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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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Overcoming Impasses In Prayer

 

God has filled me with compassion for people who start

out all “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” in their

commitment to pray in the Spirit, but then reach an

impasse and stop praying before they enter into the

glory on the other side.

An impasse is a spiritual plateau or dry place that

generally occurs just before God is ready to move you

to a higher place in His Spirit. I want to help you

understand the nature of an impasse because there is

so much waiting for you in the realm of God if you will

press on in prayer.

You will have to push past many impasses if you plan to

persevere in prayer, the first usually being the

temptation to fall out of prayer. The devil will try

everything he can think of to get you out of prayer.

But if the enemy doesn’t succeed in that, he still won’t

totally give up. Instead, he will come from a new angle.

He will try to deceive you any way he can to keep you

from going higher in God.

But just keep praying. Eventually you will come to the

place where you are so hungry for God that you won’t

have to make yourself pray; it will be your heart’s

desire. You’ll want to do whatever is necessary to draw

closer to Him.

I know about impasses from personal experience. Day

after day during my first year of ministry, I spent a

certain amount of time praying in tongues. I was too

stubborn to quit, even though there were times when

every cell in my body screamed in resistance.

I have to admit it was hard for me to understand why

something that was supposed to be so edifying was so

hard to stick with. But since then I have come to

understand why so many people who start out praying

in tongues with such fervency sometimes become

discouraged and give up.

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Legalism and Condemnation Don’t Come From God

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The first reason, as we already discussed, is that people

often look for spectacular changes in their outward

circumstances and miss the miraculous work of the

Holy Spirit taking place on the inside. Another reason is

that many people view prayer as something they have

to do to avoid condemnation rather than as a blessed

time of fellowship with the Father that brings eternal

changes.

You see, the human creature is prone to legalism. There

is nothing the devil likes more than to impose a set of

legalistic rules on a person. Then when that person has

a hard time keeping those rules, his confidence that

God will move in his life is greatly shaken.

Let me give you a classic example. When a person

finally commits to an early morning hour of prayer, he

looks like a militant marching off to war. He has that

look in his eyes that says,“By golly, don’t anyone try to

stop me!” But all he has to do is miss one or two early

morning sessions of prayer, and the devil is right there

to tell him, “That’s it — you blew it!”

That’s what happened to me during that first year of

praying in tongues. The first impasse I encountered was

falling out of prayer. My fleshly nature would flare up,

and I’d stop praying for a time. Then the devil would

bring condemnation because I hadn’t reported like a

rigid soldier every day at a certain hour.

Why is the devil able to put us under that kind of

condemnation? Because in the back of our mind, we are

often convinced that it is our physical effort of filling a

certain cubicle of space in a certain location for a

certain hour that pleases God.

But God doesn’t keep score based on the number of

days you spent praying in tongues last month. He is

interested in how much change has taken place in your

life.

Now, please don’t get me wrong; discipline and

determination are essential ingredients in the godly

life. But you’ll miss it if you base your relationship with

God on whether or not you prayed yesterday.

God doesn’t slap you down with condemnation and take

away your anointing because you missed two days of

prayer. He’s delighted in whatever fellowship you want

to give Him. He wants to enter into new places of

change together with you, increasing the anointing on

your life at every new level.

I have learned that God fellowships with us according

to the changes that take place in our lives through

prayer. The more change, the more fellowship we can

have with Him. He isn’t interested in legalism that

causes us to report to an hour of prayer. You see,

prayer was never meant to be a chore, but a precious

time of transformation and fellowship.

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Fall in Love With Prayer

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So in order for you and me to enjoy all the wonderful

blessings that God has prepared for us, we must fall in

love with prayer. But we can’t do that until we

understand that God isn’t disgusted with us for all the

well-meaning times we have started to pray and failed

to finish.

When I was a new Christian, knowing that I should pray

wasn’t enough. Listening to preachers tell me that

prayer was my obligation wasn’t enough. Feeling

ashamed and condemned at my lack of prayer wasn’t

enough. Only understanding the nature of God and

falling in love with prayer became enough to make me

pursue praying in tongues for personal edification.

So let me help you understand what will get you past

that point where so many people fail in prayer to a

place in your spiritual walk where God can

unrestrainedly pour out His blessings on you. I want

you to fall in love with prayer — not because it is your

legalistic duty, not because you will live under

condemnation if you don’t, but because it is the path

that leads to sharing special times of fellowship with

your Heavenly Father that will change your life for-

ever.

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THIS IS THE LINK FOR MY NEW PODCAST acts 29 today

UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY

 

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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God has given many in the Bible conformations

concerning many different things and continues to do

so even now.

For me I think without a doubt this was the most

amazing conformation I have ever had, it was like the

finger of GOD writing on the wall.

