Bible Clip Art: Jesus Walking on the Water Matthew 14:26-29
Ministry goes best, is easiest, and most powerful when we minister to those that God gives to us. Jesus did this. (He ministered to his own disciples a lot. Taught them and saved them. A valuable clue.)
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24; and there are other passages like this.
Woman at the Well, American Gallery
He did make rare exceptions. Such as when he ministered to the woman at the well. A Samaritan woman. He broke cultural and Jewish cultural expectations: he talked with a woman – and a Samaritan, with whom Jews seldom spoke with. Accepted water from her. And he’s previously said he came only for Israel. But she wanted his ministry and desired it strongly! Such was a worthy exception to the norm of ministering only to those who you are called to. It’s sort of a safety exception – allowing unusual ministry.
Minister to those you are called to. How do you know who these people are, what people group it is?
First, seek to remember what God has already shown you or told you that gives clues and hints.
Third, if you still don’t know, ask God how to pray for guidance. He will show you an answer – keep praying for it until that answer is in good effect.
Forth, notice that you get along better with some people who draw the best out of you. They are actually gifted to receive from you and through you. You are gifted and called to minister to such people.
Fifth, avoid temptation: do not try to minister to others unless they want to receive through you strongly, like the Samaritan woman at the well.
If you allow yourself to be busy with those you are not called to, your energy, time and ministry will be siphoned away from those you should be ministering to. You will be tired. You will be much less effective in your ministry. You will be ministering to those whom God never called you to, and disobeying the call God has on your ministry. Avoid such temptations; you will be exhausted and distracted, vulnerable and hurt. And with poor results. Best is to always do as God shows you and tells you to do.
Does your mind wander? Do you have trouble keeping your attention on your prayer session? Do you get bored or not know what to say and do?
Is what you do or learned to do feel like an obligation that you are not keeping as well as you like?
When you have an honest and sincere two way conversation with God, prayer is empowering and exciting. Jesus surprises and delights; does not condemn. Accepts you and loves you as you are. Jesus equips you with whatever he calls you to do. It is never boring. Your mind will not wander. There is no sense of obligation. It’s natural. It’s supernatural. It’s as easy as a two way conversational prayer with our loving Lord.
How? First, by giving up any obligation or ideas about how you should pray. A good way to do this is to simply ask for – and receive by faith – more of Holy Spirit. Or simply deeply intend, right now, to put righteousness and the Kingdom of God first. Second, by conversing with God, having a two way conversation with our Lord.
Here are valuable resources for knowing about how to hear God better, and how to have an effective two-way conversation with our Lord. Crucial key – alternating rhythms of talking, then listening. Write both down – short term memory, no matter how vivid and strong, can evaporate rapidly.
Immanuel Approach – useful for healing trauma and best as a lifestyle.
These approaches are so good that you will do well to learn them.
When you have an honest and sincere two way conversation with God, prayer is empowering and exciting. Jesus surprises and delights; does not condemn. Accepts you and loves you as you are. Jesus equips you with whatever he calls you to do. It is never boring. Your mind will not wander. There is no sense of obligation. It’s natural. It’s supernatural. It’s as easy as a two way conversational prayer with our loving Lord.
Immanuel Approach Pointers – from video notes, he repeats these in each video at the beginning.
-1. Immanuel truth: God is always with us, god is always glad to be with us, and God always wants to connect with us.
-2. Relational circuits: We have circuits in our brains that serve as the neurological hardware for running relationships. And we can connect with each other and with God much more easily when these relational circuits are online and strongly active.
-3. Positive memories and appreciation: We can predictably, reliably, and consistently get these relational circuits online and strongly active by recalling and connecting with positive memories and then deliberately generating, or stirring up, strong appreciation.
-4. Interactive connection with God: We can establish a living, interactive connection with God by inviting God’s presence into the positive memory, asking God to help us perceive His presence, and then noticing whatever comes into our awareness.
-5. The special value of God-connection positive memories:
-Our relationships are memory-mapped – our relationships are carried in our memories.
