Faith

LORD, ARE YOU OUT THERE?
ARE YOU LISTENING?
WILL YOU ANSWER?

I struggle with faith.

THERE!  I've said it.

I've heard tell that confession is good for the soul; I've done my soul a good turn.  It's out in the open. I feel better, getting it out there, saying the words, admitting the issue.

Have you struggled with faith?  With trusting God when there is little to no tangible evidence?  When your heart is hurting, your life seems a mess and there is SILENCE from heaven?

What about when you've seen evidence, there have been answers, your heart has been comforted and assured; but you still find your mind and thoughts huddled trembling around the idea of "what about THIS time?!?!"

Or how do you "have faith" when the answer to the last prayer was a "No" but here you are, again, and where else can you turn but to heaven for help?

You are not alone.  Struggling with faith and prayer has been around since Adam and Eve left the garden of Eden.

Everyone struggles with faith and prayer.

Some overcome it with what appears to be ease.  In other lives the battle is fiercer, more evident, of longer duration and even constant and ongoing.

We are always faced with choice.  Blessed or cursed, we have free will.  To believe or not is always our own decision.  The war is always fought in the physical, yet exists in the spiritual.

If you are looking for a 'one size fits all' shot of faith stabilizer - it doesn't exist.

And I for one CELEBRATE that fact!  Our infinitely creative Father made every single one of us so perfectly individual, so unique, so special, that there is always ONE ANSWER to every issue:

JESUS

but totally exclusive, one of a kind particulars to the path leading to the answer.

The bible teaches us the basic tenants of faith, but it is our life experiences and our maturity and understanding that determine the shape and flavor and aroma that faith takes in our lives.  Our personalities are engaged in the faith that we present.

Introverts have a tendency to display quiet faith

Extroverts have a tendency to display boisterous faith

The Old Testament is full of different flavors of faith displayed as examples to us.  Jacob wrestled with faith toward God (Genesis 32) which took on a physical wrestling match resulting in  both a physical and spiritual result.

Abraham struggled to believe and actually laughed at the idea of God intervening in his life (Genesis 17:17) and his wife Sarah had the same reaction! (Genesis 18:12)

The Israelites saw the mighty power of God (Exodus 14:30) displayed in full splendor, and after a moment of thanks, they sank into unbelief, lacking the faith that God would even provide the most basic necessity of food and water to them! (Exodus 15)

IN the New Testament, the original 12 disciples that spent three years under the direct teaching of Jesus, sharing meals with Him, praying with Him, witnessing first hand the most incredible miracles done by Him; yet they experienced struggles of faith.  

In the boat when the storm came up (Mark 4) and again when the multitude needed food (Matthew 14) and again when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22).  There were many incidences recounted and I'm sure many more never recorded of these men, who walked and ate and talked with the Lord daily for over 3 years, struggling with faith.

We will all struggle with faith in one way or another.

The victory comes when we don't give in and we don't give up.  We remain constant in prayer, even to asking in our own way the same thing one father asked of Jesus when he requested healing for his child. (Mark 9:20-24)

"Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!"

Sometimes when we read the Bible, the way stories are presented it is easy to get the idea that people cried out to the Lord and instantly received answers and moved seamlessly from one spiritual triumph to the next with no struggle at all.

I just re-read a book about the life of George Mueller.  If you had no understanding of human nature you would probably get the same impression about his life.  

He prayed, God answered and allelujah's went up immediately!

His own diaries put that lie to rest.  

Yes, he made a practice of seeking answers from God alone, asking no other persons for help.

Yes, he saw miraculous answers to those prayers.

He also struggled with faith.  BUT - he struggled less as he practiced faith.  

That is the ONE KEY you and I need to unlock strong faith in our own prayers lives.

PRACTICE!!

Daniel, that giant of faith whose prayer life is chronicled in the Old Testament also experienced DELAY in getting answers to his prayers.  But he didn't quit and give up.  He persevered.  He continued.  He practiced!

Every great piano player has one thing in common; practice.

Every great athlete has a common trait; they practice!

