Tag: prayer

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Let it Settle” #dANGERseries

Have you ever noticed a sign on a restaurant or store that isn’t working properly? Sometimes the whole sign is out. Most of the time, it’s only a letter or two that is missing causing the sign to read completely different than what the owners intend. And that’s what I see with the word “danger.” But it is the letter “d” that keeps flickering in and out of sight. So in essence, What reads “anger” on the surface, only reveals the “danger” in the warning trying to be conveyed. God created all of our emotions, including anger. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express anger. We must learn to deal with anger in a healthy way so that it won’t control us and be a DANGER to us and the relationships in our lives. Unchecked anger doesn’t produce anything good or change anything for good. It only creates opportunity for evil to rule over us. Join us as we enter into a series where we want to understand this emotional experience so that the Holy Spirit can teach us how to express our anger appropriately. Because without His help, there is always a DANGER to our ANGER.

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • Surrendering my angry reactions is a glorious way to live Christ out in my responses.
  • How we react to anger is a crucial gauge of what’s really going on inside our hearts.
  • Don’t be so reactionary with your anger that your response holds no redemptive value.
  • Refuse to sacrifice your identity in Christ on the altar of “what I feel someone deserves.”
  • An UNHEALED person can find offense in pretty much anything someone does. A HEALED person understands that the actions of others have very little to do with them.
    • Each day you get to decide which one you will be.

Love you all. Have a great week.

BTW: Here’s a great song for the week…

 

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “The End of Ten” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • Every ending sets the stage for a new beginning.
  • Stop wearing the old “you” around a new heart.
  • It’s one thing to want a new life, it’s another thing to decide to live that new life.
  • You can go through difficulty without setting up camp there.
  • Church shouldn’t be a museum of what God did but a display of what God is doing.
  • Worship will not be just a song we sing but a life we life.
  • New anointing comes from new acts of obedience.
Holy Spirit, this is my testimony: You have changed me. You have made me new. You righted my life. And today, I go after You and seek You with everything I’ve got. Whatever it takes, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Grow maturity in my life with the fruit of the Spirit and minister through me with the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
Empower my life for Your honor and for Your glory.
Amen

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s a song for the week…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Perfect Gifts; Flawed Vessels part 2” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • The Holy Spirit is not an experience to be had but a person to have a relationship with.
  • The fruit of the Spirit shows how God has grown you (maturity); The gifts of the Holy Spirit show how God is using you (ministry).
  • Gifts of the Spirit NEVER replace the fruit of the Spirit. It doesn’t matter how powerfully you are gifted if you still act like a jerk.
  • Gifts
    • 1 – Motivational Gifts – Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:28
    • 2 – Ministerial Gifts– Ephesians 4:11-13
    • 3 – Manifestational Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
  • The devil can’t take your gifts, but he’ll try to keep you from using them.
  • Don’t waste your gifts by wishing for someone else’s.
  • When we operate in the gifts of the Spirit, we impact the Kingdom of God. When we don’t, it equally impacts the Kingdom of God.

Holy Spirit, this is my testimony: You have changed me. You have made me new. You righted my life. And today, I go after You and seek You with everything I’ve got. Whatever it takes, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Grow maturity in my life with the fruit of the Spirit and minister through me with the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
Empower my life for Your honor and for Your glory.
Amen

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s a song for the week…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Perfect Gifts; Flawed Vessels part 1” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • Jesus doesn’t just TELL us what to do. He SHOWS us.
  • The Holy Spirit doesn’t make you better than anybody else; He makes you better than yourself.
  • The Holy Spirit is not an experience to be had but a person to have a relationship with.
  • We need to chase the resource not the revelation.
  • Somebody else’s faith is on the other side of your obedience to the Spirit of God.

