On Fire

My learning seems to be exploding right now.  I feel as though God is leading me to spend the time necessary to gain the insights that He has in store for me.  It’s like I can’t get enough.  I truly do get the sense, too, that God is leading me to specific teachers, based on what I need to learn and how to grow closer to Him.  It’s amazing.

The Rock San Diego – 9/21 message

• Never go to church without a question you want to have answered
• It’s better to not make a vow, than to break a vow
• God is constantly active in your life, every moment
• Stop focusing on what you want or what you don’t have, and start focusing on what God is doing in your life and what He’s trying to teach you
• In being obedient to God’s moment by moment direction, He is going to show you the answer to your prayers
• When praying, ask yourself ‘Is that the right prayer?’
• ‘God works in mysterious ways’ – so follow His lead
• If you ask God to look at you, you better look at Him (focus your heart on Him)
• Acknowledge God is there and that He hears your pain (He died for you)
• Acknowledge your position as servant
• Understand entitlement versus blessing
• The fact that you’re alive in this moment is a gift from God
• The body has functionality that occurs without you even thinking about it.  The reason God designed you that way is because if you had to think about it, you’d kill yourself.
• Make sure that everything you ask of God has something to do with how you are going to serve Him
• Answered prayer is prayer that is aligned with what God has called you to do
• Acknowledge how the delayed answer is changing your heart
• Are you copping an attitude?
• Have you changed your mind, because you’re just tired of waiting?
• Or are you humbled and being more patient and more focused?
• Delayed prayer response ‘tenderizes’ your heart and mind (preparation time)
• Delayed prayer is not necessarily a ‘no’ – it could be a ‘yes’ to something else
• If God gave you what you wanted today, and you are not ready, you would waste / squander / unappreciate the blessing
• Unanswered prayer could be His way of teaching you that you are not focused
• How consistently do you pray for it?
• What are you going to do with it?
• KEEP PRAYING, but acknowledge what He’s doing in your life – He’s not wasting your time
• If you stop pursuing it, then you really didn’t want it – and you didn’t deserve to get it in the first place
• God is saying, ‘You want it, come get it’
• Acknowledge how God will benefit if He answers ‘Yes’ to your prayer
• If You answer this prayer, here is what I will do
• If you can’t answer how God will benefit from answering your prayer, it won’t be answered
• It’s a matter of asking for something for God, not for yourself – enlist in His work
• Plan it, really think it through – come to God with a proposal and say ‘God, here’s what I’m going to do’
• If you can do this, your prayer life will explode
• It’s not about you, it’s about God
• Submit control of your answered prayer to God – A proposal IN WRITING
• I’m asking for [something]
• Here’s why I think I need it
• Here’s how I’m going to serve You and Your kingdom with it
• If you can’t write it down, you don’t know it
• Write your prayers every day – don’t pray without a pen and paper in your hand
• When God speaks to you, write it down

Amazing Facts – Bible Study session 9 (Baptism)

• It represents changing teams – you’ve changed masters and kingdoms
• It’s the marriage ceremony between you and Jesus
• The gift of the Holy Spirit is received by baptism
• It’s essential
• It is not what ‘washes away sin’
• Jesus was baptized to ‘fill all righteousness’ – to give credit to those who cannot or know not
• Emersion is the only Biblical method of baptism
• If you take away the true nature of the symbols of the Bible, you lose the meaning they represent
• You want your old nature buried
• God does not judge us for our ignorance
• Before you marry the Lord, you have to stop dating the devil
• Must be willing to walk in a new life – should not serve sin – no longer a slave to sin
• You want to know what you’re getting into, but not wait until you know everything, because you never will
• God judges babies by their innocence
• When your child is old enough to be lost, they’re old enough to be saved – if they can have their own relationship (prayer, Bible study, etc), then baptism is relevant for them
• Baptism means responsibility to the body of Christ (the church)
• Everything that Christ experienced at His baptism, God wants you to experience (Matthew 3:16)
• Heavens were opened – granted access to heaven
• Saw the Spirit of God – claim it by faith
• Peace enters into your life
• Hear a voice in heaven – God’s voice will become more clear
• Now adopted as a son of God
• God is well pleased with you
• Began a life of ministry and started a journey to the cross
• Devil tempted Him – now a threat to him
• Baptism doesn’t:
• Change the heart
• Make you feel better – faith comes first
• Remove temptation
• Guarantee salvation
• Reasons for re-baptism:
• Not baptized Biblically (by immersion)
• Back-sliding
• Person comes into a whole new understanding of Christ

The Pharisees

• The Holy Spirit always anticipates potential misunderstandings and false beliefs
• Whenever we risk missing the point, the Pharisees come to our rescue
• Pay attention to when they get upset

Continue MyBibleDiary?