John 9:10-13 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  “

Did you hear it? “To all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”  Guess, what?  I AM A CHILD OF GOD. Do you know what makes me a child of God? It is not the fact that I live, breathe air, am human, or am a “member of the global consciousness.” It is because I received Him and believe in His name. That is the only reason I am a child of God. That is the only reason I will rise to meet Him in the air and live eternally with Him.

 It is an extremely exclusive club. The only way to join is to accept that you are a sinner, and accept Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. That is THE ONLY WAY. Jesus doesn’t mince words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man may come to the Father except through me.”  But wait, is it all that exclusive? 

Anyone can come to the Father. Anyone can receive Christ and believe on His name. He doesn’t discriminate who may come. He invites ALL to come, the only people that make this such an exclusive club are the ones who reject His gift. Christians cannot change the fact that everyone is invited to come. Christans, even if they are hypocritical or rude, cannot force someone not to make the choice to come to Christ.

It is about seeing your need for forgiveness and accepting the sacrifice, and then, it is about surrendering your life to Him. It is about ending who you are to become more in Christ. That’s the hard part, because too often, we choose our own desires and wants over the abundant life of Christ. WE make this exclusive by turning away from the very one who wants to include you in His family.

That verse from John is as true today as ever. He created this world and all that is in it, and so many people still do not recognize Him. The sad part is that the church, the “body” have done a pretty poor job in showing Jesus to those who need Him the most, the unsaved. We need to start reaching out in love to those in need. Not accepting their sinful condition, but loving them in spite of it.

But make no mistake, it is a personal choice to come to Christ. No one can make this decision for you, and no one can force you to stay away from him. It is your choice.

So, the next time you say that the church is exclusivistic, as yourself, are you being excluded, or are you choosing to be excluded?

We have forgotten that the most important debt we owe is to Jesus. We did nothing to deserve forgiveness. We did nothing to warrant the sacrifice poured out for us. Many people get mad at me for saying this, but the reason bad things happen to good people is because at heart, there are no good people. We are all sinners. “There are none righteous, no not one.” There are nice people with amazing acts of service and awesome intentions. But, in our heart of hearts, no one is “good.” 

We base our goodness on a standard of this world, and looking around, that standard gets lower and lower. We make drug-addicted, foul-mouthed, obnoxious people celebrities because they have an image. At the same time, we remove the words and images of Christ from our public buildings, schools, and even our homes.

God bases His goodness on the standard of His Son. Anything good we possess, anything good we have done, anything good we are is a result of the love of our Father and His Son, Jesus.

That’s the real debt crisis…we owe Christ everything, and too often, we give Him nothing.

We arrived back in Parkersburg in August and our bank promptly backed out of the deal on our new house, so we found a rental in less than a week, I was teaching online and sleeping at my mom’s and driving back and forth to my in-laws where Jolene was staying. We found a nice place and have had a really amazing time.

I was blessed to become a member of a southern gospel quartet, which has been a dream of mine for years, and since Bill Gaither still hasn’t called, I accepted the position of lead singer with the Faith Harmony Boys (http://www.faithharmonyboys.com) and have spent a great deal of the past year travelling around West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania sing with some amazing men of God. The only thing that could make this gig better would be to sing EVERY DAY.

We found a home church in Mineral Wells Baptist Church. I have been going to churches since I was 5 years old and only twice have I been a member of a church where Jolene and I could barely sit down our first time because the members were trying to love us with Christ’s love. It was amazing. We have found a real family, and Pastor Brian Arthur could be one of the most amazing pastors I have ever had the privilege to be shephered by.

Jolene and I have been blessed even more by the arrival of our new, precious littl miracle, Meredith. Jolene had a very rough time following delivery and I am not making too big of a deal by saying that she almost died. However, she is recovered and other than us both being a little sleep deprived, we are loving Meredith and Caolinn adores her little sisiter.

We will be moving into a new house that happened to fall into our laps in 2 weeks and I cannot wait to see what God has in store. This will be our last move (God-willing) so it will be nice to have a HOME for a long time.