Everyone who achieves a high level of success has also achieved a high level of failure they have had to overcome by practicing until they have it right and then the success comes!

Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light bulb is credited with saying:

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up!"

(While he is often also credited with being an atheist, this is not the actual truth! See Article)

Our encouragement to you and to ourselves today is simply this; commit ourselves to practice faith.

Never give up.

Never give in.

Never quit.

Practice faith in all it's forms:

* Ingest daily food for your soul through READING GODS WORD every day!

* Pray regularly as a daily habit; practicing faith to improve and strengthen it in your life!

* Choose belief over unbelief.  No, I'm not advocating mindless, blind trust.  I am advocating choosing to walk by faith, as the bible encourages us (2Corinthians 5:7)

The only way to grow in skill is to practice that skill.  Practice operating by faith.  Practice prayer.

That's what we're doing here at Turn the Tide Ministries.  We haven't perfected it yet, but we haven't failed, for we will never cease to practice.

Click on COMMENT and commit along with us to practice faith in God through the daily reading of His Word and daily prayer.

God bless you with increase as you practice faith!  We are praying for you! Pray for us, too, won't you?

Faith versus Flesh

Have you ever thought about how prayer and faith work?  I know I have been praying for all the years of my life that I can remember (which puts us at 50+) and I still wonder how it all works!

The prophet Daniel, who's story is found in the Old Testament of the Bible, prayed and kept praying for 21 days.  After 21 days an Angel showed up and explained that an evil spirit had delayed him coming.  What if Daniel had STOPPED praying after the first day?  Would the Angel still have showed up?

Daniel 10: 12-13 Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

Is the Lord moving on our circumstances dependent on our praying about them?  Where then is Faith?  How do faith and action work together?

James 2: 14 - 26  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

If we stop praying, will God STOP working in our lives?
Job 42:10 AFTER Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored....

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednago had FAITH that God would save them.  What if they had obeyed in refusing to worship the Kings false idols but their FAITH had wavered?  What if just ONE of them had doubted?  Would they still have been saved from the fiery furnace?

When David faced Goliath, suppose the first rock hadn't felled the giant?  Would David have had the gumption to throw a second one?  He had, after all, picked up 5, not just one.

Is prayer about getting God to move on our behalf?  Or is prayer about getting US aligned with Gods truth?
Mark 9:24 "immediately the father of the child cried out and said "I believe, Help my unbelief!"

We know that the words we speak are powerful weapons.
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue...

How powerful are the thoughts we think?  What about the feelings we experience?  Does how we feel also impact our world?

Luke 6:45 
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

WHAT MOVES THE HEART OF GOD?

I know from the story of Hezekiah in the Old Testament that our powerfully emotional pleas reach Gods ears and DO MOVE His heart on our behalf. 

Consider the story found in Isaiah 38: 1-5:

In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,  and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,  “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.

Right about now is where most people would expect I will reveal my "5 steps to putting faith into action" or "3 Ways to pray for the greatest answers".

Faith is about the heart before God, and each of us is individual in our hearts. As long as the basic elements of truth as laid out by Jesus are in evidence, see Matthew 6: 9- 13, it is certain from the examples in the Bible and in the lives of many millions of Gods children over the years of history that indeed, PRAYER operated in FAITH by a heart humbled before the Lord, works miracles.

Some receive answers quickly.  For others it takes times.  Some get the exact answer they want, others get the answer that is better for their circumstances than they were aware of.  But all who call upon the name of the Lord and pray get answers.  And isn't that the actual point in the first place?  To know we are not alone, we are not forsaken, we are not without hope.

Fruitful - productive, alive, nourishing
Action - exerting energy in specific ways
In 
Trusting - relying upon, being dependent on
Him - God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

combined with prayer is one of the most powerful sources in all the Universe that God created.  

FATHER, I pray right now that these words of encouragement will lift and strengthen and empower the hearts and minds and lives of those reading them to reach out to YOU in whatever way they can or will or have learned, and because of that reaching out, they will receive knowledge of THE TRUTH and their eyes will be ENLIGHTENED and they will KNOW YOU and the power of the RESURRECTED CHRIST, YOUR SON JESUS, and it will set them FREE and deliver them into ETERNAL LIFE and glorify YOUR NAME, in JESUS name I ask, AMEN

When I'm not sure what to do....

