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Effective or Ineffective Prayer Life: The Choice is Yours, Part 1

Did you know you can learn how to pray and have an effective prayer life and you can start learning today? Effective prayer, or prayers that are answered, start with us praying God’s Word. Jeremiah 1:12 (NKJV) says God is ready to perform His Word. That means He is waiting for us to know what He said He wants to do and then ask Him. You could say it like this: we are to find what God’s will is and ask Him for it. For whatever is God’s will, you can have. We must learn that God’s will is not mysterious nor is it hidden from us. God’s will is His Word. Knowing this makes prayer clear and simple, and enables us to pray effectively. 1 John 5:14-15 is a powerful verse which illustrates this for us. It says, “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us: and if we know He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions (prayers) that we asked of Him.” Notice how God’s Word tells us we can have confidence in knowing He hears and answers our prayers. All we have to do is find scriptures that cover our need and then ask Him to meet it.

Mark 11:24 also gives us helpful insight into effective prayer.  It says, “Whatsoever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”  Jesus tells us we must pray in faith, which means we must believe God hears and answers our prayers before we see them come to pass. This is not hard to do when you understand that your confidence in prayer must come from the Word of God. In other words, if God said He would do it (something He said in His Word) then faith fills your heart from His promise and you believe that you receive it. You believe it is yours; you believe God has heard and answered your prayer.

So, remember your confidence in prayer will come from knowing God’s will or His Word. Now you can learn to pray effectively and receive answers to all your prayers.

– Pastor Chris Morgan



Overcoming Temptation Pt 4

Earlier in this series we found in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (AMP) that putting and keeping God first in our lives is key for us to overcome temptation. In part 3 of this blog I began covering the four fundamentals that will help us do this. The first being: we must take time to read and study God’s Word. The second fundamental was prayer. Prayer will have to be a part of any growing relationship with God. Today I want to cover the last two in this series.

  • Being filled with the Holy Spirit helps us to keep God first in our lives and to overcome temptation. Jesus was very clear with His disciples about the importance of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Jesus said in Luke 11:13 (AMP), “If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him.” Notice Jesus said the Holy Spirit would bring with Him gifts that are to our advantage. In Acts 1:8 Jesus said we would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and makes us powerful witnesses for Him in the world. Then we see that powerful outpouring in Acts 2:1-2 where the disciples received this power by being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues on the Day of Pentecost. A simple yet powerful truth the Church must learn is that God wants the world saved and His Church filled with the Holy Spirit. We need spiritual power in our lives, the very power of God, and being filled with the Holy Spirit gives us that power that Jesus said was to our advantage.           Simply put, being filled and staying filled with the Holy Spirit helps us to keep God first in our lives, which is key to us winning over temptation. Read Luke 4:1-2, it worked for Jesus and will work for us as well!

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Overcoming Temptation Pt 3

In my last blog I began by sharing a vital truth every Believer must learn in order to overcome temptation. That truth is: we must learn to put and keep God first in our lives. So then, the real question is, how do we keep God first in our lives? We found there are basics or fundamentals that we can’t afford to neglect. They will not only help us keep God first in our lives, but they will also help us to win over the temptations that come our way. There are four fundamentals that will help us do this. In this blog I will share two of them.

  • The Word of God, the Bible, must be a part of our daily lives. Spending time in the Word of God is the first way we grow in our relationship with God. God’s Word is Him speaking to us and revealing His will for us. In the wilderness temptation Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” We must also know the Word is our answer and that truth always strengthens us and defeats the devil in our lives. Remember if the devil can’t deceive you, he can’t defeat you. And in John 17:17 Jesus said, “God’s Word is truth.”

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Overcoming Temptation Pt 2

God’s Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NLT, “If you think you are standing, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure”. We also found in part 1 that temptation is any trial regarded as enticing one to sin. Sin not only hurts us spiritually, it deceives, desensitizes, and it hardens us to God and the things of God. It is designed to destroy our relationship with God and our confidence in God.

Today I want to share with you the first step or key to overcoming temptation, it is found in 1 Corinthians 10:14. The Amplified Bible translates this verse, “Therefore, my beloved, shun (keep clear away from, avoid by flight if need be) any sort of idolatry (of loving or venerating anything more than God)”. Wow!  There is a ton of insight to overcoming temptation in this verse. Most people would never imagine idolatry being a problem in their lives until they really understand what it is. Idolatry is anything that takes the place of God or the place God should have in your life. So what place is God supposed to hold?  You know the answer – first place. So we find the first step or key to overcoming any temptation is to keep God first in our life. We simply cannot win over temptation without God being and staying our first priority or number one in our lives.


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Overcoming Temptation

Recently in my office, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a few topics that as a Pastor I need to go over again with the congregation. One of those topics was about temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NLT says, “If you think you are standing strong, be careful, for you, too, may fall into the same sin. But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.”

So what is temptation? Temptation is any solicitation to do evil or the means to tempt with the purpose of causing one to fall or sin. Simply put, Satan tempts us to sin against God. If we fail to see temptation for what it is, then we also become blinded to the consequences of sin, which is death. As believers, we must realize sin was designed to steal, kill, and destroy from our lives and then kill us too. God didn’t lie, John 10:10 and Romans 6:23.

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Forgiveness

Today I want to remind you of a simple yet powerful truth that every child of God needs to be assured of. That is the power of God’s forgiveness in our lives. Far too many believers go through life un-assured of God’s forgiveness in their lives and as a result they lack the confidence needed to walk close with God. Many people feel condemned and live trapped by their past sins, sins that God tells us He will forgive us of when we turn to Him. As with anything we need from God, the assurance of it is found in the Word of God itself. So if we need forgiveness, we must find what God tell us in His Word about Him forgiving us. 1 John 1:9 says,” if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This means as a believer if we sin, we are to go to God and ask Him to forgive us of the sin in repentance, and His promise to us is He does.


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Helpful Hints for the Church

With the world at its worst, the church needs to be at its best. With all the reasons many un-churched find not to come to our churches, the church needs to make sure when they do show up, it is doing what draws people to Christ. We must remember God wants to help and change people’s lives no matter where they are in life, what they have done, or what was done to them. People will come from all walks of life; hurting, feeling dirty, sorrowful, empty, and confused. Others will come high minded, impressed with themselves, and not even feeling like they need God. The question is will we each be ready? We must realize in spite of all their hate and dark things, Jesus still love them.

Many who will come didn’t have anyone to help direct their lives in the right way or to take them to a life giving church. Something else did the directing for them, or maybe a better word is misdirected; misdirected about God and His church. The following are a few helpful things that the church can do to be prepared when those we have been praying for and inviting show up.


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God Cares About You Pt 2

In Psalms 119:68 we read, Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes. Many Christians don’t really doubt God is good but are confused over what God is good about. God’s goodness is clearly revealed in His plan of redemption for mankind. In other words His goodness to us can be seen in everything He redeemed us from. Galatians 3:13-14 states “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree v)14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Now according to Deuteronomy 28 the curse of the law was threefold; spiritual death, sickness and disease, and poverty or lack. What that means to us is that through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, God in His goodness to mankind has provided eternal life, healing and divine health, and provision and wealth.


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God Cares About You


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