This year presents amazing opportunities. I begin my 5th school year of teaching with the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, the nation’s premiere online charter school, and will be completing my last year of my Masters program through Franciscan University of Steubenville. All of that while singing part time, and trying to be a husband, father, and active servant of God. I ask your prayers for patience, guidance, and energy beyond measure.

I promise my blogs from here on out will definitely be shorter. I hope you will be blessed by them.

Kids thoughts on Love and Marriage:

* “If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell, I don’t want to do it. It takes too long.” — Glenn, age 7

* “Love is like an avalanche where you have to run for your life.” — John, age 9 One evening, a little boy was saying his prayers, and this is what he said;

* “Love will find you, even if you are trying to hide from it. I been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me.” — Dave, age 8

Kid’s letters to God:

Dear God, I think about You sometimes even when I’m not praying. — Elliot

Dear God, Did You really mean “do unto others as they do unto you?” Because if you did, then I’m going to get my brother. — Darla

Dear God, Are you really invisible or is that a trick? — Lucy

Dear God, Is it true my father won’t get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house? — Anita

Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t You just keep the ones You have now? — Jane

Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay? — Neil

Dear God, Thank You for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. — Joyce

Dear God, Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before, You can look it up. — Bruce

Dear God, If we come back as something — please don’t let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her. — Denise

Dear God, My brother is a rat. You should give him a tail. Ha ha. — Danny

Dear God, I want to be just like my Daddy when I get big but not with so much hair all over. — Sam

Dear God, I bet it is very hard for You to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. — Nan

But here is what a young man said one evening while saying his prayers with his Father.

“Dear God, bless my mommy & daddy, and take care of yourself, too, because without You, we’re sunk! Amen”    You see, he gets it. He knows that when he’s praying, he’s talking to God and knows that without God, we’re sunk. Just a child, but he gets what prayer is really about.

But many adults have trouble understanding how to pray.  Let me show you why. Have you ever tried to use a tool you weren’t familiar with? You don’t have good results at first because you don’t fully understand the proper usage of the tool.

Many people pray like that. They aren’t that familiar with it, and as a result, they don’t see much results and end up getting frustrated. The problem is that they don’t fully understand what prayer is.

We have always been taught that prayer is just talking to God; that it is just a conversation with God where we ask for what we need and occasionally thank Him and sometimes pray for others too, but it is so much more.

There are many different ways to pray. We sometimes pray in public, but more importantly, we also need a daily quiet time of prayer. A time of no interruptions so we can fully focus on Him and to meditate on His holiness. We need a time where we listen as He talks to us instead of us doing all of the talking.

Prayer is vital to our relationship with God. It’s the most powerful thing on earth but it is the least used of God’s tools.

God is calling every Christian to get spiritually prepared and He wants us to understand  the URGENCY of His calling. This calling is amazingly important and is essential to our survival in this world.

Many churches talk a lot about prayer, but they don’t model it and they don’t teach it. As a result, Christians don’t really understand the blessing that prayer is and the power which comes from it. We end up trying to avoid it rather than embrace it.

The ironic thing is that we serve a God of abundance and when we ask for something, not for our own gain but to glorify Him, we will get it in the right way and time. But we rarely ask for those blessings.

Billy Graham once said, “That heaven was full of blessings nobody ever asked God for…So they just sit there unused.”

Two pastors were sitting in a coffee shop discussing the best position in which to pray

One said that kneeling was the best, and the other said head bowed was best. The man at the next table finally spoke up and said the best position to pray from is when you simply realize you need more of Jesus.

Jesus and His disciples were resting on a mountain and the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray

Starting in MATTHEW 6:5-13, we see what Jesus said:
‘And when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites, who love to pray public so they can impress people with how religious they are. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to God, who is unseen. ‘Then He, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

‘And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need even before you ask Him. This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we have also forgiven those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

The first thing that Jesus says is to not be like the hypocrites who prayed in public so people would admire them.

God wants us to pray directly to Him from the center of our hearts: a private and focused prayer.

It is fine to pray in a public place as we do in church, but there is another form of prayer – a prayer that is holy – and solemn. When we pray in private, we concentrate more intently, and we end up feeling closer to God.

