Time for "The Walk"

Wednesday night "The Walk" takes off. This is our new discipleship driven service. We are kicking it off with a series titled RED. We will be studying the words of Christ, the words in red.
I have been studying the sermon on the mount and it hit me Jesus was not about starting a religion. He was all about leading people on a journey with the Father! Every principle Christ teaches us is helping us grow in our relationship with the Father and with one another through Him. The teachings of Christ always seem to fly in the face of the selfish and religious. I am so excited about the walk we are beginning together and my prayer is that it will stretch us out of our religious, selfish mindset to truly walk in the RED!

Join us @ 7pm on Wednesday evenings.

Focus

Our 21 days of prayer and fasting has ended. I know my walk with Christ has been more focused and my desire is to accomplish His will for my life. I was thinking today about the word focus. As Christians if we are not careful our focus will be mostly on the things we should not be doing. Is that really abundant life? There are certainly things as believers we should avoid and not get involved in, but, there is a bigger purpose for our lives.
We must stay focused on the things Christ wants us to accomplish right now! We need to ask ourselves constantly what Christ wants for us in this moment. Maybe He wants us to completely enjoy this moment with our family, or connect with friends, or maybe witness for Him. My desire is to live my life to the fullest I can for Christ and the only way I can is to focus now on what He wants for me! Don't live your life not doing wrong things, live life focused on accomplishing something Christ like now!

Day 11

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35;NKJ)
I was thinking about this scripture today. I am praying that during our fast we are focusing on more than the food we are not eating. In Isaiah 58 the Lord lays out for us His fasting priorities and they include reaching out to others with His love. I want to challenge you to find ways you can show love for those in need. We have opportunities daily at school, work, home, neighborhoods, or out and about!
I want Riverlife to be known as a group of people who know how to love others. So as we fast and pray and ask God for a closer walk and to pour out His Spirit upon our church and whatever else you are praying for, don't forget to add actions to your prayer and Love!

Share some opportunities you have taken advantage of during this fast.....

I was able to pray with Billy at the hospital before his surgery. He truly seemed to appreciate it....your turn....

Day 4

We are now in the 4th day of our fast! After day 1 I was going to blog about my definite caffeine addiction, but my head hurt too bad. The biggest struggle during any fast is fighting for time spent in prayer. We can get so busy with so many things. This has been really tough for me this time. My prayer today is for the Lord to help me focus on why I am fasting. I want to draw closer to the Lord and find the refreshing of His presence I need. I am also praying for my family to fulfill all of His plans for us. Then for Riverlife to break through every barrier that holds us back and for the Lords vision for us to become completely clear as we move forward. We must also pray for the harvest to be brought in. People need Jesus as their savior and we must tell them the good news! How about you, what are you praying, or what has the Lord been showing you?

Happy New Year - Day 1

Well, after an extended vacation from blogging (ha), I hope to get back in the swing. Today Riverlife began our 21 days of prayer and fasting. I can't wait to hear and see all of the answered prayers and life changing moments these 21 days will hold. As I said in service today this can be a place for you to put prayer requests, questions or share recipe info for the Daniel Fast. Riverlife, remember "This far the Lord has helped us"! This is a statement of thankfulness for this moment the Lord has brought us to and the future He will lead us to from here! Expect great things from God this new year and take advantage of every opportunity the Lord brings to you.

Thoughts from a slow learner

This past Sunday seemed to be a pretty normal Sunday at Riverlife. Summer is always interesting with so many gone and busy it can be a frustrating time. I knew God had led me to preach on the spirit of antichrist that is alive today in our culture. I have to say, I did not feel my communication of the message was as good as it should have been. As we closed service several people came forward for prayer and I was reminded again that in spite of my weakness God will move and desires to meet needs! I truly believe several lives were touched by the Lord. (Thank you Jesus for being so good to us!)

Then Monday came, I received a phone call that explained to me why the message was pressed into my heart. A very intense need had arisen and the enemy was attempting to use the very tactics I had just shared with the Church. This person was strengthened by the Lord and prayers were, and continue to be, answered! It is amazing to me that after 18 years of ministry I still struggle with my performance, when over and over God proves that it is all about His Word and His presence. Let all of us learn to be obedient to God and trust all of the results to Him, He knows every need of every individual, and He wants to meet them all! Today I am thanking the Lord for choosing to use me to declare His Word and for the lives that are being changed because of His word!

Alignment

Finally back to blogging! I want to take you on a journey with me this week. I was in prayer today and God began to speak to me about alignment. In our body if we are out of alignment we will have all sorts of difficulties. Aches and pains, discomfort and problems occur because of alignment gone bad. Spiritually we have all kinds of problems when we are not properly aligned with God. The enemy tries constantly to cause us to twist and move ourselves out of alignment. Isaiah tells us in the 26th chapter and the 3rd verse that God will keep in perfect peace those whose mind is stayed upon Him! Perfect alignment will release the peace of God and then God's perfect plan can begin to take place. This is the beginning of my message process for Sunday. Be praying with me for perfect alignment and the release of Gods plan in our lives! Remember to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (alignment) and then all these things will be added to you (Gods favor and blessings)! Leave your comments and let's build this message together.....