When I'm not sure what to do, I get on my knees and ask God for guidance.

I'd really love to tell you that He answers, immediately and decisively, and I get up off my knees and obediently and immediately do what He has answered and get on with life and everything is simple and straightforward and even, easy.

But....

That is very often NOT how that goes.

Most often, my emotions interfere with getting to the point where I get on my knees and ask God for guidance without an agenda already existing in my heart.  So I'm not on my knees asking, so much as I'm on my knees telling.  Telling God to do this or do that, or do it this way or within these boundaries....etc etc

My feelings have to be dealt with, so even if I've made it to my knees, having gotten beyond my selfish need to control the asking and outcome of why I'm there, when I get up I find I still have deal with how I feel, and push past that in order to CHOOSE obedience sometimes in spite of my feelings.

As I've said before, a great deal of prayer isn't that it changes the situations around us.
It's that it changes us!  Which causes us to treat the situations around us differently, which then changes those situations.

I'm so thankful that God considers our hearts - He concerns Himself with our DESIRE to obey, not the often inability of our flesh to obey.  He works with us, challenges us to grow, and gives us opportunity to learn and get it right.  He never gives up on us.  He never walks away from us.  He never leaves us or forsakes us.
Every time we get on our knees before Him (or sit or stand or lay down or whatever position you are in for prayer) He is there, ready to meet us at our point of need and bring us up to His standard.

So go ahead.  Get on your knees.  As often as you need to until your heart and your flesh are both lined up with Gods perfect will.  He is infinitely patient.  And He isn't keeping score on how long it takes you or how many tries.  He just wants you to keep walking with Him and growing with Him and letting Him have His way in your heart and life.

Thank you Jesus!

In the morning when we rise....

Our morning experience sets our tone for the entire day.  

If we wake up groggy, the whole day may seem to be lived in a groggy fog, even after coffee is administered.  Waking up and becoming bright eyed and bushy tailed can be as simple as taking a moment before we hop from beneath the covers, to greet our Lord!  Somehow that can make any day easier to deal with, even if later on in our day we suffer a set back.

For this reason the Psalmist exhorts:

Psalm 5: 1-3
Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my meditation.
2 Give heed to the voice of my cry,
My King and my God,
For to You I will pray.
3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.

Starting each day taking the time to get centered in the Lord sets up your heart to handle whatever may come your way each day.  For each day, you will have been calmly, lovingly reminded that you are not alone.  You are never alone.  Having read the words in the morning, they will come back to strengthen you throughout your day.

When you walk in agreement with Almighty God, maker of Heaven and maker of Earth, since nothing is too difficult for Him, and you abide in Him, nothing will be too difficult for you.  For truly you CAN do alla things through Him who loves you!

His peace will keep you, His love will sustain you.  His favor will provide for you.

Lamentations 3:22-24 

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.   They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

Hope in the Lord, trust in the Lord and discover the JOY of the Lord in your daily living!  You will not be sorry, but you just might get happy.

When you pray....

Have you ever prayed - and nothing happened?  Then sometime later - answer to your prayer is received, but you may have forgotten you even prayed and so you don't notice?

I know that sounds odd, but I recently realized that actually has happened to me.  I thought it may have happened to others as well.  We think God hasn't heard us, hasn't answered us.  Life, our daily ups and downs and minor drama's continues and we forget prayers we prayed that seemed like a big deal at the time we prayed them, but now other concerns have crowded our hearts and minds for attention and we don't remember.

God's timing for answer comes and God hasn't forgotten.

In the Gospel of John I was reading chapter 7 this morning when verse 6 leapt out at me.

John 7: 6  Then Jesus said to them "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready."

His timing isn't always OUR TIMING.  We want everything now, now, NOW!  Yet God always knows when the exact right time is.

Some who keep prayer journals have probably, like myself, gone back to read over what they've prayed in the past and suddenly seen that a prayer they forgot about was answered by the Lord.... in His perfect timing and not according to our timetables.