Now, let’s get into the actual prayer. Jesus said that we need to start praying by PRAISING. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” When we pray, do we exalt God? Do we first thank Him for WHO HE IS instead of going into our wish list? God is sovreign, holy, just, and true. All that we are and all that we have is because of who God is. The first thing we need to do in our prayers to God is recognize that.

The next thing that Jesus teaches us is that we need to depend on God for everything we need in life. “Give us this day, our daily bread.” God teaches us in His word that he provides good things to his loved ones.

Acts 14:17

Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

Before we can expect Him to answer our prayers, we must believe He CAN and expect that He WILL. God desires to answer your prayers. He WANTS to give you the fullness of who He is.

THIS NEXT PART IS VERY IMPORTANT

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” Jesus lets us know that we should ask to be forgiven. Even then, Christ realized that His death on the cross and resurrection did not mean that the world would stop sinning. We need to constantly be aware of the separation that sin creates between us and God and ask for the forgiveness that He provides. 

However, it also says that we need to forgive others who have sinned against us. Forgiveness is important to God. We cannot even approach Him until after we have forgiven others.

Matthew 6:14-15 tells us how important forgiveness is to our salvation.

‘For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’

I know it’s hard, but you must forgive others.

Jesus also asked God to keep Him away from temptation.  “Lead us not into temptation.” You may ask why Jesus would ask that. He was God’s son, but He was totally human and temptation still lingered. Satan was constantly trying to trip Him up. Jesus included himself in this section of the prayer. He clearly says, “Lead US” because He knew the flesh was weak.

When we pray, we should join Jesus in asking God to lead us away from situations which will tempt us and to lead us instead where He knows we should go, not where we think we should go.

Through this prayer, God is calling each of us as inividuals to develop a deeper prayer life and He is calling this church to do it, too

Here are a few suggestions of how we can do that:

1. Don’t just pray quick prayers
We hurry through everything in life; even in our prayers. Take time to really talk to God, let Him know what’s going on in your life. He loves you and what you have to say is important to him. However, make sure you let it be a two ay conversation. Take the time to listen.

2. Make sure you ask God to deal with YOU

How many times have you asked God to set someone else straight instead of asking Him to deal with you?

God is a holy God, so don’t approach Him with malice in your mind – - but with humility in your heart. Realize that more than likely you need to change as much or more than the person you are having issues with.

3. When you pray, be specific, be respectful, and be of humble heart.

ECCLESIASTES 5:1-2
‘Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth; do not be hasty to utter anything before God. Rather desire to be quiet instead, because God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.’

Search your heart to find the root of the problem. Find exactly what needs to be dealt with. Don’t worry about “sounding good” or having a lot of fancy words. Just get to the point and let God handle things from there.

4. Pray with a servant’s heart
Ask Him for things that will help you glorify Him — not make it easier on yourself.  Zack brought an amazingly accurate point last week when he said that “God doesn’t save us just for us, but for THEM!” He didn’t perform the miracles just for his own glory, but that other’s might see and believe in the Lord’s Christ for their salvation.

ZEPHANIAH 3:9 says
‘Then I will purify the lips of the peoples’ says God, ‘so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord so they can fully serve Him.’

When we approach God, It must be done with a humbled heart – A heart that is submissive to Him and His will. Everything we ask for and everything we desire needs to be focused on one thing, bringing glory to the Father and bringing people to know Him in a salvation relationship. Spreading the gospel to the farthest reaches of our own homes, towns, and world trumps any personal need we could have.

In ZEPHANIAH, it tells us that being humble will bring blessings.

In MATTHEW, we are reminded to have a servant’s heart.

What does a servant’s heart feel towards others?
How can one really be humble, as God requires?

These answers are found in;

PHILIPPIANS 2:3-5
‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.’

Conclusion

All of us needs a deeper prayer life. That prayer life consists of talking to Him and being quiet enough to listen as He talks to us

PSALM 46:10
‘be still and know that I am God.’

