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THIS WEEK'S PARENTAL PRAYER OF BLESSING AT VICTORY - Spiritual Blessings

Last week at Victory Church was a powerful moving experience as the "blessing" was prayed over our children.  It was a very emotional and spiritually moving time as parents, with one hand raised toward Heaven and the other hand placed upon their children, prayed for God's blessing to rest upon them.  Wow!  What a powerful scene!   

The prayer of blessing we will pray over our children this week at Victory Church are for "Spiritual Blessings" to be bestowed upon our children.  Below is the prayer of the week:

"Father, remind my children that You have adopted them in love. Enable them to experience all the spiritual blessings they have in Christ Jesus, especially Your measureless love. May they act, speak, and think in ways fitting for a child of God."

I would encourage all parents to pray this prayer aloud over your children this week as the Old Testament parents did.  As your children hear you claim God’s blessing on them, several things will happen:

1. It will build their faith
2. It will remind them of their true God-given identity
3. It will reinforce your—and their Heavenly Father’s—great love for them.

Below are the Scripture references closely related to the "Spiritual Blessing" being prayed this week.

Ephesians 1:3-14 (HCSB) Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.  For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved. We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in Him for the administration of the days of fulfillment—to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him. We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory. When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 3:14-19 (HCSB) For this reason...I pray that...the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love...

Ephesians 5:8-10 (HCSB) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— discerning what is pleasing to the Lord.

"THE BLESSING" - PART OF VICTORY'S D6 STRUCTURE

Beginning this Sunday at Victory Church, I am going to lead and assist our parents in a prayer of blessing over our children!

Blessing our children is part of a rich biblical heritage.

In the Old Testament, fathers regularly pronounced blessings on their children (Gen. 27:26-29,39-40, 49:1-28).

As New Testament believers and priests of God (1 Pet. 2:9), one of our privileges is to bless others. When we invoke God’s name over His people, God blesses them  (Num. 6:22-27).

Each week I will post on this blog a prayer of blessing for our children.  As you pray these blessings for your children, consider pronouncing them aloud, as Old Testament parents did. Hearing you claim God’s blessing on your children will do several things for them.  It will...

1. Build their faith
2. Remind them of their true God-given identity
3. Reinforce your—and their Heavenly Father’s—great love for them.

I'm sure many of you have read the book by Dr. John Trent and Gary Smalley titled: The Blessing.  The blessing is the unconditional love and approval bestowed upon a child and are related in five elements:

1. Meaningful touch
2. A spoken message
3. Attaching high value
4. Picturing a special future
5. An active commitment

The family blessing begins with "meaningful touching."  It continues with a "spoken message" of high value, a message that pictures a "special future" for the individual being blessed, and one that is based on an "active commitment" to see the blessing come to pass.

The prayer of blessing this week will be for the assurance of our children's salvation: Parents, I would like to encourage you to begin praying this prayer over your children:

Lord, lead my children to trust only in Jesus’ sacrifice for their eternal salvation; assure them that their souls are secure in Your hands.

Following are some Scripture verses for this particular prayer:

John 3:16 (HCSB) “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 10:28-29 (HCSB) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 

1 John 5:13 (HCSB) I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Join us at Victory Church this Sunday to experience this powerful experience!  Also, be sure to check back each week as I post another weekly "prayer of blessing" for our children.

Video - D6 Conference 2010 - September 15-17

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"Prioritize Your Life, Then Walk In God's Favor!"

I recently began a new ministry called "PRIORITIES MATTER MINISTRIES (PMM)."

I am a Free Will Baptist pastor and former church planter, and one of my greatest desires is to be an encouragement to the local church pastor and congregation.  The purpose of PMM is to first and foremost assist the local church in fulfilling their God-given mission.

Through PMM, I am able to come along side the local church and minister in a variety of ways:

    * Revivals / Camp Meetings / Bible Conferences / Mission Conferences
    * Stewardship Seminars / Discipleship Training Seminars
    * Marriage Retreats or Seminars
    * Men’s and Ladies’ Retreats
    * Youth Camps, Retreats or Rally’s
    * Parenting Conferences or Seminars
    * Leadership Seminars, Conferences or Retreats
    * Local Church Leadership Team Strategic Planning Retreats

To learn more about me personally and PMM, please take time to visit www.PrioritiesMatterMinistries.org.

