Riverside Community Church Blog

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Have you ever had one of those when-God-becomes-real moments? Maybe you were standing in a hospital room praying over a sick loved one. Maybe you were the one lying in the hospital bed, without any answers… Or staring at the Past-Due rent notice not knowing how you were going to pay it. You know the ones. Those gut-punch, drop to your knees moments where all you can whisper is, “God, I don’t know what to do…”

 I’d venture to guess a few of you had a moment like that this month… this week… maybe even today.

 Oh, those moments.

 Logan and I have had quite a few.

 But last year, God opened my eyes to a truth that has changed everything. The truth of a power that, if pursued, if claimed, reaches up and pulls the whole of heaven into the four walls of a little hospital room.

 The truth is, because of Jesus, we harbor the power of God within us. The power, grace and love of Jesus are WITHIN US.

 Hard to fathom, right? Sounds almost too good to be true, and for a long while I thought it was. Now, I think this to be one of the most beautiful elements of a relationship with Jesus.

 If you have accepted Jesus into your heart (See John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-9), you are a Daughter or Son of God; an inheritor of the Kingdom. The Holy Spirit (a down-payment, a promise of what’s to come) resides in you, which means the power of God literally resides in you! All you have to do is claim it.

One of the ways you do that lies in how you pray. You can pray as a servant, or you can pray and declare breakthrough as a child of God and claim what has already been promised as yours -- the power of Heaven!

That understanding should revolutionize where we stand in those hard moments. Are you going to God to complain or seek attention? Or do you go to God in faith, as an inheritor of the Kingdom, and claim His promise of provision, healing and power?!

 You know you are praying in faith when thankfulness for the answer is effortless. You don’t see the answer, you don’t have the rent money in hand, you haven’t seen any healing yet, but you know it’s coming. That’s praying in faith.

Another thing God asks us to do in those moments is praise Him. Thank Him. Worship. I didn’t realize the gravity of this until recently. We truly bring a sacrifice of praise when we choose to believe He is still good, even when our circumstances may not be.

 Creating an atmosphere of worship creates an atmosphere for God’s presence. Creating an atmosphere for God’s presence creates an atmosphere for miracles.

Friend, I know what it feels like… That dark, hopeless situation that just rips your heart in a million pieces, and then a million more… but in those moments, in the darkest of dark, He is there. He is so very there. You just have to pursue Him. You have to get up and fight, contend for breakthrough and proclaim that you, a child of the Most High, are NOT GIVING UP until God moves in!!

And He will. He will move in every time.

It may not always happen how you would expect or even want at the time, but you can always always trust that He is a good Father and He knows what is best for you. The transformation that occurs will be that of extraordinary resplendence.

 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:7-8

 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.”

Isaiah 61:1-3

 

1 Comment

Thanks for sharing. PCW

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