Amazing God

Our Lord is so faithful and I am amazed that He uses you and I to do His work on this Earth. Although, we will never fully understand all He's doing in us and through us, we can be so grateful that He overcomes so much to use you and I. If you are feeling inadequate today...join the club. The less adequate we are, the more glory He receives!

HPC's response to Haiti

Being part of the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina, I learned many valuable lessons. One of the most important, for me, was to be flexible enough to ensure we met the immediate and pressing needs of the people. For example, there is no need to send toothbrushes if people don't have enough water to drink. We would feel good about ourselves by helping, but completely miss the need.

What we have implemented, to assess the specific needs is to have trained and skilled people who assess the needs on the ground in Haiti and communicate back to us. Here is the need: Rainy season is coming in two weeks and there are tens of thousands of people without ANY SHELTER AT ALL. They are sleeping on the open ground in refugee camps and other areas.

We need as many tarps-plastic, vinyl, and tents as we can get to be brought to the church on Sunday. Note: Don't buy one tent which will house one family when you could buy 4 durable, water proof tarps which will house four families. However, if you have a tent to donate, bring that too.

Lastly, we have teams going every Friday with churches we are in relationship with. If you feel called by God to go, the cost will be around $1,000 which will pay for your airfare and ground-costs for a week.

This is a real, tangible, and easy way for us to be "a healing place for a hurting world" for our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Let's shine the love of Christ over this nation.

What's your assignment?

Luke 4:1-2, 14-15 NIV 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry...14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised Him.

Fasting and prayer are essential to receiving a clear vision of God’s specific path for our lives. Many times following a season of prayer and fasting we have a more defined understanding of the part that we play in the body of Christ and a greater sense of our particular spiritual giftings. (1 Corinthians 12)

This chapter in the Gospel of Luke describes the circumstances surrounding the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Notice that He went into the desert “full of the Holy Spirit.” However, He returned to Galilee, “in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Being full of the Spirit is knowing God and his character; walking in the power of the Spirit is when we know that we have the God-given strength and authority in our lives to walk out His will.

The power of the Spirit is essential for us to accomplish the assignment God has for our lives. God could be leading you to fast so that you can receive His specific instructions for your life. He will empower you, not just to know Him, but to walk in His power to accomplish what He has called you to do.

Are there areas of your life that need more clarity? Are you walking in the power of the Spirit and living in God’s purpose for your life? Write down those things God is speaking to you. As you conclude your fast, pray that God continually reveals His purpose and gives you ever increasing clarity and strength to walk it out.

Clean House

Romans 8:5-6 5 For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Have you ever looked up at your ceiling fan blades or in the deep recesses of your couch cushions and noticed the filth that builds up over time? Even though we might clean on a regular basis, there are times when we need to go...a little deeper. We realize that what appeared to be clean on the surface was in all actuality, quite filthy.

The same thing can happen spiritually. As we go about our daily lives, there are things that can build up over time. Even if we regularly worship, pray and read our Bible, the different pressures and cares of this world can quietly build up, and end up consuming our lives. Without even realizing it, we can lose our peace, our joy, and our passion for the things of God. Our service to God, which used to fill us with life and excitement, becomes a duty that we must fulfill.

Fasting is the deep cleaning that helps us take our mind off of the things of this world and instead have a refreshed focus on the things of the Spirit. It is an incredibly effective way to get into the nooks and crannies of our soul and bring all those dusty old habits, broken mindsets and rusty attitudes out into the light of God’s truth. In fasting and prayer, our service to God returns to something we want to do rather than something we have to do.

As you pray and fast today, ask God to show you any areas where you could use a refreshed spiritual focus. Like David, in Psalm 51:10-12, pray that God will cleanse your heart, renew your spirit, and restore the joy of your salvation. Pray with confidence, knowing that He wants to fill you with His life and peace.

Hear Him

Matthew 17:5b, 8 NLT 5 “This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy, Listen to Him”.... 8 And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.

On the Mount of Transfiguration three disciples had an experience that showed us the Father’s plan for a New Covenant. Jesus took Peter, James and John up to the top of a mountain where He was transfigured into His glorified state. Up until this point, they related to God through the law (Moses), or through the prophets (Elijah). After the vision, Peter eagerly offered to erect three tabernacles – one for each. Then a loud voice from Heaven was heard saying, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to Him”. When the disciples looked up, they saw only Jesus.

On the mountain, God made it clear that we would only discover His pleasure by following Jesus. God’s grace is freely given to those who have received new life in Him. Sometimes though, there are areas of our lives where we do not fully embrace God’s grace. There may be circumstances or areas where we still try to earn our way to the Father. You cannot earn God’s pleasure, but you can walk in it as you follow Jesus Christ. As you seek God today, seek Him for a greater revelation of Jesus in your heart; for only then are you reminded that you are a beloved child of God. He finds pleasure in you.

How does understanding the New Covenant of grace change the focus of your fast? As you pray and seek after God, let His be the loudest voice you hear.

Fervent Prayer

James 5:16b The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Fervency speaks of our level of intensity, passion and persistence. Many times, we can lose our passion in prayer or stop praying for certain things altogether because we lose heart or give up. But God invites us to keep them before Him and trust Him for an answer in His time. (Matthew 7:7-11)

The Old Testament prophet, Elijah, practiced a lifestyle of fervent, intense prayer and he witnessed incredible miracles in his lifetime as a result. In 1 Kings 17:17-24, we read of a woman whose only son became ill and died. When Elijah heard the news he quickly took action and did what he knew best – he fervently cried out to God. Elijah fully believed that God could bring the boy back to life, and he didn’t pray just once. It is recorded that he prayed three times for the boy’s soul to return to him. He prayed fervently, repeatedly and he wasn’t going to give up. Verse 22 reads, “then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.”

Elijah’s prayer was answered through his persistence and fervency. God hears your prayers as well and will bring an answer in His perfect timing. But don’t be discouraged or disheartened if the answer is not exactly what you expected. Commit to praying to God with passion and persistence, trusting the answer will come in God’s perfect way and in His perfect timing.

Reliance on God

Romans 7:18-20 NLT 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong, it is sin living in me that does it.

There’s an internal war that often wages within each and every one of us. Paul describes this so well here in Romans 7 – we desire to do the right thing, but in our own efforts, we don’t have the power to and we mess up.

The good news is that we don’t have to rely on our own strength to make right decisions. We don’t have to be dominated by our sinful nature and end up doing the things we don’t want to do. But the only way we can live this kind of life is by yielding to the Holy Spirit and relying on the strength of Jesus Christ, not our own.

When we’re facing struggles, we must rely on God’s power alive within us through the Holy Spirit. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit resides in us and places in us the desire to do what is pleasing to God. (Hebrews 10:16) The Holy Spirit always wants to do what is right. He always wants to uphold the perfect will of God, pleasing the Father in every way. It is our job to lay down our stubborn fleshly will and yield to the will of God. In that moment, the Holy Spirit will be there to help us in our time of need. Instead of trusting in our own strength, let’s learn to yield to and become totally reliant upon the Holy Spirit.

Are there areas in your life causing an internal struggle? Make a decision today that you will yield to the Holy Spirit and lean on His strength, not your own, to overcome obstacles of sin and selfishness in your life. Surrender and release those areas to God, knowing He will help you.