Charles Spurgeon Exerpt from “Morning and Evening”

October 8 PM

“Praying in the Holy Ghost.”
— Jude 20

Mark the grand characteristic of true prayer—”In the Holy Ghost.” The seed of acceptable devotion must come from heaven’s storehouse. Only the prayer which comes from God can go to God. We must shoot the Lord’s arrows back to Him. That desire which He writes upon our heart will move His heart and bring down a blessing, but the desires of the flesh have no power with Him.

Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying in fervency. Cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who do not plead with fervency, plead not at all. As well speak of lukewarm fire as of lukewarm prayer—it is essential that it be red hot. It is praying perseveringly. The true suppliant gathers force as he proceeds, and grows more fervent when God delays to answer. The longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently does he use the knocker, and the longer the angel lingers the more resolved is he that he will never let him go without the blessing. Beautiful in God’s sight is tearful, agonizing, unconquerable importunity. It means praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up with pride. It is His office to convince of sin, and so to bow us down in contrition and brokenness of spirit. We shall never sing Gloria in excelsis except we pray to God De profundis: out of the depths must we cry, or we shall never behold glory in the highest. It is loving prayer. Prayer should be perfumed with love, saturated with love—love to our fellow saints, and love to Christ. Moreover, it must be a prayer full of faith. A man prevails only as he believes. The Holy Spirit is the author of faith, and strengthens it, so that we pray believing God’s promise. O that this blessed combination of excellent graces, priceless and sweet as the spices of the merchant, might be fragrant within us because the Holy Ghost is in our hearts! Most blessed Comforter, exert Thy mighty power within us, helping our infirmities in prayer.

A Life that Attracts God’s Favor

It’s humility that draws the attention of God and releases Divine blessing on the life of a man or a woman. Humility was produced in the great men and women of God in Scripture whose gaze was fixed on the nature of God. It’s what caused Isaiah to declare in His God-encounter that he was a man of unclean lips. Humility was found in Moses when He encountered the nature of God in the burning bush, calling him to an impossible task without the aid of God. It was there when Jacob wrestled with an angel and left with a limp as a reminder old the divine encounter.

How is humility produced? God takes us into the school of humility in worship … As the gaze of our life is directed to the infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe. It’s there godly perspective is brought as we revere and stand in awe of God and think less of our own understanding, opinions, and outlook. It’s there we are freed from the shackles of self-reliance and liberated into a life of relying upon and trusting in the goodness of the God of eternity.

If your heart is desperate for a deeper place of intimacy and worship of God, expect great things – it’s in that place of wonder with our gaze upon Him that the supernatural is released in our lives. So if you feel that God has you in the school of humility, embrace it with open arms and keep your gaze fixed on our infinite God.

A Pivotal Moment in History

Over and over again throughout history, God’s remedy in times of moral, spiritual, and national crisis has been to gather His people in prayer, fasting, and repentance. The heart of God yearns for a people that will humble themselves and pray and seek His face that He might have mercy and intervene in the midst of the calamity around us. On September 4, 2010, in Sacramento, many believers from across the great state of California will gather for such a reason. Now upon us is a pivotal moment in history to see California and our great nation experience a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Insights from the legacy of George Whitefield

George Whitefield is most commonly known for his dynamic preaching in the time of the Great Awakening during the 1700′s. But like many characters of history, what lessons can be used by such an engaging and intriguing person in our history as a country? I was struck as I read this quote: “Preaching was never an end in itself. It is closer to the truth to say that Whitefield was a great lover of men or a fiery intercessor before God. Preaching was merely the way his heart reached out to the lost and hurting. It is why people were so deeply affected and why so many thousands were able to say, as one listener did, ‘he gave me a heart wound.’ “

Perhaps a key to his legacy was that Whitefield had a deep realization that he was desperately dependant upon God for His enabling power and anointing, without which he could do nothing. He preached in such a way that people were compelled to respond. God’s favor and blessing rested upon his words and pierced hearts in a time where religion and passion rarely intermingled.

