Oak Ridge Today

Faith column: Strategy in prayer

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Everything that is successful usually has a strategy. What I mean is that for us to have any realistic expectations for an endeavor to be even remotely successful, we need to have a strategy. We need to have a plan.

We would not expect to start a new business without a strategy. We have a strategy for how we raise our children, how we work in our careers, how we run our finances, and for anything and everything that we consider important. If we want to succeed in it—we have a plan of action or a strategy for it.

If the above is true, and it is, why don’t we have a strategy for prayer? Why don’t we have a strategy for the most important activity that we can participate in? Why don’t we have an action plan for our prayer life? [Read more…]

Faith column: Grasping more meaning from the Christmas story

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“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20)

The reason that Christ came to Earth was so that we might have life and have it to the full. He wanted us to learn from Him how to live a life that blessed us. He wanted to show His great love for us and His ability to do anything.

The only way for us to have abundance in our lives in a way that really matters is to please God. The only way to please God is to be obedient. And the only way to be obedient is to live our lives based upon God’s word.

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Faith column: Sometimes you have to encourage yourself, trust God’s word

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David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:6, KJV)

There may come a time in your life when you find that all that you hold valuable is gone. Your job, your spouse, your children, your home—everything you truly loved and held dear is gone.

To compound the problem, you may also find that the individuals you thought you could count on have not and will not come to your aid. People that you trusted, loved, looked out for, and even blessed are too often the first to align themselves against you when you need them most. When you need an encouraging word, when you desire some level of human assurance, people you thought you could count on may be the first to withhold the very thing you need to help turn your situation around.

I pray that you never find yourself in this predicament.

However, if you do, remember that you are not necessarily in your situation because you were disobedient. The spiritual fact is that evil tests and puts the most pressure on the most worthy souls. No one has been greatly used of God who did not experience the great fires of adversity. If you are there, it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your level of anointing. No one was more anointed than Jesus, but He found Himself in the midst of adversity.

Sometimes there will be no one to encourage you. Every now and then you must take it upon yourself to independently lift your own spirit. You are going to have to encourage yourself.

The only way to do this is to focus upon and have trust in God’s Word. Find out what God has to say in His Word about your situation. If God said it, that settles it. You can count on Him to do all that He has said. Do all that you can do. Make a commitment to the application of His Word in your situation. Encourage yourself with the truth of God’s love for you, His commitment to bless you, and the reality that He cannot lie.

Anthony Collins is the Senior Pastor of The House of Worship at 190 Manhattan Avenue in Oak Ridge. The devotional thought above comes from his book “100 Days of Inspiration,” available at Cedar Springs Christian Books or at www.TonyCollinsMinistries.com.