-Reconnecting with memory recreates, at least to some extent, the same mind-brain conditions that were present at the original experience.
-Using positive memories that include an experience of God’s presence takes advantage of these two pieced of brain science.
-6 Our brains are designed to work best in community:
-Describing out internal mental content, out loud to another person, helps us to feel it’s importance and to recognize it’s meaning.
-Including this piece in our Immanuel prayer will enable us to perceive subtle manifestations of the Lord’s presence that we might otherwise miss, and enable us to recognize and receive subtle interactive content from the Lord that we might otherwise miss.
-7. Immanuel Approach safety nets: At the beginning of the session we set up a positive-memory, appreciation, connection-with-God “home base” and then we can coach the recipient to go back to this home base if we get into trouble at any point later in the session, or if we run out of time at the end of the session and the recipient is still connected to unresolved traumatic content.
-8. Splinter-free memories: It is really important to use splinter free positive memories for the safety net.
When you are praying and seeking an answer, you are likely to get a good reply. God is like that.
Here’s what can be confusing. You get a reply. You think it is your answer. And in a way it is –
It may be a direct answer. All you need.
It may be an indirect answer. Something that leads you to what you are seeking. It’s your next step in your search.
Here’s an example:
I recently was looking for some information about my wife, her Social Security Number. There was a need for this. I had not memorized it. Could not find it.
Then Holy Spirit showed where I should look. I opened up that storage area and looked and did not find the folders I was looking for. Instead, I found something else that had the information I was looking for.
If I had not followed the lead I was given, I’d still be without what I was seeking. I followed the lead, thinking it was an answer. It was a lead to my answer.
I praise God for such wisdom in how to lead me to answered prayer. Through what I thought was the answer and yet was a lead or hint or clue that led to the answer and information I needed.
What does it mean when someone has been healed or set free and you see them light up? Is it just gladness for their improvement? Gladness, yes. Being lit up? Might it mean more?
What does it mean when they have Holy Spirit? In biblical terms, in the Greek, they have experienced sozo. Which can mean that they have been healed, set free, even saved. Does that mean all of these or only one of these things? I wonder….
Maybe they just have Holy Spirit on them, helping them heal or be set free. Could be. Like the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, they have Holy Spirit on them just for a bit? Or in them? I wonder…and I do not know, yet.
So I will watch. If after being set free and being healed, they stay lit up with Holy Spirit evident in their lives over a period of time, there is a greater chance that they have Holy Spirit in them and not just on them for a brief time. Meaning it is more likely that they have been saved. I wonder, as I watch for such things, what will I discover and see before me that is obvious? I do not know, and I wonder.
I do know this for a certainty. God is more merciful than we are. God loves more and better than we do. And I do know this: God’s theology is wider, more inclusive and more generous than the theology of we human beings.
And so, I wonder. I will ask our Lord. I will listen. And I will watch people who have received ministry with wonderful success. I will see Fruit of Holy Spirit, or not. I will see obvious evidence of Holy Spirit in them, or not.
And I do not know what will become obvious.
Even if it’s only some ministered to who have such evidence of Holy Spirit, and not all or even most, I will rejoice.
And if I cannot identify any with certainty and confidence that they have Holy Spirit…what will I do? I will rejoice!
For our Lord has saved many of us. Has ministered to many of us. And Jesus is still Immanuel, God with us. And he is coming! Hallelujah!
2Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials.‡ 3Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace].‡
4And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4, The Amplified Study Bible, eBook. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
This command just isn’t natural. It isn’t natural to rejoice whenever you fall into various trials. It isn’t even natural to be able to do this. Only by faith and with the help of Holy Spirit, can you do this.
Rest in Jesus. Faith is easy.
Ask for such faith and receive it. Ask for wisdom, receive it, and act on the wisdom you receive.
Read on in James 1 if you need help with receiving such wisdom; the directions are clear. Follow the directions our Lord has given us.
What I write here is sharp and to the point. There is no softening of what I call for you to do. Your life is much better when you are doing this. You are not being pampered: go do this.