I had come to the point that I come to sometimes where

I just lay it all down before the Lord, and say: Lord out

of all of my hopes and dreams and endeavors that I am

involved in, WHAT IS IT YOU WOULD HAVE ME

CONTINUE IN….AND WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME NOT

BE INVOLVED IN ANYMORE????

The one that was foremost on my mind was, the

writings of my story in life. This blog, a book I am

almost finished with, and now I am learning how to do

a podcast. These are all ways to get my story out to

people so they can be encouraged in their spiritual

walk and growth.

Now I have had some people encourage me in my

writings, but I just needed some other conformation

that would make it very clear for me, so I continued

waiting on GOD for some kind of sign, something that

would stand out, something very clear.

So, yesterday I went to the big mall here to make a

house payment, and as I was walking around I said:

Lord I am still needing a conformation as to whether I

should continue writing my story (testimony, etc, etc).

After some time I was not thinking about anything (a

gift that men have) and I decided to go down 1 floor to

the food court, I would usually stay on the main

walkway to do this, but I saw a shortcut that would get

me there faster.

As I turned to go another way I was walking by the Nike

store and for some reason (GOD), I just happened to

look over at a advertising SIGN that was in the window.

Now out of all of the places I could have been in this 4

story mall with hundreds of stores, and hundreds of

advertising signs,

I JUST HAPPENED TO BE AT THIS SIGN, AND GLANCED

OVER TO LOOK AT IT….I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY

EYES….I WALKED OVER TO THE SIGN

AND READ IT AGAIN AND AGAIN….IS IT SAYING WHAT

I THINK ITS SAYING…WOW HOW MUCH MORE PLAIN

COULD IT BE….SO I TOOK THIS PICTURE OF THE SIGN

AND THAT’S ME IN THE REFLECTION.

YES GOD STILL GIVES US CONFORMATIONS IF WE WILL WAIT ON HIM.

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY

 

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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THE LAST 40 PERCENT

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If you’re going to make it through the purging process,

that’s the kind of determination you have to develop to

withstand the enemy’s attacks. Why? Because

mortification isn’t a pleasant experience, and your

flesh will want to give up. And three months of praying

in tongues and edifying yourself to a certain place in

God isn’t going to make your purging process any more

pleasant!

But that’s okay. If there is one thing I don’t want in my

life, it is dead limbs. I’m willing to go through whatever

unpleasantness the Holy Ghost deems necessary in

order to rid myself of everything that sabotages God’s

perfect will for my life.

The dead limbs that the Holy Spirit is working on now

in my life is the last forty percent.I’m on my way to a

hundredfold walk.

You see, it’s not so difficult to walk in thirtyfold or

sixtyfold of God’s will for you. But that last forty

percent is a challenge. It deals with how you do or don’t

operate in the love of God.

When that last forty percent is purged, you respond

differently when people insult you,slander you, slap

your cheek, or sue you. Instead of retaliating with

insult for insult, you extend nothing but the mercy of

God. You esteem your testimony as your most valuable

possession, and you are determined not to hurt a

human being even at the cost of your own head.

The dead limbs of the last forty percent are hard to get

to. A good deal of edification must take place first in

your spirit before the Holy Ghost will even focus in on

those hard-to-reach limbs and begin to purge them. In

fact, during the first six months you pray consistently

in tongues, the Holy Spirit is strengthening your spirit

to get you willing to even discuss cutting those dead

limbs off!

Remember, Jesus said that you are clean through the

Word He has spoken (John 15:3). As the Holy Spirit girds

up your spirit with revelation of the Word, you’ll be

able to cut off those hideous dead limbs that clutter and

hinder your life.

One thing is for sure: You won’t get rid of the last forty

percent just by sitting in a pew once a week,listening to

a thirty-minute sermon that you don’t even plan to

apply. So if you’ve been thinking that you don’t need to

pray much in tongues for personal edification, think

again! You have a divine purpose to fulfill, and you

don’t need a lot of dead limbs in your way!

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The Dead Limb of Complacency

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The worst thing you need to be purged from is

complacency and indifference. In its extreme, it’s the

type of attitude that says, “Let the town go to hell. Why

should I spend my time praying for them?”

There are pastors in a state of complacency who don’t

want to meet under the same roof with the other

preachers in town. Sure, these pastors want to see

everyone in town get saved.They aren’t that wicked. But

they just want to be the ones to do it. Their attitude is,

“If an evangelistic outreach doesn’t come through me

and my church, I’m not going to help make it a success.”

That is called indifference or complacency. It’s quite a

chore for the Holy Ghost to cut that dead limb off! It’s a

part of that last forty percent.

The Holy Ghost has to cut the dead limb of indifference

out of our lives before we will ever pursue revival

above any selfish desire. Until we are purged of

complacency, we’ll always be focused on “my lifestyle”

and “my comfort” more than other people’s salvation.