If you have questions about this ministry please email me; I would love to correspond with you about ways I can serve you and your church.

May God richly bless you and your ministry!

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All of God's Promises Are "Yes, In Christ!"

For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in Him. Therefore the “Amen” is also through Him for God’s glory through us.—2 Corinthians 1:20

God keeps every promise He makes. When we walk in intimate fellowship with Christ, we have the assurance that every promise God has made in Scripture is available to us. This truth should motivate us to search the Scriptures for each promise in order to meditate upon its potential for our life.

Jesus promised that when you ask for something in His will, He will give you what you ask (John 16:23b). This promise is available to every Christian. If you ask God if this promise applies to your life, His answer is yes. If you are not now experiencing this promise, it does not change the fact that God has said it. You may need to seek God's answer for why His promise has not yet reached maturity in you.

Paul claimed he had tested each of these promises in his own life and found them all to be abundantly true. That's why he could speak of the “exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7b) and the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8b). Paul had found a wealth of God's promises and enjoyed them all in abundance.

Don't become discouraged or impatient if you are not experiencing to the fullest all of God's promises in your life. God may want to prepare you to receive some of the great truths He has made available to you.

Walk closely with your Lord and, in time, you will see Him bring His promises to fruition in your life.

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THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST

TIM TEBOW'S PRAYER AT NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST

THE MISSIONAL CHURCH

TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”—John 8:32

God's truth never restricts you; it always sets you free!

• Are you discouraged?
• Is there a sense of bondage in a particular area of your life?
• A lack of victory over a certain sin?
• A harmful addiction?

It is possible that you do not yet understand a truth about God that can release you.

• If you feel powerless to meet the challenges before you, take encouragement from the promise of Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
• If you are defeated by circumstance, hold on to the truth of Romans 8:28 that God can work your most difficult situation into His good.
• If you are enslaved to a particular sin, work the truth of 1 John 1:9 into your life, which promises that if you confess your sin, God is faithful to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

All of these truths await the Holy Spirit's implementation into your life.

It is one thing to know about the truth. It is yet another thing to experience the truth of God being worked out in your life. God's truth will have no effect upon you unless you accept it and believe it.

Perhaps you have already read and heard accounts of God working mightily in the lives of others. But have you allowed God to implement those truths into your life? What truth about God would you like to be experiencing in your life? Ask Him to implement that truth into your life today.

PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL SEES HIS SHADOW - 6 MORE WEEKS OF WINTER

There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven.—Ecclesiastes 3:1

I KNOW WE WERE HOPING FOR SPRING TO BE JUST AROUND THE CORNER!  But with Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow today, we are told there will be six more weeks of winter.  :-)

The beauty in the way God designed the four seasons is that, though each one is distinct, they all work together to bring life and growth.

• Spring is a period of freshness and new life.
• Summer sees growth and productivity.
• Autumn is a time for harvesting the rewards of past labors.
• Winter is the season of dormancy and closure.

Each season has its own unique beauty and makes a significant contribution to life.

Just as God planned seasons in nature, He planned seasons in life as well.

• Life has its springtime, when we begin new things and look excitedly toward the future.
• Summer comes and we work diligently in the heat of the day at all that God has assigned to us.
• With autumn comes the fruition of things begun at an earlier time in our lives.
• Winter brings an end to a particular period in our lives.

Sometimes winter brings hardship, but we remain hopeful, for another spring is just around the corner!

In God's perfect design for our lives, He has planned for times of fruitfulness and activity. He will also build in times of quiet and rest. There will be times when He asks us to remain faithful doing the same work day after day. But there will also be periods of excitement and new beginnings.

By God's grace, we will enjoy seasons of harvesting the fruit of our faithfulness. By God's grace we will also overcome the cold winters of heartache and grief, for without winter there would be no spring. Just as it is with the seasons of nature, these seasons in our lives work together to bring about God's perfect will for each one of us.