The day began with thick clouds and fog but as the sun rose they parted to reveal the peaks of the Continetal Divide. It was an absolutely glorious spring morning in Moraine Park.
You want more joy—most of us do!
What you seek, look for, and are alert for – you will find more of.
Old survival habits have conditioned us to look for danger, problems and difficulties. It is good to be alert for such.
AND when we look for reasons for joy, we can have more joy. Today!
This is an important reason so much prayer begins with praise and thanksgiving. Done sincerely, joy increases.Give thanks for a few things in your life, now – and notice what you experience!
So pray for joy. Pray for more joy! Receive more joy by faith – habitually.
Praying for joy and experiencing joy is a valuable part of the normal Christian life. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”, Philippians 4:4, NASB.
And – there are practical benefits to joy: when full of joy, it is easier to hear God. Easier to have a two-way conversation: prayer!
When you are full of joy, it is easier to experience the Presence of God.
When you are full of joy, it is easier to experience being full of Holy Spirit.
And when you are full of joy, Holy Spirit and you can powerfully change the surrounding atmosphere. You can transform the atmosphere so others can experience more of the Presence of God, be more easily full of Holy Spirit, more easily hear God and pray well. Miracles happen more often in such an atmosphere.
Follow Holy Spirit, and experience more of the Fruit of the Spirit. Including joy! Experience more of the Kingdom of God, and experience more righteousness, joy and peace.
Practice joy! One of the more important spiritual disciplines – and this can transform your life. You can be contagious with joy and help transform the lives of people in your sphere of influence. Your ministry is often more powerful and effective when done joyfully.
So pray for joy. Pray for more joy! Receive more joy by faith – habitually.
We are also privately and secretly too certain that most prayer is too seldom answered. Of course, the word, “never” is so strong that we would not say it out loud. Many of us do not even say it to ourselves.
But there it is, lurking, underneath. The fear of yet more unanswered prayer.
No wonder so few of us are eager to pray! No wonder so many of us hesitate to pray. We have a terrible secret: it too often does no good.
Oh, we have reasons for this. Maybe God isn’t good. Maybe he’s mad at us. Some preachers act like he is. Full of judgement and anger, even. At sin. At how horrible we are. Even though we say otherwise in public, and often we say better than that to ourselves. Maybe we just do not understand his mysterious will nearly enough.
None of that is true. Yet it sure can seem that way!
And whenever we are suffering, our good answer to prayer seems to take too long.
I used to be like this. Then one day, it all changed for me.
I had been keeping track of prayers, so I would not forget. (I get distracted and forget far too easily and often. Including forgetting to pray powerfully for others. I need reminders.) Holy Spirit must have been guiding me, because I did it so well I made a tremendous and surprising discovery.
I used index cards. Kept track of who or what the prayer was for. When I started, and when I stopped. I prayed for three weeks, 21 days, unless asked to continue by another person or by God. I even kept track of what happened. I put Prayer Targets into writing.
Prayer Targets – visible results. Things noticeable. You can see what happened so well that it’s obvious what happened or changed and what did not.
These index cards helped me remember who to pray for, what to pray about. An enormous advantage that makes a difference.
Then it happened. I reviewed my prayer cards, the ones completed and finished. I made a discovery so unexpected, startling and amazing – that it literally transformed my prayer life.
Most of my prayers were answered. Most prayer targets were achieved. Nearly all of them! And quickly, too; even the speed was surprising. I was delighted. And I was surprised!
And I began to wonder how this could be. How is it that so many of my Prayer Targets were noticeably achieved and so quickly and I had somehow not noticed?
So I reviewed how I had prayed. And it slowly dawned on me: I was so concerned for the prayer targets that I was always praying and asking for something new. Something yet undone. Something important.
I was so focused so often on what was yet not accomplished and that seemed so important that I had never noticed how many Prayer Targets achieved – nearly all of them. With such good speed that, by hindsight, was amazing.
Please do this for yourself; discover and verify – most of your Prayer Targets are successful, and quickly. (And if not, find out the reason why! Good Prayer Target results are – dare I say it? Normal!