It would be a common mistake to try to imitate the methods of a man rather than catch the spirit with which he lived. And Whitefield lived like a man on fire, possessed by the call of God, passionately pleading with people to turn to the Lord and desperately praying to the Lord for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

Dreaming with God in Prayer

by Pastor Isaac Stokes

Genesis 28:10 tells a story of a man named Jacob, fleeing for his life from his brother Esau, who had a radical encounter with God. The Lord visits Jacob by giving him a dream. The Lord reveals to Jacob His heart in the dream.  Jacob sees a ladder that is erected from heaven to earth in his dream with angels ascending and descending on it. This ladder speaks of the dream of God that heaven would indeed invade earth. This is the heart of the Father. We find this forshadowing what Christ had done for us, bridging the gap between His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. God now is seeking partners that will pray according to His will that His kingdome would come and His will would be done hear on earth as it is in heaven!

This is our privilege during this season, as we are taking the first 2 weeks of January to pray and fast together. If you would like to comment or declare give insight regarding prayer during this time, do so by leaving a comment below. Let’s dream with God and speak His heart and will into our situations and circumstances in 2010!

We Will Reap if We Don’t Give Up!

by Pastor Isaac Stokes

Gal 6:9-10 – “9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”(NLT)

I remember in my short lived basketball career the exhortation given by my coach to hit the weight room in order to strengthen my stamina, increasing my performance on the court. At 6’2” weighing only 175 pounds, my frail, bony frame was easily subject to exhaustion. The first 3 quarters of the game I felt fine, but often in the fourth quarter when the stamina was most needed, I would struggle in executing plays because of simple exhaustion and a lack of endurance.

Scripture exhorts us to not get tired in doing what is good, with the promise that we will reap a harvest of blessing if we simply don’t give up. Ecclesiastes 9:11 declares that the race isn’t to the swift. The promise is that we will reap and reap blessing if we don’t give up. The verses prior to this are very important because they emphasize sowing to our spirit and not our flesh.

It’s when we get to the point of exhaustion that we face the battle to either sow to our flesh or to sow to our spirit. In other words, to do the things that please the Father’s heart or to sin against the Father. This is the inner battle and tension we face, especially in times of exhaustion, which often determines our victory or defeat.

The Christmas season can easily become a season of exhaustion. Weary from the stress of the Holidays, the shopping, the activities, we become subject to subtle thoughts telling us to “give up” or that  “this is too much to handle” or “I just can’t take it anymore.”

Let’s take encouragement from this Scripture by declaring that God’s blessing will overtake us because we will be a people that will not give up. We will be a people that will stand on the promises of God, the faithfulness of God, and the great future that He has in store for us through His son, Jesus Christ. We will sow to our spirit by taking time to be with Jesus, to adore Him, to find a place of rest and peace that comes only from His presence. In His presence there is fullness of joy. In His presence is life evermore. In Him there is everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. In Him there is grace, strength, and peace for our situation. Let’s adore Him together and we will find the strength and rest He promises to us.

A Supernatural Lifestyle

by Pastor Isaac Stokes

John 5:19 – “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

What an amazing Scripture. The son of God Himself acknowledging that there is nothing He could do of Himself unless it is something that He sees the Father doing. What a model for living a supernatural life! What would happen if in our businesses, our families, and our church community we only did what we saw the Father doing?

This intimate relationship and bond between the Father and the Son is the same bond we are intended to have with the Father through the spirit of God within us. Scripture declares that those that are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God (Romans 8:14). A supernatural lifestyle is a lifestyle birthed in a place of intimacy with God. Listening, waiting, spending time with the Lord until we see where the Father is actively at work and join Him in the work He is seeking to do. Lasting fruit happens when we spend time seeing what our Father is doing and through the spirit of God, join in His work. A listening ear, an attentive eye … a habit of asking the Lord where He is at work currently in our lives and responding in obedience to that.

The tuned eyes and ears of a disciple have learned to watch and discern the Father’s activity in a place of intimacy and then simply to do that which He says. If we could simply do ONLY what our Father is doing in our marriages, in our finances, and every rhealm of life, o the fruit we would experience!

God is calling us to leave behind our dependence on our own ideas, our own wisdom, our own thoughts and to again deepen our secret place with the Father, discovering what He is doing and aligning ourselves with Him.