Our God is faithful... and He never forgets!

Lift your voice in prayer and put your trust in the One who loves you unconditionally.
Bless you today, in Jesus name!

PRAYER CHANGES EVERYTHING-MOSTLY US!

JUDE 1:20 But you beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit....

There is much that the Bible has to say about prayer - communication with the Almighty Who Created us.  One quick look will reveal many things you may not have thought about recently, and there is far too much to try to do each scripture justice in this limited space.

To me, the most powerful reason to pray on a regular consistent basis remains this simple truth:

If Jesus, the Son of God Who is perfect and sinless felt the need to pray and communicate with His Father on such a consistent basis, as indicated by scripture:

MARK 1:35  And rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.

LUKE 5:16  But He would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

...how much MORE do I, an imperfect sinner, need to pray?  A lot more than I do, I am sure!

Recent "worldly" studies have revealed many powerful reasons to pray.

• People undergoing surgeries who pray heal faster and more completely with far less complications than those who don't

• People who indicated they pray on a fairly regular basis reported being "happier" overall in their lives than those who do not pray at all

• People who pray have a more optimistic view than those who don't

When you combine prayer with a belief system and pray specifically to the Lord, the effects are even more dramatic.  Miracles happen when we go in simple faith before the Lord and make our requests known to Him.  Our hearts begin to believe and so we begin to see how the Hand of God truly works in our lives.  We may even begin to see that God isn't only about BIG MIRACLES taking place.  

When we develop in ourselves a consistent regular relationship with the Creator of all things, we begin to see that He is indeed involved in the every day occurrences of our lives.  We see how the 'ordinary' things of daily living work together to bring about extraordinary circumstances. 

One of the greatest differences prayer makes is in our own hearts.  Praying changes US, more than anything else.  Take my life as an example.  Being high energy, I have also always been a very impatient person.  Waiting in lines can be as difficult for me as climbing Mount Everest would be for others.  

When I finally became impatient enough with my own impatience, as it interfered with my ability to witness the love of Christ many times, I began to pray in earnest for intervention from the Lord.  At first, I noticed that I NOTICED my own impatience in greater detail, from how it made me feel, to how it effected others around me.  Being more aware of how I was negatively impacting other people made me more desirous of changing this aspect of my personality.  It didn't happen overnight, much as I would have liked a quick resolve to my impatience problem!

Instead, the Lord walked me through the process so I gained wisdom and understanding.  My first prayers were all about ME.  My focus was on me, how I felt, what I wanted.  I wanted to be more patient so I would look good to others!  I was more concerned with ME than with anyone else!

As I continued to pray about this specific issue, my eyes began to open more and more, about how this trait impacted others.  And as I saw, my heart changed.  Soon, I wanted to be patient, not to make me look good, but because I genuinely did not want to hurt others.

Prayer changed my heart.  My changed heart brought change to my behavior. WHY?  Because out of the HEART come the issues of life! Selfishness does not show the love of Christ.  Love is NOT selfish! Compassion and care for others shows the love of Christ.  My reason for wanting change had to change first in order to truly honor God.  

Prayer is a powerful tool (I often call it the most powerful tool) in the arsenal of a believer.  Desire to obey God leads us to pray in ways that lead us to that very obedience.  Prayer changes our hearts, and our changed hearts causes us to see situations and people differently.  Then we behave differently - and that changes the situations!

There are times when God changes circumstances miraculously as well.  I've seen that awesome result of prayer occur too.

How we pray - kneeling, standing, lieing down or sitting; out loud or silently; head bowed; eyes open or closed; hands clasped or by our sides or lifted in the air - is not as important as THAT we pray!  Whatever posture you feel most comfortable in, whatever posture puts your heart in the right place for prayer is the posture you should assume.  What is truly important is that you do pray!

Prayer takes many forms as well.  You may be asking for something.  You may be giving thanks for things.  You may simply by worshiping, praising and adoring the Creator of all things.  You may even be SILENT, listening intently for the still small voice of God to lead, guide and direct you in a situation.  

