Tag: Dedication

Heating up the Dream in a Slow Cooker Situation

Joseph is an amazing example of someone that trusted God in the midst of difficult circumstances. He held tenaciously to his God-given and God-ordained dream. It took twenty-two years but God brought it to pass. Joseph faithfully served God despite it all.

Received the dream at seventeen. Spent thirteen years in slavery and prison. Ruled Egypt seven years during the good times. Ruled Egypt for two years in famine. Then his brothers came and bowed down to him (Genesis 42:6; 43:26).

cup baker

Through it all he kept his focus on God and not on his circumstances. Whether in the pit, Potiphar’s house, or prison he always lifted up his eyes to God:

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Psalms 121:1-2).

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1).

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

He refused to focus on his afflictions, trials, or problems.

“And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Genesis 41:52).

He was totally convinced that God was in control (Genesis 50:20). God was sovereign. In everything he understood that God did so-very-reign (sovereign).

God gave him a dream. The seeming delay is hard for us to understand in our microwave society of instant gratification and answers. At times, God allows us to pass through slow cooker situations. He keeps us over the fire perfecting us. He knows we will come forth as gold. Like, Joseph the Lord can give us success in whatever we do; whatever, whenever, and wherever He leads us.

Joseph remembered, and you should too, that a God-given dream placed in a dedicated heart is destined to come to pass. You see dreams don’t die in darkness, that’s where they are developed, and their fulfillment will certainly come to light.

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Best Decisions are made at a Pentecostal Altar

Some of the best decisions I’ve ever made were at a Pentecostal altar. Thirty-four years ago, at an altar, I met Jesus Christ. Not the Jesus merely portrayed on the stations of a cross, or the Jesus pictured in homes, nor the Jesus pinned around one’s neck, lapel, or on the dashboard of a car. No, I met the real Thing. Promised. Present. Right there; at the altar. My life was forever altered. Behind that altar I was baptized in the saving name of Jesus Christ. At that altar I later received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

altar-call

I found myself at the altar—every week. There, I started feeling the tug to Africa. Well, not really a mere tug, but a continual wave of African faces.

I said, “I do” at a Pentecostal altar. Now married for going on thirty years, I’m still saying “I do” and still building an altar in my home. I dedicated both of my children at a Pentecostal altar. Their eventual vocation selection didn’t matter. What mattered was, is, and is to come that they serve God and bow their knees to His name. At an altar!

I’ve had the awesome privilege of praying literally hundreds through to the Holy Ghost at altars spread across the globe.

Last night I found myself at an altar….again! I’m not ashamed of my weekly trips to a communal altar at my church. Neither am I embarrassed of the altar I invisibly build and sacrifice upon on a daily basis.

One of my favorite Scriptures, prayed and acted upon daily is: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

It’s my daily prayer. At times I drag myself on to that altar. Sometimes I fall off. What do I do? Pull myself back on to the altar again. God is concerned about my availability and willingness to be a living sacrifice. Paul felt it was so important that He begged us to offer our lives daily.

One African missionary tells of a thanksgiving service where many gifts had been placed at the front of the church including a huge basket. When it looked like all the gifts had been given, the pastor prepared to go on with the service. He paused as a skinny, frail old man made his way to the front of the church. Empty-handed he went to the large woven basket and climbed inside. With no offering to bring the man had decided to give the only thing he had–himself. It is the gift of gifts.

During this holiday season let us renew our commitment daily. Find your altar again today; stick with it, stay on it, and never stray from it.

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