We are a busy people, So we need a time to be still and concentrate as we pray
Jesus came down off of a mountain to see the disciples trying to drive evil spirits from a young boy, but they were having no success

He said that driving out that kind of spirit required fasting and prayer. Regular prayer just wasn’t enough, in-depth, concentrated prayer is sometimes needed. We need to learn the real use and power of prayer.

 
A young Christian man approached an elder at his church. He asked if the older man would join him in prayer.

The young man wanted God to give him more patience. The older man agreed, and they began to pray

The elder prayed, “God, please send this young man troubles in the morning ….And please send him troubles in the evening …”

At the point, the young man interrupted him and said, “Hey, I asked for patience, not troubles.”

The elder replied, “I know, but it is during our troubles that we learn to have our patience.”

We need to understand that the best way to pray so we receive spiritual blessings is to pray prayers that honor God.

The best way to do that is to develop a daily prayer time where we get to know God
and what He wants for us.

I have felt the leading of the Lord this week. He is telling us that if we make this a house of prayer, He will take care of every need we have. He is saying that if we start taking prayer VERY SERIOUSLY, then He will start taking us as Christians very seriously.

ISAIAH 56:7 tells us
God’s house is to be a house of prayer” and we should take that very seriously, too

How about you? Do you feel the call to pray? Would you like to develop a daily prayer time of your own?

Would you like to get closer to God than ever before ? Here is how you do that –

Start praying, slowly and often. Ask Him to tell you about His Son. Every Father likes talking about His Son

Ask Jesus into your life. I don’t necessarily mean the prayer of salvation, but that would be good too. What I am saying is to ask Jesus to come into every part of your life and change it. Ask Him to share those parts which you have  tried to hide from Him and the world. Then, do these two things ….pray to God in Jesus’ name, and read God’s word every day.

The more you get to know God, the more you will desire more of Him, and the more you will know what His plans for you are.

This election cycle has been long, involved, sometimes ugly, and extremely important. I feel in my bones that our nation is at a huge crossroads and one simple push in one direction or the other can take us down a path we were never meant for. I pray constantly for the issues which our nation faces. Everything from the lives of innocent babies being protected to the sanctity of marriage to the financial future of my family.

The other evening I was privileged to be a part of an event called Re:Turn, a focused time of prayer, fasting, and worship for our nation. You see, we believe our nation was set up as a lampstand for almighty God. We also believe that our nation, and especially our churches, have started paying more attention, to quote a friend of mine, to “what happens in the white house, instead of what happens in God’s house.”

I am praying and calling others to pray for our nation and for the elections. My desire would be to see leaders elected that would honor righteousness and have a heart to know the Lord. But make no mistake, the hope of our nation does not rest on the platform of a political party, or on the shoulders of any candidate for president, or vice president for that matter. The hope of our nation is found only in the person of the Three in One, holy God and in His people walking as sons and daughters of righteousness.

At this gathering, I heard some words which touched my heart and I found an instant peace about the election.  The words were…

“Every king or ruler who has ever sat upon a throne on this earth did so only at God’s choosing.”  You see, God is still in control. God still reigns on high and his purposes shall come to pass. We spend all of our time worrying about taxes, spending, congress and the Supreme Court and forget that the SUPREME being is still in charge.

Take heart, family. If we pay attention to God’s laws and God’s standards and God’s words then we will be more than ok…we will be uplifted and sanctified.

I invite you to visit the page of Re:Turn, because we have started focusing on making it a movement, rather that an event. Too often an amazing spiritual event takes place and the peope of God immediately go off and do something else and forget what God has told them. It’s like we get our spiritual appetizer, and leave the table before we get the main course. God has so much more in store for us than a one day, 4 or 5 or 13 hour feast on His spirit and word. He desires to see his call and spirit spread to every corner of the world. He desires to see His body RADICALLY changed and pouring out upon others.

Election?  Who cares.   Revival?  YES

My plan is to use this site to hopefully be a witness to people about God and the amazing work he is doing in my life and how His presence is being shown in more ways than i could ever imagine. 

I hope what you read here is inspirational, healing, and uplifting. Most importantly, I hope that this helps you reach a closer relationship to the one that calls you HIS child.

In the Grip,

Dennis