You may cry, you may shout, you may whisper, you may laugh, you may jump with joy and adulation.

JUST PRAY.  Pray and watch as the Lord hears and responds to His beloved children communicating with Him.

We believe in the power of prayer.  Fill out the prayer request form and Turn the Tide Ministries absolutely WILL pray for you!  

We've watched God turn the tide in many lives, starting with our own!  We know He will turn the tide of circumstance in yours as well, when you lift your voice and ask.

PRAYER CHANGES THINGS. 

QUIET PRAYERS

Have you ever prayed a prayer….and then forgotten it?  Until sometime later, when you suddenly realize that God has given you what you prayed for? When there is a crisis or something of grave importance, we have a tendency to pray and pray ceaselessly entreating the Lord at the throne of grace until we see an answer.  

But I have found that the prayers that are not crisis driven, the simple prayers, the whispers of our hearts truest desires, delivered to the Lord in simple faith and then let go of, those prayers are still heard, and often answered in the most miraculous ways, yet we seldom shout about them from the roof tops.  The everyday prayer.  The ordinary prayer.  The whispered prayer. The quiet prayer.

Jabez prayed like that.  Many only know about it because his quiet request was made much of in recent years by someone who took his quiet prayer and made it very public, and then it was  turned it into a mantra to be repeated like a magic talisman from a Harry Potter story.  As if, if we repeated someone else’s words of prayer often enough it could, it would - somehow compel the Lord, Creator of Heaven and earth to answer our way in our time.  As if He Himself had no power to resist it and must give what we requested.

I think we had it very wrong.  I know we had it very wrong!  The very idea that God MUST do anything according to our will, for the Lord our God is sovereign and follows His own will, not the will we attempt to impose upon Him.  His will alone is perfect, unselfish and stands the test of all Eternity.  And there is no magic prayer formula, not even what we call the Lords Prayer.  Jesus prayed that prayer as an example of how we are to pray, yet He also declared we are not to repeat endlessly, senseless, babbling, repetitious words, but are to pray from our hearts.

Matthew 6:5-8

 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

I prayed a prayer like that, like Jabez’ prayer, a quiet prayer.  A prayer that lived at the very edge of my memory and was almost forgotten by me, so quiet it was.  A whispered prayer that went straight from my heart to the heart of the Lord my God, who never forgot it, but kept it, nurtured it until His time had come to fulfill it in my life.  I could wish it were answered sooner, but because He brought it all to pass according to His perfect will and timing, I am deeply, thankfully, joyfully content because the timing has been and is absolutely perfect.  And I give thanks, praise and glory to my Lord for His answers to quiet, almost forgotten prayers.

We know that the fervent prayers of a righteous man avail much.  They, too are full of the power of words offered up as sacrifice, as plea, as genuine and authentic request, not demand, to a loving, caring, omnipotent God who hears and answers His people in the way that is so perfect we could never even begin to conceive of its perfection when it is answered in His timing according to His will. 

I have said it many times before and will repeat it for those who may not know.

Prayer is the most powerful tool in the spiritual arsenal of a believer, fighting the good fight of faith.

Your prayer requests will be honored by this ministry.   Fill out the request form found in the upper left hand corner.  We would be so honored if you choose to share with us the answers God brings to your humble, simple, quiet prayers of faith.  God bless you and keep you, in Jesus name!

IMAGINATION

About 8 years ago I received a postcard in the mail, eye catching picture similar to the one I've shared here, with the caption boldly splashed across the top:

IMAGINE WHAT GOD COULD DO...

The possibilities seemed endless and breathtaking!  Imagine what God could do!  On the other side it advertised some Christian gathering and the theme of course was just that - Imagine what God could do and expanded that a bit with the word  "if".

IF you attended this conference...imagine what God could do in your life!

IF you gave an offering...imagine what God could do for you in return!

IF you just fell in line with the belief system and theology and behavior and dress and if you just fell in step with this ministry and it's teachings...imagine what God would be willing to do for you.

