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Straight From The Pulpit
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Pastor Larry
Gatlin, So. Oregon
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Jer
29:11-14 NKJV For I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and
pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you
will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with
all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,
says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you
from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the
LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried
away captive.
Hey
Friends, I was at the Pastor’s Renewal Conference in Albany Oregon last week
and I feel like I would like to share some thoughts that Pastor Denny Cline
shared. You will be able to see that I will add some of my own revelation that
the Lord has given me personally. But I’m certain that they are all in keeping
with and in harmony what Pastor Denny shared.
As I begin I have to open up with a thought
that totally captivated my heart. It is this. We are living in such a time that
we cannot afford to let our hearts, thoughts, and imaginations stray from the
leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must become absolutely dependant
upon His wisdom, leading, courage, and direction. It is extremely important for
each of us to understand this at this point and time in history.
So we
must all determine in our hearts to stay focused upon Jesus and the truth of
Gods Word. (Written and Living) So often we see things only through the lens of
our natural man. But we must learn to see everything through the lens of the
Word of God and the Holy Spirit. In order to accomplish this we must develop a
more intimate relationship with the Lord than we have ever had before.
Several
weeks ago the Lord directed me to start spending Sunday mornings from 8 a.m. to
9:30 a.m. soaking in His presence. I put on worship music and allow myself to
completely concentrate of the presence and the Glory of the Lord. I have
noticed an amazing difference in the direction the services have taken since
then. We have had a greater presence of the Holy Spirit since we started these
times.
It
has to do with drawing closer to the Lord. I am going to use a portion of scripture
here to make a point. He has promised that if we will draw near to Him He will
draw near to us. My emphasis is on drawing near to the Lord. If any other part
of the scripture touches your hear then fell free to respond. But my whole
thought is that in any given time in our lives if we will draw close to Him, He
will respond by drawing close to us. I constantly desire to be as close to Him
as I can. I don’t want to ever stray from His presence. I want Him flowing
through me at all times in my life.
James
4:7-10 NKJV Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn
and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
If you decide to draw near to Him it will take
a couple of things. One, you’ll have to discipline yourself to set aside the
time. We are living in a world that is rush, rush, and hurry up. It looks like
we never have the time we desire to spend with the Lord. But if we will apply
the D-WORD, (discipline) we will realize that we can always make time to spend
with the one we LOVE the most.
Sometimes
we have to do a heart check – up. That’s when we examine our hearts and ask our
self if we LOVE Him as much as we say we do.
Something
that we must learn to do is to align ourselves with God and His perfect will
for our lives. When you build a house you start by making certain that the
foundation is plumb and in proper alignment; if it isn’t the whole building
will be off. Years ago while pasturing a small church I took several outside
jobs to help support our family. I began and spent several hours getting the
walls framed and standing. The next day I went in and the walls were completely
out of alignment. For a long time I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. But
then I realized that some one had come along and cut the floor plate out where
the doors were going to be. It only took those few cuts to through the whole
house out of alignment. It turned out that the couple I was building the house
for came by and the wife got so excited about seeing the walls up that she
wanted to cut the doorways out. But you see you can’t do that until the whole
frame is complete and everything is secure. The problem was that it was no
longer in alignment.
My
point is, we must get in alignment with the Lord and remain in alignment with
all He desires to do for and in our lives. We must have the plumb line of the
Holy Spirit applied to our lives and allow Him to direct us. We must position
ourselves. We accomplish it by, prayer, the Word, worship, fellowship, and
instruction to receive all that Father has for us.
So it
is time for us to FOCUS on developing a vital and living intimacy with the
Lord. A relationship that will open our hearts to receive, wisdom,
understanding, revelation, and a closer walk with Jesus in the Spirit.
