Here is the audio from yesterday’s sermon by Pastor Wrinkles.
http://cornerstoneag.net/2013/01/27/pray-hard/
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Heaven Pt. 91
Once more the king sent a third captain with fifty men. But this time the
captain went up the hill and fell to his knees before Elijah. He pleaded with See how the fire from heaven came down and destroyed the first two groups. But now please spare my life Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him, and don’t be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went with him to the king.him, “O man of God, please spare my life and the lives of these, your fifty servants. 2 Kings: 1:13-15
When last we left Elijah he was calling fire down from Heaven to burn up some enemy soldiers. You would think that after losing fifty servants to the flames of God King Ahaziah would have wised-up and left well enough alone. Twice more, though, he sent squadrons of fifty to apprehend the rebel prophet. The second time the results were the same. Fifty soldiers went up the hill fifty cremated bodies were carried down the hill.
But the captain of the third squadron was a little wiser than the first two. He was smart enough to know that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So instead of confronting the prophet the third captain humbled himself before God and his man. That won the day. Elijah was given the God go-ahead to come down to Ahaziah. All God was looking for was a man humble enough to admit his need rather than rattle his saber.
We aren’t called to tough it out in our own strength. We are called to pray it through by throwing ourselves on the mercy of a God who is so much bigger than we are.
A 21 Day Spiritual Journey Day 18
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
I preached today. I’m not sure it was my best sermon but the Holy Ghost showed up so my performance was not what everyone was looking at anyway (that’s always best). There’s this funny story in the book of Acts chapter 20. Paul got to preaching one night and evidently forgot his watch because before he knew it the time had moved past midnight. It seems he wasn’t preaching a barn burner either because a young guy named Eutychus listening from a window above fell fast asleep and fell to his death on the street below. Now that’s one way to put the kibosh on a church service! I’m quite sure had the Holy Ghost not shown up that night Paul would have been in big trouble with the congregation. But God didn’t leave Paul swinging in the breeze. Paul did his part even if it only succeeded in boring one young man to death; Then God showed up and raised Eutychus from the dead. After that Paul preached until morning! Maybe he was hoping someone else would fall asleep….:)
Well I don’t think anyone fell asleep today. I know no one died so I guess I’m ahead of the apostolic curve here; But no one was going to write home about the profound nature of my words either. Then God showed up and showed off. A message in tongues and interpretation told us that God was aware that the battle was not finished but that we were not to be afraid because He had joined the battle. A prophetic word called people to the altar to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit for strength. Twelve people came forward and two received the baptism with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues! Hallelujah!
God is doing amazing things through this time of fasting and prayer. If nothing else my level of expectation has risen exponentially. I am looking to walk in the miracle these days. I will be seeking even more of God’s power during the Lenten fast starting in a few short weeks. Does anyone want to join me?
Travel Theme: Walls
I am trying to do a little more with my photography. Cee has given me some awesome ideas here:
Walls:
The Old wall Chang Mai, Thailand, used courtesy of Melanie Lillie
Temple entrance, Chang Mai Thailand used courtesy of Melanie Lillie
Alkmaar, Holland
Angela’s testimony Audio version
To here Angela’s testimony in audio go to:
To read the transcript go to:
A 21 Day Spiritual Journey Day 17
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
One of the many goals on my prayer list is that I would be able to get the woods next to my house totally cleaned out. Years of neglect and several winter storms and hurricanes have left them filled with dead wood, fallen and standing. Much of the cutting I am going to have to hire out because the patch is filled with widow makers; But since I have yet to become independently wealthy I can’t leave it all to the tree cutters. So when today’s temps rose almost to freezing I decided to take a step of faith and start cleaning out what I could. Into the woods I tramped saw in hand and after about an hour I had accumulated a sad little pile of wood for burning. It doesn’t seem I have even touched the patch.
And that is today’s lesson.
Prayers don’t always come to pass over night and while they are supernatural in scope they aren’t magic. There is much in this particular prayer request I am going to need God’s help with. I need his guidance and provision (particularly with all the other financial things I am praying into); But part of praying hard is learning where I need to partner with God and to put my own shoulder to the plough.
If you intend to walk in the miracle you can’t stand still!
Today’s quotes:
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
— George Horace Lorimer
The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”
— Benjamin Disraeli
“Genius is divine perseverance. Genius I cannot claim nor even extra brightness but perseverance all can have.”
— Woodrow Wilson
Angela’s Testimony Pt. 3
If you missed either of the Angela series you can check them out here:
Angela says:
Over the past year I have learned why I was in bondage. I have also learned that God is the only one who is able to bring me through. He will do it so that his name will be glorified. I am an oak of righteousness; a planting of the Lord!
Joyce Meyer writes in her book, Beauty For Ashes, “the bad fruit comes from somewhere.”
