Tag: Gospel

Your Story, My Story, His Story

Posted on by Dorci

“Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2

I love books. While I haven’t taken nearly as much time lately to read as I’d like, I have been living out the chapters of my own book. 

We all are. 

Just like the countless stories we read in the Bible, we each have our own story. Some are more dramatic, some tragic, some adventurous, some joyful, and thankfully, all with a little comedic relief. 

All our stories look different, but all have one Author and one Finisher: Jesus. 

Long before we were born He knew the story that would be written with our lives. He knew how each chapter would unfold and what would need to take place to propel the story forward, to complete our faith, until our story was finished, our faith perfected. 

Sometimes we don’t understand what’s going on.

Why is this happening in my life, and why is it happening now? 

And sometimes we can start looking at other people’s stories, comparing ours with theirs, wishing our story had a chapter or two out of their book. 

But our God is a personal God, and our story is unique. Our Author takes into account its characters and how and what they need in order to develop, bit by bit, until fully grown. 

So while our story may be at times full of pain and questions, we never walk through it alone. Our Author walks with us. 

The choice we have is whether or not to walk with Him. To accept the story He’s given us, and even receive it with thanksgiving, knowing that He’s using it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly, to change us, grow us, and mature us until our faith is complete. 

And somehow, someway, He is making all our stories work together into one grand narrative that ultimately tell one story, His story. A story of grace and mercy, love and beauty. A story of redemption, faith, forgiveness, strength, and hope. 

A story of the gospel, lived out in our very own lives.

One day we’ll see that more fully than we ever can now. Because when the book closes on the story of our lives here, the exciting sequel begins, the likes of which the world has never seen. 

So let’s rejoice that we play a part in the grandest of stories, and that our Author and Finisher is with us and loves us to the end.

In Him,

Sunday Praise and a Prayer the Lord Will Be Glorified

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You. We praise Your magnificence, Your glory, Your righteousness. You and You alone are God and You hold us, with grace, in the palm of Your hand. 

You have blessed us mightily over the centuries, providing for us in countless ways, teaching us and leading us out of sin, pouring out Your Holy Spirit for revivals, saving lost souls, and letting the light of your truth shine throughout this country. 

And in many ways we have taken so much of it for granted. We have taken the glory for ourselves instead of acknowledging You, instead of thanking You for giving us wisdom, strength, and the freedom to prosper, and the victory we’ve needed, over and over, to remain free.

Instead of acknowledging that it’s You who has allowed us to remain a nation with freedoms we enjoy every day and praising and thanking you for it, we have let the freedoms You’ve given us lead us into the bondage of sin, calling evil good and good evil.  

Father, we humbly ask for your forgiveness. 

You are a God of great grace and mercy, and we know your heart’s desire is that we repent and turn to You to live rightly because You know sin hurts and destroys us. You know what we need to turn back to you, and sometimes that is suffering.

Father, may we turn to you quickly. For those who know You, may we boldly and without fear proclaim Your name, glorifying You with grateful and loving hearts that we may be salt and light to the world around us.

Please pour out your Holy Spirit for revival again, to soften hearts and open the spiritual eyes of those who are lost and those who are backslidden so they will turn to You in repentance, acknowledging and receiving You as Lord, glorifying and praising You, so we can be one nation, united, under Your grace, protection, and blessing. 

Our hope is in You.

In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen.

 

Gathering Together in His Name

Posted on by Dorci


“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I will them.”  Matthew 18:18-20

Jesus gave His disciples this hope and confidence to prepare them to go out into the world and face trials and tribulations far above anything they had the power or understanding to deal with.

No matter what our views about all that’s taking place in our country, I think we can all agree that our nation is in serious trouble, far beyond our power to sort it out ourselves. 

We need the LORD.  

So today I want to share with you a few prayer events that are coming up where we can join with our brothers and sisters in Christ to seek the Lord and His mercy for forgiveness, repentance, healing, and revival. 

First, an event called The Return, lead by Messianic Jewish Rabbi and pastor Jonathan Cahn. A time for private prayer will be from September 18-28, which coincides with the dates for the Biblical Feast of Trumpets and ending with the Day of Atonement.

And on Saturday, September 26 there will be a gathering of God’s people at the National Mall, or wherever you are, praying for the return to God’s presence to seek repentance and healing. The website can be found here, and this is Pastor Cahn’s video explaining the event:


Also on Saturday, September 26, Franklin Graham will be leading a prayer march beginning at the Lincoln Memorial, across the National Mall, and ending in front of the U.S. Capitol.  The website and video for this corporate time of prayer is here.

And one week later, on Saturday, October 3, Anne Graham Lotz will be giving a special message on Effective Prayer for Such a Time as This. You can find the link to this streaming event here.

I believe this will be a powerful time of gathering together in person and in spirit to go before the Lord Almighty, letting our prayers rise to Him, and beseeching Him to do what only He can do. 

***

Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you and pray that you would reveal anything in us that would keep our prayers from being effective. Please forgive us for our sins, and prepare our hearts to enter into this time of prayer, to be in agreement with our brothers and sisters for the repentance, healing, and revival of the people of this country, and throughout the world.

We pray your Holy Spirit will fill these leaders with the humility and wisdom they need in order to lead us in prayer according to your will. We trust you will be in the midst of us and will do a powerful work in our own hearts and in the hearts of many who will come to know you as their own Lord and Savior.

