DESPERATE PEOPLE PRAY DESPERATE PRAYERS, AND GOD RESPONDS! It's Time to Cry Out.

DESPERATE PEOPLE PRAY DESPERATE PRAYERS, AND GOD RESPONDS! It's Time to Cry Out. YOU SEE, TROUBLE NOT ONLY PLACES A DEMAND ON YOUR FAITH, BUT REVEALS THE DEPTH OF IT! Truth is, you don’t really know much about your faith when your bills are paid, your body is healthy, your children are acting right, and your marriage is intact! BUT WHEN ALL IN YOUR LIFE IS BREAKING LOOSE AND YOU TRUST GOD TO BRING YOU THROUGH IT, YOU KNOW YOU’VE GOT GENUINE FAITH!

The enemy is attacking your mind, your rest, your peace, your emotions and your thought life! So what can you do?  Lift up the shield of faith and stop his flaming arrows: Take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” and use it to drive him back! (Ephesians 6:17 NKJV). Put Your Faith To Work because It's time to cry out.

Listen to another example, the Syrian army had surrounded the city of Samaria and its population was dying of starvation. Having lived off scraps of bread that folks threw over the wall each day, four lepers quickly assessed that they were in trouble. They said, “WHY SIT HERE UNTIL WE DIE?” (2 Kings 7:3 TLB). So they went into the city, only to discover God had worked a miracle, causing the Syrians to flee in terror, leaving behind them food, water, and riches!  What do we learn from these four lepers? REFUSE TO SIT THERE AND DIE! WHEN YOU PUT YOUR FAITH INTO ACTION, GOD WILL GO TO WORK ON YOUR BEHALF! BUT YOU HAVE TO RISE UP AND SAY:  I Will Live and Not Die, I Will Survive, I Will Rise Above My problem and this situation.

You see, I’ve learned from personal experience, when you get DESPERATE enough you won’t care who God uses to fuel your faith, you’ll be willing to receive any help He sends your way! Just ask Naaman!  Naaman the leper, a five-star general in the Syrian army, humbled himself and eventually became willing to listen to a girl who washed dishes and made beds in his house!

(Listen: When somebody has an answer from God to deliver to you, you won’t care who the messenger is, what they look like, what they do or what they've got on, just as long as they deliver your message of healing!)  Naaman was even willing to finally dip seven times in the dirtiest river around, in order to come up clean (2 Kings 5:1-19). Genuine faith says: “I don’t care where I have to go, what I have to do, or who I have to listen to, whatever God says, I’ll do it!” Why live with a disease when you can simply believe God, trust what He says, and put your faith to work?! 

I mean why die when you can live?! How odd. To some of us it might even seem ridiculous. But oftentimes before God does the miraculous, sometimes He’ll ask you to do the ridiculous! Indeed, when He tells you to do something it may not seem like it’s even related to what you’re praying about at all. When that happens, you have a decision to make: doubt Him, or obey Him! My Suggestion: Instead of discussing the issues endlessly, just do what He’s told you to do! Real faith in action needs no explanation in order to act! Sometimes God will give you “a Word” and it looks like it’s not even working – but it is – yes, even when it doesn’t look like it!  The faith that God responds to does not require understanding of the orders given, just obedience in carrying them out! And when you do, you’ll be amazed at what He does in the meantime!

The more you walk by faith, God is restoring, resurrecting, returning, reviving, regenerating, reestablishing, and in the end you’ll do the rejoicing when all of the broken pieces are finally brought back together again! 

And all it takes is faith! 

Today Determine to Taste Like Salt, and Look Like Light!

Today Determine to Taste Like Salt, and Look Like Light! We are constantly surrounded by people who need what we have, and yet we give them nothing, but give each other the same things week after week, behind the closed doors of the church! Isn't it time for the salt to get out where it's needed? We need to leave the comfort of Salt Mountain and dare to risk getting involved in places where lost people are; to look at the unbelieving people around us and start building some bridges into their lives; building intentional rescue relationships. More than picketers, protestors, or promoters, God needs some of His people to just move close to some people who are not His people…yet!

“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (MSG)

Can you imagine how odd it would look if you walked into a dark room, turned on the lamp, and then put the lit lamp in a closet and closed the door? Sounds silly doesn’t it? But that’s what we’ve been doing. We sing all these wonderful songs about the goodness and faithfulness of God, yet we sing in the church. We preach all these inspiring messages about the saving, healing and delivering power of God, yet we preach in the church. We teach about the attributes of God, the fruit of the Spirit, the unconditional love of Jesus, yet we teach in the church. We pray until tumors dry up, cancer is cured, Aids no longer exists, the lame are walking, the deaf can hear, the mute can speak, the blind can see, the bound are free, and yet we pray in church.