When I was in the thick of my depression I would read God’s word desperately looking for answers but all I found was guilt and shame because I was facing myself which is never acceptable in God’s sight. I had to come to the truth that God sees Jesus when He looks at me. So as I read the Scriptures that name the types of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God: those who are filled with jealousy, those who are filled with anger, greed… I would recognize many of these things in my own life.
I knew inside I was filled with bitterness and anger towards my biological family… how I grew up. I knew I was filled with jealousy. I was filled with fear. I was judgmental, critical and negative. I blamed others for my problems. I was filled with rejection and abandonment (from others and myself). I was even self-righteous!
I knew I could never measure up. But when I began to walk through the healing prayer ministry sessions, God began dealing with my wrong mind-sets, my broken image of God, my expectation for perfection in myself and others and the self-hatred I carried from my early childhood.
…You see, rotten fruit comes from rotten roots. I have learned that I will never be able to behave right if my roots are bad no matter how much I work on it. But today there is hope for me and for you in Christ Jesus. We can be uprooted from the bad soil of our lives and be transplanted into the good soil of Jesus Christ. this is not a work that can be done by our self-discipline. It has to be done by God with his grace. his Spirit comes in and digs up all of our bad roots and literally plans new ones. God is not afraid of the mess in our lives or of helping us through the painful circumstances of life. He is not disgusted by the things that come up in us and out of us. The process is beautiful.
My roots were of shame, rejection, abandonment and abuse. My bad fruit was negativity, critical judgment, self-hatred and much more. My mentality was “What’s wrong with me?” Because of that I was constantly confused and filled with inner turmoil.
October 2011 marked the beginning of my journey towards wholeness. Today I am completely uprooted and replanted in the good soil of Jesus Christ… the soil of acceptance in Jesus and into the good fruits of the Holy Spirit. I stand on Hebrews 12:2…God who is the Author and finisher of my faith will finish what He has started in me. He will bring it to completion!
Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Isaiah 43:1-2
Life-coaching Question Of The Week 1-26-13
Sunset DIamonds by JE Lillie
This is the weekly Life-coaching question sent to me from our church life-coach, Paul Hackett.
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A 21 Day Spiritual Journey Day 16
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
Our study during this journey is called The Circle Maker. Its basic premise is that we should dream again and ask largely of our God who desires to give us good things. As I have launched into the deeps of prayer during this season God has been enlarging my personal prayer list on almost a daily basis. I am finding that as I pray God is building my faith by giving me steps to take in order to put me in a position to see His hand move in my ever-increasing list. Part of praying in faith is behaving in belief…that is acting like I expect God to answer to my prayers.
One of the prayers on my list is about a trip I would like to take this year. I have told God I would like to go if I get a certain amount back in my taxes. Now my tax appointment is not for another two weeks. Yet in prayer yesterday God told me that if I hoped to go I must set the dates aside. Planning for the trip is my step of faith.
My heart asks “But what if God doesn’t meet you with the money?”
To which my spirit replies, “What if He does?”
So what is your step of faith?
Angela’s Testimony Pt. 2
I recently had the opportunity to hear Angela Bauver share a bit of her testimony. Angela is a member of our healing prayer team at Cornerstone. Nigel Mumford has said that she is the future face of healing prayer in the United States. She was kind enough to give me a transcript of her words.
If you missed Pt. 1 you can find it here:
Enjoy part 2!
Angela says:
In all honesty, I didn’t understand what I was going through. I couldn’t understand why I felt the way I did or why I was the way I was. This created greater guilt and depression in me. I had given my life to Christ ten years earlier. I really tested God before I gave my life to Him.
I knew some of the pain I held in my heart, no doctor could heal and so I asked “God, if you are real take this pain I feel in my heart and heal me from it.”
Guess what! He did it! I received tremendous healing. In retrospect I now understand that if god hadn’t done that initial instant healing I could never have matured in Christ. Yet, because I received those healings I was left confused when the pain came back. I didn’t understand the memories that haunted me while I was washing dishes and going about my life. I didn’t understand why jealousy, insecurity and anger would rise in my heart. I didn’t understand the growing desire to hide who I was as though it was unacceptable. I felt exhausted, guilty, alone , without answers and confused as to how I had come to this place in my life.
I determined in my heart I would just ride the storm through until God did something. But the problem was I didn’t really believe that God wanted to rescue me from what I was going through. I believed that God was disappointed with where I was in my walk of faith because the “bad fruit” was pretty evident. So I simply hid in shame before God and before others.
But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Isaiah 61:1-3 says of the Messiah, Jesus
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV
Jesus knew the salvation plan was very much intertwined with the healing plan. God doesn’t just want to save us and then leave us sick to deal with the past on our own. He has made the way. It is God’s work to complete healing in us! And he loves to do it!
Have you ever felt like God was disappointed in you? What did you do?
Tune in for part 3 tomorrow!
Reinventing the We'll 