"ALTAR-ATION"

I want to share a principle with you that can shift your life.  I want to share with you about the"Power of Altars".  In scripture Altars were a sign of worship, sacrifice, and change.  They were symbols of completing one phase of the journey, and a transition to a new phase of the journey. 

Throughout many passages you will find where servants of God built an Altar as a place of transition, reverence, and worship to God.

Whenever an Altar was built a sacrifice was usually made.  This sacrifice was a sign of worship and commitment to the change that would take place through that moment on the Altar.

Today we don't build "external" Altars necessarily but we can build "internal" Altars. They are places of "internal" change where our heart sacrifices something so we can transition to our next destination.  

Abraham made Altars as a sign of completing one phase and moving to the next phase during his journey. 

You will transition from the current place you are in and transition to your next level when you make a sacrifice on the Altar and move anything out of the way that is hindering your next level and your progress.

There is an old hymn "Is Your All On The Altar, 

"You have longed for sweet peace,

And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest,
And have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul."

Let's Pray.  Lord God, today I build an Altar of sacrifice and change to you. I will move forward with a new dedication and sacrifice to your will and your way.  I will see progress, increase, and blessings because of my "Altar-ation".  In the Name of The Lord Jesus. Amen.

Jonathan Richardson, M.Div. is the Pastor of Faith Forward Church 

 Faith Forward Enterprises, INC. and Faith Forward Group, LLC.

www.REVJRICH.com

EMOTIONS KILL PROMOTION!

Let me tell you a valuable lesson I have learned.  We are all emotional people. Our emotions have the ability to deceive us and trick us out of what God has for our future.  I will admit that I have done and said things in my emotions that in retrospect I didn’t mean.  I acted out of my feelings at the time.  There was a particular time I was “in my feelings.” After I reluctantly submitted to what God was saying in my heart I prayed and saw an image of generations that would miss blessings because of a decision I would have made in my emotions that day.

Here is what you have to know.  Your emotions are good and valuable, but you must control them.  You emotions will kill the promotion that God can have for your life and your future!

Jeremiah was an emotional prophet.  He is known as the weeping prophet.  He was ready to give up on everything.  He was very emotional.  He then had a moment of clarity in his emotions and said, “every time I try to quit I can’t  because it’s like fire shut up in my bones”!  You can’t quit due to emotions when you have a fire of purpose that is still burning!

Likewise, Saul had the same issue.  He was jealous of David the rising star.  In his emotions he tried to kill David and scripture even says because he couldn’t fully submit to God the “spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul.:” Wow… All because of his emotions.  David would go on to be King. David would be just fine because he was a worshiper, and he chose to worship even in his emotions. THAT’S WHAT WE HAVE TO LEARN! That’s why we have the Psalms that say “The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear.”  “The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.”  David was in his emotions but he chose to WORSHIP NOT, WIMP OUT! He was a man after God’s own heart!

GET YOUR EMOTIONS TOGETHER SO YOU CAN SEE THE PROMOTION GOD HAS FOR YOU!  EMOTIONS CAN KILL PROMOTION!

I speak promotion in your life this week as you overcome your emotions! As you seek God for his will the blessing will follow!

Let’s Pray, Lord God I thank you that I am stable in my emotions.  I thank you that I have overcome the power of Satan.  I thank you that I am going to prosper as I seek your will and overcome my feelings.  Help me to seek you, serve you , and obey you.  In the name of the Lord Jesus’ Amen.

Jonathan Richardson, M.Div. is the Pastor of Faith Forward Church 

 Faith Forward Enterprises, INC. and Faith Forward Group, LLC.

www.REVJRICH.com

4 WAYS TO LIVE A MORE "FRUITFUL" LIFE

Often times we want to see things happen around us. We want to see external blessings.  However, before we see external blessings often there has to be an internal change.  I have been in a transitional phase in which I am asking God to bless and multiply everything in my life in supernatural ways.  While in prayer I was asking God to “fill” some of the things I have been praying about. I heard in my spirit “I Will, But First I Have To Fill You.”

I believe external blessings actually begin with the power of an internal filling in our heart of God’s will, wisdom, and truth.  Here are some ways to get external blessings to manifest in your life.

1)    Stop Investing In Unfruitful Activity

Scripture tells us that we are called to bear fruit and that a tree will be recognized by its fruit.  If we are honest we have habits and relationships that are probably unfruitful yet we still choose to invest in them.  We have to cut these off by choosing to invest in the things that will show forth fruit in our life.  This is a choice. No one can make the choice for us. We have to make the choice ourselves.

2   2) Be Honest About Your Weaknesses And Ask God To Help You With Them

Often people fool themselves into thinking “they don’t have a problem.”  Some of the greatest people in scripture fell because they didn’t address their problems.  For Solomon it was women, for Saul it was pride, for Adam and Eve it was deception of the serpent.  We have to be honest and address the weaknesses in our lives if we want to grow.  We can’t do this on our own.  We need supernatural help and to ask God to grace us to manage and control our weaknesses.  You can’t do it in your own strength you need God to help you.

3)  Get Someone To Keep You Accountable

Recently, I heard in my Spirit “you need accountability”.  Here is the truth.  Everyone needs someone to keep them accountable, especially leaders. We all need to submit to someone with more wisdom and knowledge than us.  Pray on who will keep you accountable and consistent in your commitment to change and be fruitful.

4)  Give The Tithe

The tithe is still God’s supernatural way of blessing us.  God honors the tithe.  The tithe is holy to God.  We are asked only in one place of scripture to test God and to try God and that is in the area of the tithe.  He wants to bless us but the question is will we pass the test of stewardship?  Allow God to multiply you in supernatural ways by giving God his 10^% of your resources first.

These are not all of the things that will help you be fruitful but if we do them we can start to live a fruitful life.  Let’s pray, God keep me in a fruitful place. Keep me in a posture in which I desire to be fruitful in every area. Help me to grow and help me to prosper.

In Jesus’ Name Amen.

Jonathan Richardson, M.Div. is the Pastor of Faith Forward Church 

 Faith Forward Enterprises, INC. and Faith Forward Group, LLC.