Beyond my UnBelief: The Power Of Prayer

Prayer is the power, the "energy" Drink as it were, for all those who are in Christ.

In Ephesians 6:18-20 Paul gives us A look at prayer. Paul give us a guide to prayer:
"Prayer is the energy that enables the Christian soldier to wear the armor (Ephesians 5) and wield the sword. We cannot fight the battle in our own power, no matter how strong or talented we may think we are....Paul tells us how to pray if we would defeat Satan.
Pray always.
Pray w/ all prayer: prayer supplication, intercession, thanksgiving.
Pray in the Spirit. The Bible formula is that we pray to the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit.
Pray with your eyes open. "on the alert" Nehemiah defeated the enemy by watching and praying.
Keep on praying.
Pray for all the saints. don't quit!

the bible says:
"wherever 2 or more or gathered in the lord's name He is there..."
when we pray we should pray in the will of God, which means we ask and ultimately It's God's choice, we have to learn and accept that and be content.

"I Believe... Help my UNbelief..."
many times when our prayers don't get answered the way we want and we accuse God of ________(Fill in the blank). the counter to this is "Trust in the Lord w/all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding." God Will make it clear to us IN HIS time.

Minute to win it

Tonight we found out how many different things you can do in 60 seconds or less.
It's amazing that such a small amount of time can affect how we view life and the things we do.
here's a question:
How many of you have taken 60 seconds to tell a friend about Christ?
What can you do with each 60 seconds you're given?
If you could do a do-over of a minute in your life, what would it be?

fortunately we have more than a minute to win at life, each minute is important so how do we make the most of each 1?

When it's all said and done what minutes of your life will people remember?
What minutes do you want you/them to remember?

S.O.S.

Tonight, we had our spotlight on servants.

Being a servant leader in todays society of being judged by your accomplishments, where everyone wants to be recognized.

many of you know Bill at Crash, when I think of a servant leader, he's one of the first people that comes to my mind.

If you read the blog last week, you know what I believe characterizes a good servant leader.

Honesty
Humility
Wisdom

Being a servant leader will most likely not gain you acclaim in the world but, it will be recognized in heaven. remember its backwards. Lose to win, follow to lead, least is greatest.

Some of the pitfall are opposite characteristics of the ones I listed:

Pride
Dis-honesty
Fear

All who are in Christ are princes and princesses because we're children of the King, so we should treat them as such. Also remember 1st Timothy 5 " treat older females as mothers, younger as sisters, older men as fathers and younger men as brothers. With absolute (look this word up) purity."

I think if we treated others better than ourselves the world would have a lot less problems. If we wanted to take care of others needs there would be a lack of things we want cause we have what we need.

some scripture
1st Timothy 4:12-16

follow the leader

history has provided us with many glimpses of what leadership should look like:

George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Gen Robert E. Lee

What makes these names stand out from the rest?
(good)Leaders have many qualities and characteristics:
Honesty
Humility
Wisdom
The ability when required to go against the crowd
Love others
Put others needs above their own
Soft spoken yet direct
Self-control
courage
Those are qualities I look for in a leader

Our spheres of influence are usually much bigger than we think. My sphere of influences:
My family/friends
church/dgroups/crash

Each leader has a gift or more than one which they have in abundance. some of the ways I lead are:
using my creativity to think outside the box
Music is another area in which I can lead
Writing

I do not think waiting for some day is wise As Max Lucado said in one of his books "If you don't do it.... No one else will"

Fear is one of the most potent pot-holes in the road of leadership
Fear of failure
Fear of being inadequate
Fear of being made fun of
Fear of being rejected

to be a leader one must move in spite of any fears you may have that's called courage.

I would not want some one to follow me. I have heard many times a good phrase that I'll leave you with:
"Don't follow me... BUT... Follow who(Christ) I follow."

Easter review

Instead of doing a lot of writing I'm just Going to leave you a few scriptures to thnk on:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2nd Corinthians 5:21

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 1st Timothy 1:15-16

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebwers 12:2

Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ... Romans 8:17

GUYS & GIRLS

Oh you've gotta love talking about guys and girls...and how we're all so different. And last night we did just that! You rocked it going back and forth answering questions from "the other side." And just like we promised - we've posted the additional questions on our Facebook group page... go join in the discussions today! Can't wait to hear what you have to say... and this is just the beginning.

Thankfulness - Thanks-giving ... Whatcha think?

so... do you think this quote is like what Josh was talking about tonight...

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

What do you think? How does it relate? What do you think you learned from Josh & from this quote (oh, by the way it's from the Bible --- Philippians Chapter 4, verses 4-10