Thanks Be to God. Day Four (4)

Thanks Be to God. Day Four (4): “Beloved, grace and peace be unto you, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. As promised, I am pleased to welcome Pastor Maurice Johnson, Senior Pastor of the Bethcar Fellowship Church of Connecticut, and my good friend, as our guest blogger. Please welcome him as he speaks to our hearts and encourages us through the word of God. I thank God for my friend Pastor Johnson and the Bethcar Fellowship Church, as we take the 21-day journey together, and seek God for the plan to be victorious in 2010.

Yours Because I am His
Leo Colon
http://www.ihpfwc.org
leocolon.wordpress.com

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What a tremendous privilege and opportunity it is to share a word with you during this time of fasting and consecration; my thanks to Pastor Leo Colon for providing the platform. It is my intention and desire to keep this short and try not to bore you with too much rhetoric.
Day four and I think you should give thanks to the Lord and congratulate yourselves for accomplishing something today that will influence your tomorrow. The journey you have embarked upon is extremely beneficial to your soul in your relationship with Jesus; however, the journey is replete with challenges that strive to deter the 21-day graduation that lies before you. I want to take this time to address one of your greatest challenges during these 21 days as well as encourage you as you face and confront the challenge–that is yourself. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter seven verses 18 through 20, (NIV) ‘18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do– this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.’ By nature you are your best friend, greatest fan, worst critic and at times during these 21 days you will be your own worst enemy. Repeatedly, the law of your mind will war against and struggle with the desire of your spirit in an effort to convince you to negate the remaining days of the fast that lie before you. No one besides the Lord understands you like you understand yourself, as your flesh whispers things like, ‘can’t you see how much you’ve already accomplished, why go further,’ attempting to convince you that your journey is too difficult and that you will not reach the finish line.
Paul writes of the duplicitous nature of humankind whereas on one hand is your flesh, which is an enemy of God, and on the other hand is your spirit, which seeks to be more like Jesus Christ; you are a living contradiction. However, do not be discouraged because you are in good company with others who celebrate the same outlook on life. Like Paul, ask yourself this rhetorical question found in Romans chapter 7:24, ‘Who will rescue me from this body of death?’ In concert, respond as Paul did in Romans chapter 7:25, ‘Thanks be to God– through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ Stay focused! I wish to believe that among the various desires you have placed on your prayer list is the apprehension of a deeper more intimate relationship with Christ. The acquisition of this comes from the abandonment and redirection of our innate desire for worldly things shifting them to private moments in prayer and consecration. Remember, even Jesus was tempted during the fast, and we are looking for the same results that Jesus received after he completed the fast and was tempted, as recorded in Luke 4:14, ‘And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.’
Let us take it one day at a time and enjoy this opportunity afforded to us as we present ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and remember, ‘Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.’ You can make it!

Grace and Peace be multiplied,

Maurice Johnson
Bethcar Fellowship Church
”

(Via .)