Holy Spirit, this is my testimony: You have changed me. You have made me new. You righted my life. And today, I go after You and seek You with everything I’ve got. Whatever it takes, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Grow maturity in my life with the fruit of the Spirit and minister through me with the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
Empower my life for Your honor and for Your glory.
Amen

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s a song for the week…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Radical Openness” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • Respond to ALL God is with ALL you are.
  • Openness to the Holy Spirit is not about getting a “normative” response from God but what is going to be the normal position of our hearts.
  • The Holy Spirit responds to open hearts more than “perfected” theology.
  • If Christ had waited to love me until I got my act together, He’d still be waiting!

Holy Spirit, we declare today that we want more of You. We crave your presence. We desire the power You bring to our lives, not for the sake of “power” but for the sake of boldly declaring Jesus and more accurately representing Jesus to the world. Holy Spirit forgive us for the places and the times where we have grieved You, where we believed we had all of You we needed or all of You we wanted.
Forgive us for the times when we told You how You could or couldn’t act in our lives. Holy Spirit, I pray today that You would respond not to our theology, because some of this we can’t understand and can’t explain, but I pray that You would respond to the openness of our hearts.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Check out our new book! Click on the image to order!!

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s a song for the week…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Clear the Stage” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • You are not your worst sin, your biggest mistake, or your blowout failure; you are the temple of God’s spirit.
  • Life is not a DIY project. When the Holy Spirit convicts us, it’s to invite us into a new way of living with Him.
  • Spirit of God doesn’t just contend WITH us, the Spirit of God contends FOR US.
  • The Holy Spirit is what separates “I can’t” from “God can.”
  • Pentecost is both the birthday and the birthright of the Church.

Holy Spirit this is more than a message, this is more than a series, this is about me rediscovering who You are so that I can recognize the way You intercede for me, the way You hover over my life, the way You contend for me, the way You anoint me, so that I could grow in a relationship with You and engage my world at full capacity with You.
Here I am. Interrupt anything keeping me from a deeper understanding of You. I am yours. Amen

 

Check out our new book! Click on the image to order!!

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s a song for the week…

Meditative Moments Day 5 – Psalms 23 #TheGoodBook

I thought I’d meditate through Psalms 23 with all of you this week.

This week at Kfirst, we are focusing on a meditative approach to the scriptures. “Meditation” is, perhaps, the most underused and misunderstood approach to the bible. Often, “meditation” is associated with eastern religions or New Age “disconnecting.” Scriptural meditation is not about disconnecting but engaging with the text in order to digest it.

Check out Day 1 HERE 
Check out Day 2 HERE
Check out Day 3 HERE
Check out Day 4 HERE

As we are taking a meditative approach to Psalm 23, we’re going to do it bit by bit. One of my favorite “meditation” tactics is using the 5 senses in the context of the scripture. Other tactics can include memorizing scripture, focusing on specific phrases, speaking aloud, journaling, and praying it.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell[ in the house of the Lord forever.” ESV
“Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.” NLT
“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.” MSG
“So why would I fear the future? For your goodness and love pursue me all the days of my life. Then afterward, when my life is through, I’ll return to your glorious presence to be forever with you!“ TPT

My meditative thoughts today:

So often I’ve been told that if I pursue God harder, I’ll “get” more of Him in my life. So much of my theology/belief was very driven by what I can accomplish so that I can say, “look what I was able to discover based upon my abilities to chase down God.”

First, I don’t chase God. He passionately pursues me. His goodness and mercy/unfailing love are after me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. His Spirit draws me to Him. His Spirit reveals who He is.

Second, the things I do to “deepen me” (scriptures, prayer, worship, community, etc.) are not there to “get more of God” but to become more aware of Him. God doesn’t show up more than He is in this moment. He is omnipresent. BUT I can have a greater awareness of His presence and how He is at work in and around me.

Lastly, hope is now and forever. Because I am pursued by hope I can have it now. But I don’t have to worry about “using it up” here on this earth. A hope awaits me. I will rest in His hope now. I will rest in His Hope forever.

Amen

Check out the service from Sunday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

 

Love you all.

 

Thanks for letting me ramble…