I not only have a physical family, but I have a spiritual family. God is my Father. He is my authority. He's at the head of the table. I look up to Him. He imparts wisdom to us because He wants to take care of us. He wants to keep us together, unified. 

God reminded me:

• I do have value, that I am a child of the King. 
• I have been accepted in this family (with Brothers and Sisters) and I belong -- I have a place at the table. 

This vision of my family generated within me such a love for all believers, even those I'm not close to. 

The world is hungry to see true life--life with meaning. And we, as the family of God, we've got that, but we've got to see it and believe it, joining with one another. 

I believe this is the answer to unifying the body of Christ: first seeing who we are in Christ, together as a family -- Brothers and Sisters and God our Father. 

We know whose we are, who we belong to, and we trust that God knows the right thing to do. He is growing us up to know ho...

Be a vessel of honor, sanctified, prepared for any work that God has for us.

This is the surrendered life. 

To deliver something to someone on His behalf, not that you would be seen, but so that God is glorified -- that it would be done in such a way it would be exactly the way He would do it if He were here on earth, in the physical. 

Glory reflects God Himself. 

God wants His presence to dwell among us -- He will send us, who are filled with the Holy Spirit that God's countenance rests upon, so that God's presence will minister to another person

* If the Holy Spirit is hand picking you to go and deliver His presence, then be prepared out of a pure heart overflowing with the love of God and the compassion and mercy of God -- just show up. 

God used other people as His vessel to hand-deliver God's presence to me so that I could be encouraged, I could have hope, I could get through the hurt. 

God wants to use you to hand-deliver that message. You're the vessel that the Word has b...

Love. Joy. Forgive. These are powerful Biblical concepts. 

When I see Jesus' humility as He walked here on earth, I see my prideful self. Every day I have to get on the altar and cleanse my heart of pride. When I see Jesus' humility, it makes me want to humble myself before God.

Andrew Murray says: One of the first things that Jesus did for us was to forgive us of our sins, and in doing so, He considered it a joy. Because Jesus considered it a joy to forgive us of our sins, that Jesus would want us to join Him, to participate in that -- that we might forgive others and consider It a joy in our lives to do it. 

• Through forgiving (an act of the heart), it was a joy for Jesus to do what He did -- to forgive us of our sins -- all because He loved us. It was out of love.

It was a joy for Jesus to go to the cross because it was an act of forgiveness that He stepped into, on our behalf. He was willing to be afflicted, to pay that price for your sins and my sins so that we would be for...

If we would just follow the rules...

If we would just listen and obey authority, we could get out of this.

The real issue in our lives today: You can trace everything back to authority. > We don't know where to run to for the rules. They keep being changed in the physical realm. What rules do we decide are going to be our authority? And who do they come from?

* Our authority is the Word of God. God is our sovereign God. He rules. He wrote it down at the foundation of time. He spoke by the Spirit of the living God to His prophets, to His patriarchs, to His men of God: "Thus saith the Lord."

You will be a blessing to Father God and those around you. Not that you won't have problems

We have removed ourselves from the principle of authority. We have become accustomed to being our own authority, independent, calling our own shots, but yet when we get in a mess, we want to run to God and we depend on God to bail us out. We can't have it both ways.

* God wants us to come before Him and ...

Reflect on what the day means, remember how the day came about, remember how Father God was involved in bringing it about -- that we would have a nation, that we would be free to worship Him. 

Use it as a lesson going forward to meet some of the needs -- the desperation -- our nation has today. 

Remember all the things that happened in the physical -- the battles, the commitment -- to fight for independence. 

Remember the things that happened in the the spiritual -- not just so we could be independent of a British nation but so that (being independent from them) we were totally free to be dependent upon the Almighty God. 

Are we living in the fullness of the Independence Day? Are we celebrating that our nation is living in total dependency upon the Almighty God?

Before the fireworks, there was a fire of the Holy Spirit that moved across our nation. It was the Spirit of the living God that was moving among men through leaders, everyday Christians, through preachers. 

But for God, ...

