(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How To Triumph in Troubled Times”)

I will never forget one situation many years ago when I was a young associate in my father-in-law’s church.  An evangelist, a novice, came in and stole the hearts of the people.  For the first time, I heard my father-in-law, the pastor, who was a very, very strong man, say, “Son, the pressure is just on me.  I am going to take two weeks off and you are in charge.” I thought “Oh, Jesus, what am I going to do?”  Here was a man of great experience whom I had never seen lose a battle, but something about this situation had really pressed him hard.  I picked up my Bible and a legal pad and I went to the church and spent the night in prayer. When the sun came up the next morning there was something in my spirit that said everything is going to be all right.  There were a few folks that were affected by it, but God spared the church because a rookie preacher got on his face before God and prayed with his prayer language.  I am here to tell you when everything comes against you, get on your face before God.  Remember to bring a pen and a notebook because when you talk to God, eventually God is going to talk to you.

Sometimes prayer is just flushing out all negativism and unbelief that keeps pressing you down.  That is why sometimes you need to spend some extra time in prayer.  This world will fill you up to the brim with its negative ways, but as you pray, it flushes that unbelief out.  It flushes that frustration and hopelessness out.  When we are emptied, then thank God, He can fill us up.  God fills us with hope, faith and love.  God fills us with that blessed assurance that everything is going to be all right.  There is a way when you pray.

The biggest challenge to most church people is to stop telling their problems to everybody else and get on their face and talk to God.  Stay on your face until God empties you of your problem and fills you with the answer.  You have heard what everyone else has to say; now you need to hear what God has to say.  Some of you have a notebook full of prophecies, but not one of those things is going to work until you let God empty you of your problems and fill you with the answer.

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

If you live long enough, you will face moments of adversity.  Adversity will actually strengthen your faith in God if you face it God’s way.  Faith does not ask if God is able to bring life to a dead situation.  Faith asks, “How is God going to do it this time?”  You can get a grip on the promises of God and find life in a dead situation. Now we have a decision to make!  Are you going to be like the one who just shuffled off with the same unbelief remaining unchanged?  Or will you be the one that will apply the Word of God to your life see victory?

Do you have some dead situations in your life that need to be revived?  Do not approach a dead situation carelessly.  Get a Word from God and face it head on.  Do not try to force God to break His silence; just cooperate in faith with His promises.  Never forget that Jesus really loves and He really cares, and only believe.  It all starts and finishes with faith and knowing that all the glory must go to God.

Prayer

God, give me the strength to face the dead situations in my life.  I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on You.  I am waiting to hear what You have to say.  I will get a grip on Your promise.  With God all things are possible.  It doesn’t matter how many days have passed, when you speak, power is released.  And God, if you tell me to let it go, I will trust you to bring me through on the high side of victory.  Be glorified in my life and in the situation I am facing, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Triumph in Troubled Times”)

Many believers do not do the right thing.  Let’s go a little further: many preachers do not do the right thing.  They have a choice!  Am I going to be bitter or better?  The moment I choose sides and say, “I choose to be bitter about that,” then I get out of the arena of God’s blessing.  I feel sorry for people that do not do the right thing or play by the rules, but that is their problem, not mine.  I have a choice to make and I am going to do the right thing.  I have made up my mind.  Doing the right thing does not always win the first twenty-four hours, the first twenty-four days, or even the first twenty-four months, but it does win.  Love always wins.

I have lived long enough to appreciate people that are honest.  I am going to be that kind of person if God will just continue to show me how.  I want to do what is right. I want to operate my life God’s way. I do not want to be an opportunist, using others as a means to accomplish my earthly assignment. I do not have to be that kind of person. I can walk in love in a world of hatred. I will not fret or worry because Jesus said, “. . . see that ye be not troubled ” (Matthew 24:6). You always have the opportunist type of person around.  There will always be a Judas in the wings.  There will always be someone who is taking advantage of situations, but you will be blessed if you do it God’s way and keep a good spirit.  You can trust in the Lord.  God will bring you out and make a way for you.  It is the way I have lived for many years.  Whether you understand or not do what is right.  It is a faith walk.  You do not walk by the way things appear right now.  Habakkuk said, “…the just shall live, by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

I have talked to many who desperately needed to change, but it just did not seem possible.  I have walked through so much with people who seemed unresponsive to God’s Word.  I just say, “Lord, I do not know what to think.  They are yours.”  Then someone else comes up and gets right in my face and looks at me and kindly says, “Thank you, I see the light.  You will never know what deposits you made in my life.”  That person has broken through to resurrection in their life.  All things are possible if we only believe.  John 11:25 says, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life:  he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” My paraphrase of that is: though your situation seems dead, if you believe, there will be a resurrection.  If you want to strengthen your faith remember that God is able.  That is the message that God wants us to get a grip on today – you can find life in a dead situation.  When something seems over, hopeless, helpless, you need to remember that nothing is impossible with our God.