Flash forward about 8 years.  I don't remember much about the ad on the other side, but every time I open my refrigerator and without my even really being aware, I'm "seeing" that picture and those words.  Even the time we've been in the RV traveling it was taped to the fridge, it had so captured my imagination!  Then this week it hit me!  IMAGINE WHAT GOD COULD DO???  Nothing is impossible with God!  There is NOTHING God is not capable of doing nor is there anything He withholds from His children.  And praise God, it most certainly isn't dependent on ME what God could do or we would be in some serious trouble.  And we are in serious trouble, when we've come to the place where, even subtly, we think of God in terms of our control or subject to our actions.

Everything that every human being does is in RESPONSE to the Almighty God, Creator and Master of all heaven, all earth and everything in it.  This prevailing, subtle, sneaky and extremely DANGEROUS idea that God moves, works, thinks, feels or acts in response to us is the devils most clever lie EVER since the Garden of Eden!  In II Timothy specifically the end of chapter 2 and into chapter 3, Paul is warning against just this kind of captivity of lies an deceits that man is of the utmost importance and the universe behaves in response to man.  You should read all of this book for a full picture, but let's take a look at a piece of it.

II Timothy 2: 26, 3: 1-9  ...and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.  But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away!  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

Paul goes on to instruct Timothy not only how to avoid this foolish behavior but to follow righteous behavior leading to true godliness.  Please bear with me while I repeat myself for instructions sake.  Everything a human being does is in response to the Almighty Father in Heaven.  Whether that response is acceptance or rejection, WE DO THE RESPONDING.  We are instructed to pray, yet Jesus clearly tells us God already knows what our needs are  (Matthew 6: 8).  We believe Christ died for us and receive the gift of salvation according to Gods plan (Ephesians 1:4), not ours. God already has everything in place and IF we respond according to His instructions we receive the blessing.    The land of Canaan already belonged to the Israelites, God had already declared He had given it to them.  They needed to respond to Gods gift in order to receive it.  It is subtle, but important.  It is a heart matter, that the very thought pattern, to be righteous, must be "God has provided, so I will ask and receive" and not "I will ask so God will provide".

So it struck me hard the other day, when I passed by the fridge and glanced at the familiar postcard that we have it wrong!  It isn't and can not be  IMAGINE WHAT GOD COULD DO...for there is nothing impossible with God, but really ought to be IMAGINE WHAT WE COULD EXPERIENCE if we trusted and believed GOD and responded accordingly and obediently.  We would experience the JOY of the Lord that is our strength, the power of the Holy Spirit in our situations, the PEACE of God that passes all understanding and the FELLOWSHIP with our Heavenly Father that knows no bounds!

II Timothy 3:16-17  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, thoruroughly equipped for every good work.

IMAGINE WHAT YOU COULD EXPERIENCE IF YOU TRULY TRUSTED

 AND BELIEVED GOD TO THE END THAT YOU OBEY HIM IN ALL THINGS!

Turn the Tide Ministries is dedicated to changing lives one at a time for the increase of Gods Kingdom and the Glory of God the Father.  Starting with our own lives and moving outward, we obey our Lord as surrendered living epistles of His great and glorious grace.  Join us every Sunday for practical applications to your everyday lives of Gods rich and wonderful WORD OF TRUTH to His children until He comes to gather us HOME.

PRAYER K.I.S.S.E.S.

PRAYER:  
Keep It Spiritually Sound Even Simple!

In the same spirit of keeping is super simple, I won't write a whole lot, just enough for you to meditate on and grow from.

There's a lot that gets said about prayer.  Some feel it should be formal, fancy words, written out, repeated the same each time.  Some feel it should be from the heart, spontaneous, different each time.

Jesus prayed regularly, communing with the Father, and so should we.  But don't obsess about the words, the structure of your prayers.  

Because God doesn't consider our flesh, but instead, He looks at the heart of every person.

Prayer is less about the sounds we utter from our lips and more about THE TRUTH GOD HEARS FROM THE DEPTHS OF OUR HEARTS.

Proverbs 4:23  Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK! WE'RE PRAYING FOR YOU.

Insignificant deeds

I Timothy 2:1  "Therefore I exhort FIRST OF ALL that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for ALL MEN..."