Personally, the devil has often tried to use complacency

as a means to keep me from entering in to the best God

has for me. The enemy will whisper in my mind, “Why

don’t you just settle back and be comfortable?You have

a good anointing. You have good meetings. Don’t

hundreds get filled with the Holy Spirit in a matter of

weeks? Aren’t you in the camp meeting circuit?Why

don’t you just settle down and stay where you’re at? It’s

a good place to be.”

Every time I have tried to break out of my comfort

zone, I’ve encountered a major attack of the enemy. My

flesh says, “Well, why don’t I stay where I’m at

spiritually? Why subject myself to more battering by

the devil? Why can’t I just get comfortable and live like

other preachers?They seem to be content and happy.”

My flesh will try to talk me into being complacent. But,

you see, the hunger that is on the inside of my spirit has

always been stronger than the voice of my flesh. I can

only walk after the flesh so long before it becomes

unbearable. I get absolutely unhappy, and I stay that

way until I shake off my complacency and start to

fervently pursue God again.

The Holy Spirit wants to mature us through revelation

of God’s Word so that we look at that dead limb of

complacency in our lives and say, “I’m disgusted with

that. Holy Spirit,please cut it off.” He’s even happy if we

look at that limb and honestly admit, “God, I just don’t

want that limb cut off.” At that point, we only need to

do one thing: keep on praying in tongues.Eventually we

will want to get rid of that dead, ugly limb. That’s the

edification process at work.

By the time the Lord was finished cutting dead limbs off

my life, I was nothing but a stump!He cut off all those

dead limbs such as wrong believing, lusts of the flesh,

love of money, and self-exaltation. And I like the

fruitful limbs that have grown back in place of what

was pruned away!

 The Holy Spirit waits patiently for you to yield your

authority to Him, for He has a work inside of you to do.

He will strengthen your inner man, your reborn human

spirit, with sufficient might to put to death the deeds of

the flesh and to purge every dead limb out of your life

one by one. As you do, the Holy Spirit has the liberty to

increase His work of revealing divine mysteries to your

spirit. So be assured — whether it’s mortification or

revelation, your prayers in the Spirit are being

answered.

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Oh, I’ll come from a place within where you think that

you have no strength.And I’ll say to you, “Get up and try

again.”For even though you may be cast down from

time to time,know this, My child —you are not

forsaken.Get up again and again and again,and My

strength will be with you continually to begin again and

again and again. In a time when you think you will fall,

you will not fall; you will stand. For I will come from a

place within and give you strength, says the Spirit of

Grace,that you never knew you had. (word given thru

Dave Roberson)

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until next time

LARRY

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

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Breaking the Cycle of Defeat

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So it is through the Spirit and according to God’s Word

that we mortify the deeds of the body — those fears,

faults, and bad habits with which the flesh attempts to

keep us in a never-ending cycle of defeat. That is the

only way we can take the limits off our lives.

I have found that one of the primary roles of the Holy

Spirit’s leadership in our lives is to lead us out of those

left over patterns of the flesh nature’s dominance.

Those “left overs” can sabotage everything God is

attempting to do in our lives for the good.

One day I asked my brother (who was a detective in

Memphis at the time), “Do you really want to know

what has kept you from becoming a multi-millionaire?”

He was wise enough to answer correctly. His job had

nothing to do with it. His problem was his own limited

pattern of thinking that had dominated him all of his

life and had kept him imprisoned within its narrow

confines.

In Mark 9:23, Jesus said that all things are possible to

him who believes. Therefore, the only thing that stands

between us and any kind of miracle is the fleshly

pattern or system of thought that has captivated us in

the realm of the soul. That UN-scriptural pattern is

something faith can’t give substance to. It is hope that

has been programmed wrong — hope that has gone

amiss. It is full of fear and torment instead of faith.

The Holy Spirit will replace that mess for the kind of

hope that faith can give substance to.But we must yield

to His leadership when He begins to root out those

destructive patterns;otherwise, we will just remain in

that same invisible prison until the day we die.

You see, it’s no accident that right after Paul talks about

mortifying the deeds of the flesh in Romans 8:13, he

says this in verse 14: For as many as are led by the Spirit

of God, they are the sons of God.Verse 13 and 14 are one

continuous thought. The term “son of God”refers to the

mature believer who has been nurtured by the Holy

Spirit to the point that he can now walk by his new

nature rather than by the dictates of the flesh.

Therefore, Paul is describing in verse 14 a state of

spiritual maturity where carnal patterns and systems

of thought no longer dominate you because you are

now walking after your new nature instead of

according to the flesh.

