Saturday, December 24, 2011

This Is The Refreshing

Isaiah 28:11-12
(KJV)
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
(AMP)
11 No, but [the Lord will teach the rebels in a more humiliating way] by men with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people [says Isaiah, and teach them His lessons]. 12 To these [complaining Jews the Lord] had said, This is the true rest [the way to true comfort and happiness] that you shall give to the weary, and, This is the [true] refreshing--yet they would not listen [to His teaching]. (MSG)
But that's exactly how you will be addressed.
   God will speak to this people
In baby talk, one syllable at a time—
   and he'll do it through foreign oppressors.
He said before, "This is the time and place to rest,
   to give rest to the weary.
This is the place to lay down your burden."
   But they won't listen.

What is this refreshing? It’s praying in tongues – your prayer language. Paul the apostle explains, 

1 Corinthians 14:20-21
(KJV)
20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

(It’s interesting to note that Paul calls the book of Isaiah, “the Law.” I thought it was one of the books of the prophets.) The Corinthians were fighting over what their “new” Christmas toy from God (their prayer language) was to be used for.

(AMP)
20 Brethren, do not be children [immature] in your thinking; continue to be babes in [matters of] evil, but in your minds be mature [men]. 21 It is written in the Law, By men of strange languages and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and not even then will they listen to Me, says the Lord.

Your prayer language (singing, speaking and praying in tongues) is meant for charging you up spiritually, 
Jude 20
(AMP)
But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [[d]make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit;
(MSG)
But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit.


Praying in the Holy Ghost builds you up!
1 Corinthians 14:4
(KJV)
He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself.

How do you get built up by praying in tongues? You are speaking to God (verse 4). Speaking in tongues is God’s intimate love language; His native language – the Spirit – spirit words! Don’t ever think you have to understand in this earthly realm everything that goes on in the spirit realm!

Anytime you are having an intimate encounter with God you are in His presence; and in His presence is fulness! (Psalm 16:11). God fills you to the full with His fulness! Hallelujah! You charge yourself up when you pray in tongues! It’s like using a battery charger for your car when the battery runs low because of some drain on the system.

We all get drained out during the day’s activities. Well, a car has a generator and an alternator that charges the battery while the car is running. But, once in a while you might leave the lights on while you go shopping and come back to find a dead battery. You call AAA and the come give you a jump. That’s what you get with tongues, a jump from God’s jumper cables, Tongues!

When I first got baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues I read that I could sing in tongues. WOW, I wanted that!

1 Corinthians 14:15
(AMP)
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

Just as there are different kinds of charges from a battery charger, there are different kinds of charges from the Holy Ghost. If you have the time to place you battery on a charger all night while you sleep that’s fine, but you can’t do that in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. You need to get home!

When you speak in tongues you are slowly charging your spirit up, but when you sing in tongues, you are getting a quick start in the Holy Ghost! Boom! A tremendous charge of energy! Then once you get going about your day, the alternator of God (The Word of God, the Bible) keeps you charged up as you are moving. Try not to leave your lights on (your testimony) all the time; this will drain your spiritual battery. Sometimes you need charging up! Start singing in tongues! This is the refreshing!

References:
Translations are retrieved from http://www.biblegateway.com/  BibleGateway.com © Copyright 1995-2010 Gospel Communications International

Amplified Bible (AMP)—Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
King James Version (KJV)—Public Domain/ 1604, King James I of England
The Message Bible (MSG)—Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995 by Eugene H. Peterson
Jim Hughes (JPH) — Copyright © 2011 The Joyful Heart; http://thejoyfulheart2011.blogspot.com

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Prayer Of Faith

I just prayed the prayer of faith over my dog Junior. He’s been under the weather today and he turned down a dog biscuit. He never turns down dog biscuits. He does flips for dog biscuits. So I knew something was wrong! When things go wrong the Holy Spirit comes to our aid to pray the perfect prayer because we don’t know how or what to pray. Praise God! I need the Holy Spirit’s help when I pray, how ‘bout you? – Jim 


Romans 8:26
(MSG)
The moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.


I just can’t take the credit when it comes to crisis’s in my life as if I know what to pray!

(AMP)
So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

But there is one caveat, ALWAYS pray in faith believing what you pray for will come true!

James 1:5-8
 (AMP)
5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.

6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.

7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,

8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

So let’s stop being wishy-washy with our prayers
James 5:14-16
 (AMP)
14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord's name.
15 And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him;

16 The effectual fervent <G1754> prayer <G1162> of a righteous man <G1342> availeth <G2480> much <G4183>.

[the effectual fervent, hot-to-boiling, prayer]
Greek Strong's Number: 1754
Greek Word: ἐνεργέω
Transliteration: energeō
Phonetic Pronunciation:en-erg-eh'-o
Root: from <G1756>
Cross Reference: TDNT - 2:652,251
Part of Speech: v
Vine's Words: Effectual, Work, Wrought


Usage Notes:

English Words used in KJV:
work 12
show forth (one's) self 2
wrought 1
be effectual 1
effectually work 1
effectual fervent 1
work effectually in 1
be might in 1
to do 1
[Total Count: 21]

from <G1756> (energes); to be active, efficient :- do, (be) effectual (fervent), be mighty in, shew forth self, work (effectually in).
ζεστός
Greek Strong's Number: 2200
Greek Word: ζεστός
Transliteration: zestos
Phonetic Pronunciation:dzes-tos'
Root: from <G2204>
Cross Reference: TDNT - 2:876,296
Part of Speech: adj
Vine's Words: Hot


Usage Notes:

English Words used in KJV:
hot 3
[Total Count: 3]

from <G2204> (zeo); boiled, i.e. (by implication) calid (figurative fervent) :- hot.
—Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary
So, the Lord wants us either hot or cold:
Rev 3:15-16
(KJV)
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.


References:
Bible Translations retrieved from http://www.biblegateway.com/  BibleGateway.com © Copyright 1995-2010 Gospel Communications International

Amplified Bible (AMP)—Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
King James Version (KJV)—Public Domain/ 1604, King James I of England
The Message Bible (MSG)—Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995 by Eugene H. Peterson
—Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary retrieved from Bible Explorer Database © 2004-2006 WORDsearch Corp
Jim Hughes (JPH) — Copyright © 2011 The Joyful Heart; http://thejoyfulheart2011.blogspot.com