Let me tell you about an interesting encounter we had at the checkout stand.  As we paid for our groceries, we had the coins to make the change, but as we sought them the young man in line behind us was much quicker to the draw and supplied the needed nickel.  We began to protest but quieted ourselves swiftly, understanding that God wanted to allow this opportunity of giving on the part of the young man.  We thanked him heartily and went on our way.

As we packed the bags away, he emerged from the store, walked over to us and asked a question.  Following the leading of the Holy Spirit we offered to pray for him, which he accepted with joy.  The Lord led the prayer and there was healing and deliverance in it toward him.  I don't need to go into the specifics, but it was specific to meeting his need and showing him clearly the Lord cared for the hidden things (at least the things he thought were hidden from others, but God knew what they were!) and was deeply concerned about him, loved him and desired blessings to rain down in his life.

When we concluded praying, we hugged all around and sent him on his way with encouragement to contact us and let us know how he was doing, which he promised to do.   I've no doubt we'll hear from him, and that we'll hear of wondrous things God has wrought in his life.  I've no doubt that by the power of the Holy Spirit the Lord will be directing this young mans steps and that dark strangleholds were indeed broken as we prayed, that this young man walks in a new freedom and new sense of who he is in Christ.

Paul goes on to exhort Timothy, and US in I Timothy 2:3 "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior Who desires ALL MEN to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Insignificant acts of obedience in which God is significantly Glorified.  Changing lives one at a time.  Praying for ONE person, reaching out to ONE person, interceding for ONE person in obedience to the Lords word to us is GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE in the sight of God and accomplishes HIS PURPOSES.

Reach out to one person, offer to pray with them and watch what God will do!

We pray for all those who will allow us the privilege and would be honored to pray for you.  REQUEST PRAYER  and make your need known.  We'll be praying for you!

Knocking on Doors

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we were going door to door and offering to pray for people.  Only one said no and shut the door on us.  Most were very pleasantly surprised and responded positively to the offer, made with no strings attached.  We knocked on the next door and a man answered.  He seemed rather distracted, but invited us in and asked us to sit down.  We made the offer to pray and he accepted, but had some questions he wanted to asked first.

At the end of our impromptu interview, he allowed us to pray for him and his family.  He asked where we gathered on Sunday and we told him along with a welcome to join us anytime he chose.

His children began attending regularly and became part of the church family.  Several times when they were not working he and his wife joined us as well.

As we are a traveling ministry, the time came for us to move on.  Joyfully we bid farewell to our new friends and followed the Lords leading once more to parts unknown.  Several months later we received a phone call from the pastor of that church we'd worked with while in that area.  He asked if we remembered the gentleman on who's door we had knocked who subsequently visited the church.  We said we did.  Then he shared a story that reminded us and encouraged us in the work God has called us to.

Pastor began "Jim (not his real name) called me out of the blue the other day.  He wanted to share a story for me to pass on to you.  He said that day we came to his door and offered to pray for him, he had at that very moment been sitting in his office.  His marriage was falling apart and his business was a mess.  He cried out to God and asked for help.  Right then is when we knocked on his door!"

Since then, with open hearts to the Lord this family has received much healing and deliverance.  If Jim hadn't called Pastor to share with him, we never would have known the impact our little insignificant act of obedience had harvested for the Glory of God Almighty!  We don't always see the result, but God always knows the end He is moving us toward.  Always, it is for not only our good but the good of others as well.

What a mighty, awesome, loving, kind and infinitely creative God we serve!  This story and so many others like it are the reason we have forsaken all to travel where the Holy Spirit leads and share the glorious Gospel of Salvation through Christ Jesus with any and all that we come in contact with.  We don't count souls harvested, we just obey our God and trust in Him with all our hearts, leaving things in His ultra capable hands!

What a joy, what a privilege to serve the Lord and fulfill His purposes in our lives.  Whatever the Lord has called you to in YOUR life, be encouraged that He is there working all things together for good even when you don't see or know the result of it.  Every insignificant act of obedience He turns to SIGNIFICANT GLORY TO HIS WONDERFUL NAME.