Big things like a new job or a new place to live would take – once I asked single-mindedly, about two days before the clue or hint came that led to success. Smaller things like headaches or personal problems with someone improved usually within two hours.
And I had never noticed. Not until I kept written records of Prayer Targets that could be noticed and observed.
I have habitually been focused on what’s needed and missing so many successes that I was not noticing or giving thanks for what God has already taken care of for others and for myself.
Not all Prayer Targets are quickly achieved. A small number of them drag on for a long, long time. I have come to suspect that the issue is often a lack of readiness to receive. When we are not ready, Prayer Target success take longer…until we are ready. Which is sometimes much longer than we realize or accept because we are so eager for good success.
Also important is single-minded faith, as described in the first chapter of James. When I or others are double minded, prayer success is not rapid. When double-minded, Prayer Targets are seldom achieved.
Strangely, it can take a year or two before single-mindedness occurs, especially for major changes. At least for me. I think it happens in this way. We are happy with a job or place we have; we were happy for the improvement. We’d asked for it, sought it out. We become comfortable with the way things are – even while we want yet more improvement. We are double minded and not and not yet really ready for change.
Oh! It’s the same issue!!We’re not ready. And when we are ready and single minded, when we ask for good things that God wills, it can then and most often does happen quickly.
God is good. Better than we think. Even better than many of us hope for much of the time. Better than we dare expect, even.
Prove and test this for yourself. Read the first chapter of James. It’s not long, but it sure makes a lot of points that we all need.
Choose noticeable Prayer Targets that allow you to rejoice with certainty when they are met. Do this in writing.
And discover for yourself, as I have – if I can do it you certainly can, too: most Prayer Targets are successfully achieved, and with wonderful speed.
Why does joy come so easily in the morning? Because it’s a fresh day, a fresh start. New discoveries are waiting to be made.
In Christian gatherings, new discoveries are made from time to time. New to the people who are present. Then the discoveries are explored.
This is a time of increasing attendance, with more people eager to learn what’s next. To explore and practice what is being learned about.
The Jesus Movement, re-discovery of Holy Spirit, practicing Spiritual Gifts, growing in the use and application of Spiritual Gifts. Prophecy that encourages and edifies and speaks with the passion of a full heart holding back nothing. There have been many more, and thee will be yet more, I promise.
Each individual can go through such cycles. Entire groups can experience such cycles together.
After a while, what was new to you becomes taken for granted – in a healthy way, it’s becoming a part of your life, now.
You may even become a bit bored. Try not to get stuck or bitter because learning is going so well and freshness is waning.
Not to worry. God has you covered. New discoveries are coming again.
The cycle is always refreshing itself, the cycle of discovery and learning goes on…for eternity!
You get to know who God is more and better. You get to learn your own identity more deeply and in new ways. You get to exercise and learn new gifts, grow more familiar gifts into greater maturity and skill.
Learning and discovery cycles go on…they come, and the newness seems to go. Another one is coming soon. I wonder what this one will be like?
Look at the light of the sunrise. Look at and notice the color and quality of the light. Is not joy easy when you do this, breathing deeply and being glad to be alive?
A fresh day. A new start.
Remember what it was like when you were new to having answered the call from Jesus? Can you see and experience how mornings can be an echo of that? How morning rising resonated with New Life? The more you are willing to notice this – the more joy you will experience.
How much wonder can you be full of? Wondering what will happen today…what you will experience, what today will be like?
When you give thanks for your day and the day to come, your joy will only increase. You can even give thanks right now. Name three to five things you can be thankful for. The more it is an effort, the more joy you will feel after having done this.
Pray – talk to God about what you are thankful for. Now listen to what he has to say to you. You connect to God more closely, and you have more joy. The closer you connect to God, the more easily will joy come to you and stay with you.
You can have joy in the morning.Joy is easy in the morning!
This is easy. It’s kind of fun! It sure is better than being joyless!
You can have joy in the morning.Joy is easy in the morning!