It was going to take me agreeing with Him to make the change -- to change the behavior so that my health would be better. Then I could have that blissful life. 

- But if I didn't, I would compromise my health. I would stay frustrated and defeated in these little habits. 

- But I was ready to make a change. 

Is there a "nuclear threat" in our own lives where we need to make a change? Where we need to listen to Him? God is sounding the alarm to get our attention.

Do you have a little bad habit? It could be defeating us, hindering our prayers.

"God, why aren't you moving? I'm standing on your promise!" Why don't we see the miracles? Why the wait?

In the wait, in the why, maybe God sees something in us. We're walking through a time of sanctification. Is God putting the light on our lives? 

I've confessed, but I need to be delivered of this wretchedness -- that I don't keep repeating these same sins. I'm ready to be delivered. It's time to repent, to change. 

God wants to remove all...

Life is not about me. 

Yet, we're running in circles to please ourselves. From God's point of view: Life is really all about pleasing God. 

Going forward, I want to keep that at the forefront of my mind. 

Four simple steps on how to make it real in our lives -- it's like getting up every day and how we prepare to go about the day.

STEP ONE: We get up and take a bath. We cleanse the body. We make ourselves presentable. * Spiritually: We get our heart ready, cleaned up.

Why? Because we are all going to appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and we will all give an account, will all be rewarded for good or evil deeds we have done. We want to purify our heart before God -- our motives should be pure, right, and righteous. Give God that opportunity -- to make the attitude of our heart pleasing to Him.

Acknowledge sin, confess. He forgives us.

This is how we can be strengthened in the Lord. We are motivated by the love relationship with God.

STEP TWO: Clothe yourself. Don't go out...

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

Don't we immediately want to jump into those prosperous plans? 

There are plans that lead up to "those" plans so that God can achieve His will for our lives.

Righteousness means to live a balanced life. And God is always righteous. 

You are/have been on God's heart, and He has plans for you. But He wants your heart to be on His plans. 

The first step is to recognize that God's ultimate goal for you is righteousness. He is all about righteousness. He desires for you to reflect Him. 

God wants to meet us where we are. 

He wants us to think righteously, to have a mindset of righteousness at all times. 

God knows what plans to put in place to get to the "plans" we have our focus on and to achieve His purpose of righteousness. 

We can become restful in the state of acquiring this desired result. Then, knowing the comfort of the...

What is a prayer request? It's us asking God for help. 

Know that God is the God who sees -- He's everywhere. He is the sovereign God. There is nothing too hard for Him. 

How do we bring this into our faith, into asking God for help and showing the glory of God in the midst of it?

God is our Helper. Apart from His help, we cannot walk this sanctified life sufficiently. 

We might even ask: When am I going to see an answer? (Refer to the book of Habakkuk.) 

Step 1: In your specific need, ask God for help. Ask God first. (Be specific to trace the hand of God.) 

When we ask God, we allow Him to speak to us, to give us the Scripture to pray -- how He wants to move and be our Helper. Listen for Him to speak to you. It will take patience. Lean in. 

Step 2: Trust God for that word. Believe that God is your Helper and believe God as you pray that word back to Him. Trust God for that next step. 

* Before you pick up the phone to call a friend to agree with you

Step 3: Keep your heart in...

God is moving and manifesting Himself in response to prayer. 

People are refusing to remain silent. They are willing to get in the fight. They are stepping into the moment. 

Esther didn't just pray; she stepped into the moment. 

"If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise but from someone else." (Esther 4:14a)

Esther was challenged. 

Step 1: Pray. 

Step 2: Step into the action. 

God's response was relief and deliverance. 

Silent means to plow foward; to engrave, to leave a mark. 

Do what God has called you to do - don't miss the moment. Be a willing vessel. 

* Let God lead you to do something where you can make a difference for the Kingdom. 

Pray for spiritual awakening. Why? Because revival is always preceded by prayer. 

   Why spiritual awakening? Because in revival, in the time of spiritual awakening, it's when we come back to God with true repentance -- a godly sorrow that we've turned our backs on God. And during that repentance there's a true ...