Many times believers who are still immature and

carnal themselves want the Holy Spirit to give them

insight into other people’s messed-up lives or to tell

them what car to buy. But about the only thing the Holy

Spirit can do with a believer in this spiritual condition

is to lead him out of his own mess.

You may say, “Well, I want God to lead me into this

ministry or this job promotion.” But the first order of

business is for God to lead you out of anything that

keeps you in a perpetual cycle of defeat.

That’s what Romans 8:13,14 is talking about: As many as

will allow their reborn human spirit to be nurtured and

taught by the Holy Spirit, they are the mature sons of

God. For it is through the spirit — through the new

nature within them — that they mortify the deeds of

the flesh. The Holy Spirit will lead them out of patterns

and systems of thought that enslave.

Paul described this condition of enslavement in

Romans 7:7-24. He said, “What a wretched man I am.

There is a bent toward sin loosed in my members, and

the more I try to serve God,the more it wars against my

mind. There is nothing in me to ‘re-bottle’ it. Even

though God gave me the Law and I try to keep it, this

lust for sin persistently wages war inside of me. I can’t

seem to stop it.”

This hopeless spiritual condition is the reason why the

whole world became guilty before God and subject to

His judgment. The world needed a Savior. So Romans 8

tells us how the Savior came to lead us out of our

enslavement to the flesh into a walk of the Spirit.

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Tearing Down Strongholds in the Soul

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All you have to do is look at the root word of “mortify,”

which means death, to know you’re in for a battle in the

purging process. Paul describes this battle in Second

Corinthians 10:

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds).— 2 Corinthians 10:4

So Paul says that our weapons for this battle we’re

engaged in are not carnal. In other words, we don’t

wage this internal war with natural means. Instead, our

weapons are mighty through God to the pulling down of

invisible strongholds, or fortresses, that are erected in

our lives.

Some believers think that the word “strongholds” in

verse 4 is talking about some kind of invisible fortress

that the devil builds at one end of a town to keep the

townspeople from getting saved. These believers think

their job is to tear down these evil fortresses of the

enemy.

No, Paul is referring to a battle on the personal level.

How do I know that? Because in verse 5 he says this:

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that

exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and

bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience

of Christ.

Who possesses the thoughts that are brought into

captivity? Paul didn’t change the subject between verse

4 and 5. If you are the possessor of the thought, you are

the possessor of the fortress.

The strongholds Paul is talking about are imaginations

and high things that exalt them-selves against the

knowledge of God. They are carnal strongholds in the

realm of the soul. Paul is telling us to bring into

captivity every disobedient thought, because the devil

will cut us to pieces with the soulish strongholds that

are not cast down. Some of those strongholds hinder us

so greatly that if they aren’t broken, we will die in our

defeated condition, never to fulfill our godly desires or

divine call.

A stronghold can consist of a certain set of

imaginations that makes a person so infuriated, he

separates himself from the truth through strife and

unforgiveness. A stronghold can also be an elaborate

system of religious thought that enslaves the hearts and

minds of an entire nation. But whether it is a

stronghold in the soul of an individual or of a nation, it

all starts with an un-captivated thought that exalts

itself against the knowledge of Christ.

I’m so glad God has given us weapons that are mighty

through God to tear down these fortresses! They are

not a part of the natural realm; they are given in the

realm of His Spirit.

The most important weapon that God gave us was the

third Person of the Godhead to live inside of us. Then

the Holy Spirit also equipped us with another vital

weapon — a supernatural language.

That language is a gift that edifies and builds us up

above a carnal realm where our natural senses

dominate. And as we employ this gift by praying in

tongues, the Holy Spirit begins the process of purging

us of every “high thing” that exalts itself against God’s

plan for our lives.

Where does this purging process take place? Well,

everything that shows up on the outside is generally a

picture of what is working on the inside of us. There-

fore, mortification occurs in the realm of our

character.

The Holy Spirit begins a work of discerning the

thoughts and intents of our hearts, rooting out systems

of thought and soulish strongholds that cause us to fail.

As we keep praying in tongues for personal edification,

He tears down any strongholds of the soul that have not

been constructed by God’s Word.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit constructs a

superstructure in our spirit man by imparting

revelation knowledge of God’s Word. For what

purpose? To mature us, to edify us, and to build our

lives higher and higher into God.

The Word of God is a two-edged sword that divides

asunder soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12). It is the only

qualified agent to deliver such a distinct blow between

spirit and soul. And in this purging process that

encompasses all the realms of the soul and spirit, it is

the only standard I trust as I endeavor to understand

the Holy Spirit’s work inside of me.

It doesn’t matter how many devils come to clamor

against my soul. I’m going to brace myself against the

attack and still choose only the Word for my standard.

That two-edged sword has penetrated my spirit, and I

refuse to believe anything or anyone that is not in line

with what the Word has declared.

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY

 

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