Stanley Johnson - Hiding Place {Official Video} **New Gospel Music 2011**

I pray that as you listen to this that you will be able to read the post below and know that God wants more of you and he wants you to be, "More than just a church JUNKIE".

More Than Just A Church Junkie

As usual I was in a church service and the Lord spoke this phrase to me and I could not let it go. The phrase was, "More than just a church junkie". So, I wrote it down and began to listen to the message but that phrase was still heavy on my heart. So this morning when I awaken the thought came back to me again, "More than just a church junkie". When you think of a junkie or someone who is addicted to drugs, they would do anything to relive that very first high. They spend years and years chasing that same high they got the first time only to find that it really does not exist anymore. They are addicted and they would do anything to get that drug of choice. Most addicts do not care about who they hurt in the process or the fact that they are hurting themselves they just want to feel good. They want something to drown out the pain of their past or sometimes even a traumatic experience but they just don't want to feel anymore. They just need to be numb if only for that moment. But,when they come down from that high what they were facing is still there and it did not go anywhere. In that phrase I felt that the Lord was saying YOU have to be more than just a church junkie, running from service to service looking for your next high. I began to repent to God because I do not want to use his presence as a means to get high and feel good but yet not let his presence change me or my circumstances. Running from service to service looking for a word from God instead of falling on my face and crying out to God I need a word to sustain me as I walk through this situation. There is no better word than a word from God directly to YOU. It gives him pleasure to bless us his children when we truly seek his face and come naked before him, removing all the mask and just being honest with him about where we are. God is so tired of us coming to him with our hidden agendas of what we want him to do for us. I do not want to be a church junkie only coming into the house of the Lord looking for my next high to carry me till the next service I can find where HIS presence is to shoot up again. God's presence comes upon us to CHANGE us or to give us an assignment. This relationship with Christ should never be based upon what we feel because our feelings change each day but it should be based upon what we KNOW. Even when we do not feel that HE is there we have to KNOW that he is. Church is more than a place to go so that you can feel good. It is more than a place to go because that is how you were raised. Church junkies sing on the praise team, they sing on the choir, they usher and they even attend bible study but they are only looking for the next HIGH. They do not want to change and truly become the church they only want to come to church. Church junkies only raise their hands when they are in need of something from God or they are desperate for something but when the need is met, the relationship ENDS. Church junkies have the look of righteousness but they deny the power within. I encourage you today to be delivered from being a church junkie. You too can become more than just a church junkie. Please hear me when I say, "I'm not telling you not to go to church", but become the CHURCH. Chase the presence of God so that you can be empowered to change, so that you can be strengthen to do what the Lord has called you to do. Father I pray right now for those who may come and read this that they will find themselves in this post. Lord I pray that as they find themselves that they will not allow pride to get in the way but that they will repent and change. I thank you father that we will not be church junkies using your presence to get high but never change. Father I thank you for your mercy and your grace that continues to follow us. Lord thank you that you will keep a true hunger and thirst within us after righteousness. We praise you for freedom today and we thank you that we will be more than just a church junkie but that we will be changed forever that we will allow your word to change our hearts, minds and our souls. I thank you Lord that we will study your word for ourselves and be changed from glory to glory that we may bring you glory. In Jesus name. Amen

God Has Not Forgotten YOU

From day to day we face so many different situations that sometime leave us feeling like things just will not get any better. You might even feel like giving up or hopeless that change will ever come to you. You might have even cried out, " God, where are you?" You might have even asked God, "When will it ever be my turn to be blessed?" Maybe you are the one that has made a decision to wait on God and you have been watching all of your friends get married before you, trust me, "God has not forgotten YOU. Maybe you are the one that has been struggling over finances and seems like the bills are overwhelming you and you need a miracle, "God has not forgotten you". I know that you have had some rough days and through your eyes, you just cannot see a way of escape but just know that,"God has not forgotten you". The bible says in Isaiah 49:14-16, 14). But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me". 15). Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16). "See I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me". This is a promise from God that he will not forget YOU. He will never forget about you, because you belong to him, you are his. He has you written in the palm of his hands. Psalms 139:17-18 says, 17). "How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18) "If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake I am still with you". Please know my dear friends that you are thought about by God and because he is thinking of you, there is no way he could ever forget about you. You might feel like everything in your world is all turned upside down and inside out and there seems to be darkness all around you but please just trust me when I tell you that he is with you. The bible says in psalms 137: 7-8 7)."Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8). If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Hell behold, you are there". So, please know that even in the dark places that God is there with you and, "He has not forgotten you". No matter what it looks like today, I pray that tomorrow will begin a new day for you in every area of your life. I pray that you will wake up with new vision for your life. I pray that you will know that God is with you and he has not forgotten you. I pray that the very presence of the Lord will be upon you in such a powerful way that you will know that you are never alone. Thank you God for newness of life. Thank you God for a new way of living. Thank you God for new courage and the grace to walk in that courage. God thank you for your grace and mercy that follows your children. Amen
Lift up your heads O ye gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Psalms 24:7 Lift your heads up my friends and know that, "God has not forgotten YOU".

Let Me Be Me

I was in a church service several weeks ago and the very presence of God had filled the temple. As I lifted my hands in worship and connected my heart to the heart of God, I heard the Lord speak to me and say," Will you let me be me?". The question made my heart heavy as the Lord continued to speak to me. He said, " I come into your services and fill your temples and all I want to do is be ME". The tears began to fall as I dealt with the thought that God with all his power and glory was pleading with me to let him be who he is. God said to me that night that, " He comes into our churches and he does not want to be conformed into what we want him to be, he does not want to be programmed into a box, he only wants to be who he is". He said, I am the healer, will you let me be me, I am the deliverer, will you let me be me, I am the redeemer and restorer, will you let me be me, all I want to do is be ME". Then I began to think, this is the all powerful, all knowing God and creator of all things and he is pleading with us his creation to let him be who he is. Then he gave me the analogy of how we feel when we hang out with people that accept us for who we are. Those that just let us be ourselves when we are with them. We do not have to pretend or conform to who they would rather we be, but they just let us be who we are. This is what God desires from us his children. He wants us to receive all of him and accept him for who he is. He is Lord over all circumstances and situations but we hinder him with our own personal agendas about what we think we need him to be and all he desires is to be who he is......God. It is time that we the people of God just let God be God in our services and stop inviting him in to our beautiful churches full of programs that dictate to him who he can be in our service. Just let God be God. As God was speaking to me in that service he just kept asking over and over again," Will you just let me be me, all I want to do is be ME". In Isaiah 43: 10-13 10). You are my witnesses, says the Lord, And my servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe me. And understand that I am He. Before me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after me. 11). I, even I, am the Lord, And besides me there is no savior. 12). I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, And there was no foreign god among you; Therefore you are my witnesses, says the Lord that I am God. 13). Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of my hand; I will work and who will reverse it?" Today this scripture left me asking the question again, "Will you let God be God? Will you let him be God over your circumstances? Will you let him be who he is because in who he is, IS all that you NEED. He created you my sweet sister or brother and he knows all about you and all he wants you to do is receive him for who he is. Welcome him in and let him be himself in your life. God is asking you today, " Will you let me be ME?".