Why do we keep light surrounded by more light, when we live in such a dark world? That’s what we’re assigned to do. Give a dark world some light, so that they may see our Father! And what happens when we do? “…they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (AMP). When we shine light, they see our Father, and find a path that leads them to Him. And once they find Him, they praise Him, honor Him, and glorify Him! And all we have to do is taste like salt, and look like light.

But I also love the way the Message Bible says it, “…By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (MSG) When we go to where we’re needed, and share our salty testimonies about what God has done for us, we prompt them to do the same. Seek Him, Find Him, Follow and Trust Him. But we have to go to them first, and “...open up...”.

And an added bonus is this, “...it gives light to all who are in the house…” When you share the Good News with just one person, you in fact share it with many more than you think. Would you dare to ask God today to lay some lost person on your heart? Maybe He already has. Ask Him, "God, go ahead and break my heart for the people within my reach who do not have You." And then invest yourself in what Jesus did. He came "to seek and to save those who are lost." If you share your light, they’ll find Him too! Listen: Too many people are slipping away, falling, crashing because there is no salt making a difference where they are. Please, if you know Jesus, be where you are needed the most! Luke 14:34, “Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it’s useless, good for nothing. “Are you listening to this? Really listening?” (MSG) Today Determine to Taste Like Salt, and Look Like Light!

What's Coming is Better Than What's Been.

Be Encouraged, you're growing. Growing Up Involves Growing Pains! Are you striving to become more like Jesus, but some days it feels like two steps forward and three back?  Think about it: You don’t notice yourself growing older PHYSICALLY until you look at an earlier photo, and then it hits you! You wonder “when did all of those changes take place?” And it’s the same with SPIRITUAL growth; it’s hard to gauge how far you’ve come until you look back and see where you were BEFORE Jesus saved you and turned your life around!  

You look back and remember when you didn’t know a Scripture by heart, when you didn’t know what to say in prayer, when you thought you’d die of starvation from the first time you fasted, or when you use to skip over the names and places in the Old Testament because they were too hard to pronounce (ok…so some of us, no names mentioned, are still doing just a tad bit of skipping…lol) However, you can now at least quote Psalm 23; you can now pray longer than 60 seconds; you don’t faint at the thought of fasting, and you may at least sound out a word or two more from the Old Testament! I’m sure that made you smile, but seriously, you are growing and you are maturing! It simply takes time and truth is, you are further along today than you were yesterday! So learn how to enjoy small, daily victories!

Growing Up Involves Growing Pains! Likewise, you still have some more bumpy roads ahead of you. And certainly you will fall quite a few times, and quite a few floors, but where you are right now, remind yourself, “So Far, So Good!” Never forget that you’re on a spiritual journey, you’re making progress, and that the devil will always look for ways to remind you how far you still have to go! DON’T LISTEN TO HIM! Simply Remember the Words of Jesus: “…He has always been a murderer and a LIAR. THERE IS NOTHING TRUTHFUL ABOUT HIM…EVERYTHING HE SAYS IS A LIE. NOT ONLY IS HE A LIAR HIMSELF, BUT HE IS ALSO THE FATHER OF ALL LIES” (John 8:44 CEV).

Always Remember: If you get discouraged and give up, SATAN WINS! AND SURELY YOU DON’T WANT THAT!  Spiritually speaking, you’re probably not as far up the road as you’d like to be – HOWEVER, THANK GOD YOU’RE STILL ON THE ROAD!

Blessings

J.P. Olson

If You Gamble With Satan, He Is Going To Mess You Up Big Time.

If you Gamble with Satan, He is going to Mess you up Big Time. Then Sit Back and Laugh at You & Move on to the next Person.  Do the right thing when the wrong thing shows up. In the middle of our trials and tribulations our God will show up. We can sometimes get so caught up in the world's problems - that some forget just how Great our God is. If we don't know the truth about God's Word, we will believe the lies of the devil. Praise God in tough times as well as good times.  When you have Done your Best & your Back is Up Against the Wall. "STAND". When you focus on God, instead of your own circumstances, amazing things can happen. 

Satan will confuse you. He will get your head so mixed up that you won't know what to do. Satan tries so hard to keep you from knowing what to do or keeps you from thinking clearly. That is why Satan has started so many false religions that call themselves Christians when they are not. Their doctrines are meant to lead you away from the True Word Of God. Satan leads you to jump to this religion (Cult), and that religion (Cult) until your mind is so full of false ideas that you no longer are able to distinguish the truth. Only by you yourself turning to Jesus Christ, crying out to Jesus for Truth, will you be able to break away from Satan and come to Jesus Christ who is God The Word. (John 1:1-5, 14-18)

Every time that you pray to or praise God Satan will attack you with all that he can muster against you. Satan will do his best to get you. The closer you are to Jesus, the more sincere you are when you pray, the more Satan will try to slaughter you, and many times he does succeed because you let your guard down. God does send his angels to protect you but still you do have to keep on the armor of God or else Satan will reach you with some hits.

