exemplify God’s glorious light. What can we do with our gifts to bring God more glory? It is reassuring to know that God will be pleased with us if we stay focused on HIS agenda.

Accept God’s Assignment

Are you willing to accept the gift God has for you, whether great or small? Every gift given by God has a purpose and a plan to edify His kingdom. It is not for us to question the type of gifts we receive. It is what God, our Master and Creator, has ordained.