May you have mercy on us, Lord, and may you, by your great and unending love, continually fill us with your power and boldness to keep proclaiming the Name of Jesus Christ as the only Name by which we can be saved. In His precious and holy name we pray, amen. 

 
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14

True Freedom

Posted on by Dorci

“Now the Lord is the Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.”
2 Corinthians 3:17


God, in His grace and mercy, put in the hearts of men and women to establish a nation that would be free to worship Him without outside influence. 

Free to believe in the one, true God, free to follow Him, free to call on Him, free to have and read His Word, free to gather together in His name, free to obey Him rather than our sinful nature, and free to tell the world the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It would seem we’re at a crossroads in our country right now. Sin abounds because the Spirit doesn’t.

But there is hope.

There is anger and violence in the streets.

But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Bitterness and unforgiveness grows.

But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Sin and lawlessness spread.

But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The world doesn’t need more fun programs, or coffee shops, or topical, feel-good messages, or a weakened, compromised, watered-down version of the Word of God so no one’s offended.

It needs the power of the Spirit of the Lord, and by Him to know Christ and the freedoms He gives.

It needs us to put away the old self and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 

It needs us to stop being influenced by the world so we can influence it for Christ.

It needs us to walk in newness of life, a life of obedience to Christ, so we don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, and instead be filled with Him.

And by the power of the Spirit of the Lord in us it needs to hear that Christ loves them so much that He died for them to forgive them of their sins, to restore their relationship to God, to give them a new heart and a new mind, and to fill their hearts with love and peace and forgiveness.

It needs to hear that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” Romans 10:15

God gave us a land with freedoms to give the chance for every heart to be free. But so many hearts are painfully held captive to sin, and the enemy is having a field day.

I believe God is calling His children, for whatever time we have left, to boldly speak His name, and in His Spirit, free as many of those captive souls as possible, so they, too, can be filled with the Spirit and true freedom.

And we are here now for such a time as this.

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:14-15


Oh Father, forgive us for allowing the comforts of the world make us complacent. Please forgive us for any sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Fill us with your Spirit and give us a heart of love for the lost and a vision of how you would have each of us reach the world around us. Whatever you have us do, may we be careful to continue to do it in the strength of your Spirit and not in our own. Thank you for this unique nation you’ve given us, where we’ve been afforded so many freedoms, freedoms we have largely taken for granted. And thank for the freedoms you’ve given us in Christ, to love you, to serve you, to carry out the good works you’ve prepared for us to do, and to know that someday we’ll live with you forever.  In Jesus’s name we pray, amen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By This Everyone Will Know

Posted on by Dorci

Jesus is reclining at the Passover table with His disciples after Judas leaves. He gives His beloved friends some parting words to prepare them for what’s about to come, and He tells them this:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13: 34-35

He doesn’t tell them everyone will know they are His disciples if they go to church, or memorize scripture, or carry a Bible, or be nice, or any of a million other things. 

He says everyone will know if they love one another as He had loved them. Agape love.  Sacrificial love. All-encompassing, forgiving, loving-kindness love. 

And He didn’t just say other believers will know they are His disciples, but everyone will know.  The world will know. 

He tells them to love one another so profoundly, so boldly, so much so that the world sits up and takes notice and says “Hey, there go those Christians, loving each other again.”

Why does Jesus tell His disciples that?

Well, one, because that’s just how much Christ loves. He loved those around Him so much that everyone knew who He was.  He loved all the way to the cross.  And by extension, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, that is how much we’ll love when we’re following Him.

When we’re loving God, we’ll love one another.

And two, because that’s our witness. He says “everyone will know…” We are His ambassadors, and our witness to the world is our love for one another.  The gospel message that lives in and through us is that we have a love that goes beyond a worldly love. We have a divine, supernaturally given, godly love. 

And as that love drew multitudes to Him, that love lived out through us will draw the world to Him.

We want revival, we pray for revival, but are we living out the love Christ called us to in such a way that would be noticed by the world, that would draw them to Him, and lead to revival?

Let’s take a look. Is that what believers are known by? What is our reputation? Does the world look at us and talk about the love we have for one another?  Or do they talk about the way we judge, and criticize, and live hypocritically? 

I would tend to say the latter. Now, I know not all those criticisms are deserved, but maybe if the world doesn’t see who Jesus truly is, the all-encompassing love He offers them, it’s because we haven’t shown them. I know that after walking with Christ for 30 years and experienced what I have, even I don’t always have that view of believers.  And I know I’m not alone.

There are entire books written on how to heal after being hurt by those in the church, by people who have chosen to treat their brothers and sisters in ways that are far from loving.  Even Anne Graham Lotz talks about her own experience being hurt by Christians in her book Wounded by God’s People. And she also freely admits at times she’s been the one to wound. 

We all have. 

What we need to do right now, though, is regroup, repent, claim Christ’s commandment, and start loving one another. 

Jesus tell us in Matthew 5, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

And in Mark 11, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

We don’t know how long we have here before Christ returns.  Right now we may be experiencing a time when God is speaking to us, desiring that revival among His people first, preparing us, completing us, fully maturing us before He takes us up with Him, and also desiring revival throughout the world, the salvation of as many souls as possible before that time.  

We need to start the revival through our own repentance, forgiveness, and commitment, through Christ, to love one another as Christ loves the Church.

And then maybe, just maybe, the world will sit up and take notice of our love for one another. And in their desperate need for that kind of love, will be drawn to Christ, and repent, and forgive, be saved, and through Him, begin loving one another.