Satan has a great determination, a great hunger to destroy you. If he can mess up your mind or your head as some call it, then you will be destroyed indeed. I have met many who minds are so messed up that they no longer can even hear the truth without immediately distorting and twisting, and mis-interpreting everything that is said to them. And when Satan has your head, then he also has your tongue and heart and soul. (Matthew 12:34-37)

Satan will always attack you. As an individual, Satan will attack you from whatever direction that you stop looking. Satan is a coward that will never hit you head on if you are a child of God. Satan will attack you physically. He enters into many people, or controls them by outside demons. Satan will bring on many types of sickness to the saints of God. He tricks us into believing that God gave us the sickness to test us, to punish us. And so many Christians suffer when we could be free. And no, not all sickness is from Satan. Jesus healed both sickness caused by demons (Matthew 9:32-34) and the sickness that befall all men naturally. (Matthew 8:2-4)

The first place Satan attacks is your mind. Why? Because if he can mess up your mind then he can make you follow Him instead of following God. First, Satan will try to blank out your mind so that you will not even think about God. Remember the parable of the seeds where Satan comes and takes away the seed which is the Word of God. (Mark 4:2-25)

Blessings

J.P. Olson

www.thewordwithjpolson.com

When The Storms Come Who Is In Your Boat?

When the storms come who is in your boat? There is a saying, “make sure that everyone in your boat is rowing and not drilling holes when you are not looking." Know your circle. Who you allow in your boat could affect everyone in the boat causing it to sink. The winds of adversity are causing destructive waves endangering your life-boat and causing elevated stress levels in thousands of households. Satan wants you to sink. Many unanchored boats (lives) are being swept away in the currents of circumstances, taking in water at an alarming rate. The disciples knew who was in their boat, many times we don’t know who is in our circle; we have to invite Jesus inside the boat to keep the winds and waves out of our lives when we are being tossed back and forth.

We ask ourselves: Where did that storm come from? What is the real problem? How do we address such a storm in our lives? How do we keep the waves out of our boat? Is it possible to weather this storm?

Jesus never sent His disciples to cross the lake by themselves! No He said: “Let us go.” He will never leave you nor forsake you. What does that mean? Well, if you invite Him into your boat, He’ll captain your life to weather the storm. You do not have to face the wind and the waves on your own. You have access to the King of kings to see you through. Here we have a group of Believers who were in the act of obeying God. They were not busy with sinful insurrection. Yet, suddenly they found themselves in a life-threatening storm. Can you identify with them?

Storms come and go. Even the faithful are not exempt from life’s storms. Yes, the disciples were up against it, but they had one thing going for them: They had Jesus in their boat! Do you have Jesus in your boat? This storm was not a judgment from God against them. It was not a result of their bad timing, Jesus initiated the journey.  Imagine Jesus sleeping in your most dire moment. Your boat is sinking; you can no longer keep your boat on course and the waves out. The word of God is clear: “He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” (Psalm 121:4) God is not oblivious to your situation. Jesus set the course for the disciples and then stepped back for these experience sea-farers to track their progress towards the other side. God will save your soul, set you free from sin and bondage, empower you with ability and Holy Spirit power and then let you navigate towards all the Lord has for you. He does not get out of your life-boat, He merely entrusts you with faith, wisdom and character to get you to your divine destiny. That’s what Jesus was doing then and that is what Jesus is doing now.

When the disciples realized that they were in over the heads, they turned to Jesus. He clearly was their Captain and they needed His personal assistance. It is time for you to address the wind in your life first. Identify the source of your storm and stop trying to focus on the waves. You will do well to invite Jesus to step in. Give His control. Follow His storm management plan. Your buckets may help some with the waves, but the voice of God over your life will dissolve the winds of adversity.

Jesus’ voice over your circumstances will result in a great calm (perfect peacefulness) according to God’s word. Peace doesn’t come from finding a lake with no storms. When your life has been shipwrecked with a lot of turbulence; remember you can reach the port if you weather the storm and you weather the storm when you have Jesus in the boat. If you are steering through life unanchored in the midst of a storm, you will surely drift away.

When You’re In Need of a Miracle, God can meet you ANYWHERE Simply Because He’s EVERYWHERE!

Miracles begin when we focus on God’s power, instead of our problems!  God can meet you ANYWHERE simply because He’s EVERYWHERE!  

