Maturing in Christ

Releasing untapped potential John 14:12-21 NKJV & Philippians 1:3-11 NLT

Philippians 1:9-10 New Living Translation

 

⁹ I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. ¹⁰ For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.

Prayer Soaking Music by Geoffrey Davis 12/11/2021

This awesome prayer soaking music was played by Geoffrey Davis the lead minstrel at Christ Restoration Tabernacle in Hempstead, TX.

Preparation is the key (Fasting and Prayer) 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 NKJV & NLT

1 Corinthians 15:58 New King James Version

 

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Breakthrough over excuses Luke14:16-24 NKJV

Luke 14:16-18 New King James Version

 

¹⁶ Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, ¹⁷ and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. 

Consider Your Ways _Isaiah 58 NLT & Matthew 22:34-40 NKJV

Isaiah 58:5-8 New Living Translation

⁵ You humble yourselves
    by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
    like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
    and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
    Do you really think this will please the Lord?

⁶ “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
    lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
    and remove the chains that bind people.
⁷ Share your food with the hungry,
    and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
    and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

⁸ “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
    and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
    and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Proper ways to Approach God! Isaiah 58 NLT, Psalm 51:15-17 & Joel 2:12-14

Isaiah 58:1-5 New Living Translation

58 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.

    Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
²     Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
    and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
    that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
    pretending they want to be near me.
³ ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
    ‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
    and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.
    “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
    you keep oppressing your workers.
⁴ What good is fasting
    when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
    will never get you anywhere with me.
⁵ You humble yourselves
    by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
    like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
    and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
    Do you really think this will please the Lord?

Developing and maintaining the right motives about fasting and prayer - 1 Cor. 9:24-27 & Gal. 5:16-17, 25-26

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 New Living Translation

 

²⁴ Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! ²⁵ All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. ²⁶ So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. ²⁷ I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Let us go up at once!! Numbers 13:26-33 & Numbers 14:39-45 NKJV

Numbers 13:30-31 New King James Version

 

³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”

The Power of Revelation - Judges 7:9-23 NKJV

Judges 7:13-14 New King James Version

 

¹³ And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”

¹⁴ Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”

A Handful on Purpose - Judges 7:1-8 & 2 Timothy 1:8-12 NKJV

Judges 7:7-8 New King James Version

 

⁷ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.” ⁸ So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.