When You’re In Need of a Miracle, Just Do What the Master Says! “But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever He tells you to.” (John 2:5 TLB) Do you need a miracle? Then reread the story of Jesus turning water into wine. And while you’re at it, keep in mind what Mary said to the servants at the wedding reception: “…Whatever He says to you, DO IT.” (AMP). However, that means you must do it…EVEN THOUGH…

1. YOU’RE NOT IN THE RIGHT PLACE: They were at a wedding, not a church, when Jesus performed this miracle. “Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee…” (John 2:1 MSG).  Believe it or not, but some of our greatest blessings will occur at “other places” than where we’re used to, accustomed to, or expect. The problem is, we simply have to learn how to be sensitive and obedient to a move of God in unfamiliar places. We expect to come to church and hear testimonies of the goodness of God. But do you know God works miracles outside of the four walls of the church?

As hard as it may be for you to grasp, but God is saving souls behind prison walls, He’s giving job opportunities to those with no degree, He’s healing in the hospice, He’s providing shelter for those who last night slept under the bridge, He’s feeding those who just spent their last dollar. God is not restrained, restricted, limited or held captive, hostage or in bondage by our menial expectations of Him or His ability. Do you know that you don’t have to be in church, at the altar, or listening to gospel in order to experience a move of God? Understand that your limited location can’t limit a limitless God! He can heal at the gas station, provide while you’re in the beauty salon, make a way while you’re stuck in traffic, pay a bill while you’re applying for unemployment. Your God Is Able! 

So the next time you need a miracle from God, call on Him, no matter where you are! He can hear you from the basketball court; in the hospital; at the Medicaid/Medicare office; at the mechanic shop; waiting for the bus; standing in line at the supermarket; waiting for customer service at the bank; or even sitting on a swing in the park! He Hears You, He Sees You, And He Will Indeed Meet Your Every Need…No Matter the Address Your Need Shows Up At! Think about it: If He can show up and help the three Hebrew boys in a fire; Jonah in the belly of a fish; a bleeding woman in a crowd; and a paralytic coming down through the roof, surely He can show up anywhere you are, don’t you think?  When You’re In Need of a Miracle, Just Do What the Master Says!  It may seem odd to you because it's an unfamiliar place, thing or suggestion; but Christ wasn't making a suggestion, he was telling them what to do: He made a statement; turning water into wine seemed impossible to the people at the wedding in Cana; “But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever He tells you to.” (John 2:5 TLB). "Whatever He says to you, Do It."  They had a problem, they had run out of wine at the wedding, their focus was on the problem , they needed a miracle. Miracles begin when we focus on God’s power, instead of our problems!  God can meet you ANYWHERE simply because He’s EVERYWHERE! 

Blessings

J.P. Olson

God Is Lovingly Removing Things (People)You Thought You Needed. The Pruning Is Painful -

We all really need to understand this pruning process, especially since it’s one of God’s Most Important Methods In Growing Us! In fact, some of the difficulty and loss that you’re experiencing right now May Actually Be Your Heavenly Father Cutting You Back to Help You Grow Up! And the results are going to be far greater than they ever could have been if He left what He has been taking away! “If God didn’t think twice about taking pruning shears to the natural branches, why would he hesitate over you? He wouldn’t give it a second thought…” (Romans 11:21 MSG).

As Jesus was in His final hours before the cross, He prepared His disciples for the battles and the assignments ahead with some powerful teaching. And since they saw grapevines pretty often, He chose that as an analogy of their, AND OUR, relationship with Him. In John 15, beginning with verse 1, Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (NIV). 

Jesus went on to explain that all the things we do for Him have to flow from our deep relationship with Him –If you keep loading up on Jesus and getting ever closer to Him, your life is going to be Abundantly Fruitful! You’re going to make a Greater Difference with your life than you’ve ever made before! You’re going to be More Spiritually Magnetic, and having you around is going to be more and more like actually having Jesus around! You are going to attract more people into the Fruitful Kingdom of God! BUT before the fruit, COMES THE PRUNING!

I imagine if a vine could talk, he’d say to the pruner, “You’re killing me, man!” And the gardener would reply, “I know this hurts, but I’m actually removing things you don’t really need so you can explode with greater fruit.” THAT MAY BE EXACTLY WHAT’S HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW! IT DOESN’T FEEL GOOD, BUT IT IS GOOD! GOD IS LOVINGLY REMOVING THINGS (AND PEOPLE) YOU  THINK YOU NEED, BUT THINGS (AND PEOPLE) THAT MAY BE HOLDING YOU DOWN, HOLDING YOU BACK, OR HOLDING YOU CAPTIVE! THE CUTBACKS ARE COSTLY BUT WORTH IT! THE PRUNING IS PAINFUL, BUT ESSENTIAL TO YOUR POTENTIAL, PRODUCTIVITY AND PROSPERITY!

Blessings

J.P. Olson