The Fear of Moving On

Heb. 13:5-6  

   Fear is poison. An event happens in your life, often traumatic, and then the enemy has you believe a lie about that event. Then, in response to the lie, you build up a self defense mechanism. That self defense mechanism now "protects" you by initiating a response from you each time that sensitive area of your life is touched. And then that response causes another event in our life which starts this whole destructive cycle in our life over again until we have what is called a stronghold.

   Fear works like this. An individual will, say, get hurt in a relationship. Then the enemy has them believe a lie about that, like "You will never be loved.". This fear puts in place a defense, often an attitude that says "I will never be hurt again. I will never allow myself to end up in that situation as long as I live. I wont take risk again in relationships." Then, one day, someone who genuinely wants to be your friend or have a relationship with you approaches you in friendship and what happens? You sulk away, you get angry at them, you hide in the corner, etc. until they no longer bother you. And because they walk away you believe the lie even more........

   I have started my "rotten fruit" syllabus with fear, appropriate for Halloween. I prayed for how to get this across and the Lord said to show them how fear infects every area of their life if they let it in. Like poison spreading after a snake bite, fear, after one event, spreads into the mind and changes their entire outlook on life.

   I told them that we often say we are not afraid because we don't really know what fear looks like. Fear can be : not being able to step out and make decisions on your own, not trusting others, not doing good to others for fear of being hurt or being taken advantage of.

   There are really three steps to overcoming fear in any area of your life:
1. Love "perfect love drives out fear" How does this work? Well, when you love as God wants you to love, then you aren't concerned about how others treat you or how they respond to you.

2. Let God heal that part of your life that started your fear. This might mean forgiveness, repentance, or acceptance of God's love in your life. Let the Holy Spirit remind you of where you received that wound, and then let Him heal that area in your life. Remember, healing in this area is often a process.

3. Finally, take risk with God. Stepping out in faith and trusting God is the only way that you will experience God's safety net for your life and see the miraculous things God wants to do for you. I am not saying you make inappropriate decisions, but that instead you choose to do what you were uncomfortable with because God stands beside you.

   At the end of the lesson several signed up for a contact newsletter, and two stayed behind for prayer. One man wanted prayer for his family, and another wanted genuine life change. The second man was convulsing in tears by the end and God worked mightily in his life.

   Thank you for praying for this ministry and please remember to pray for open doors into juvenile detention.

God bless.

Rotten fruit

   Since God started this ministry with  a picture of bars that were shadows and hidden in inmate's lives, I knew at some point we would get down to the 'nitty gritty' of dealing with these hidden issues and exposing them for what they are.

 But I didn't know how to approach it. Should I randomly grab a good concordance and look up the word "addiction" or "anger"? Should I get one of my counseling resources and just start with the table of contents, maybe? I prayed and I knew that to expose these bars it was going to take a move of the Spirit in their lives. So what happens in our lives when the Holy Spirit moves? Well many things happen, but specifically, there is fruit.

   The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith fullness, Gentleness, and Self-control. When the Holy Spirit reigns in your life He produces these fruits. So what if He is not reigning? What if that area of your life that needs Joy or Gentleness is not touched by the Holy Spirit? What would that look like? What fruit would be there?

   I prayed and what the Holy Spirit gave me was a little different than what I expected. I am sure some of these you know the opposite to, but the opposite of some of these fruits might be different than you would imagine. As I understand it, here is a list of the fruit of the Spirit, and the opposite of that Holy Spirit produced fruit;

1. love - fear
2. joy - despair, doubt
3. peace - discontentment, restlessness
4. patience - selfishness
5. kindness - greed
6. goodness - to be unfair
7. faithfulness - addictions
8. gentleness - being egotistical
9. self control - controlled by others, peer pressure

   But throwing out the "rotten fruit" wont fix all of the issues. By us knowing what bad fruit we eat on a daily basis, and getting that bad taste out of our mouths through fellowship with God, He gives us an appetite for Him and nourishes the growth of good fruit in our hearts.

   If you pray for this ministry pray that these areas will be exposed in inmate's lives through the truth of Jesus Christ. And maybe if you are reading this and you see bad fruit in your own life I encourage you to stop what you are doing and ask God to show you how it got there. Perhaps through unforgiveness, maybe you believed a lie about yourself, or maybe you made a choice to agree with someone else's opinion of who you are. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how this lie about your identity came in, and then wait for an answer. Your answer might come through an audible voice, a picture, a song, a memory, or an impression, but however revelation comes there will be peace. Take action after that through repentance, prayer, confession, etc. and trust God to grow new fruit in your life.

   God bless

Relevant Rhema 10/13/11

  My bible reading looks like this. I pick up the bible and choose a book, say Acts. I read that book from chapter 1 verse 1 until I come to a verse that the Holy Spirit highlights for me. Sometimes it takes chapters, maybe even books, before I get to where I am supposed to be. Other mornings, most mornings, it takes just a chapter or two to hear from God through scripture. But when I hear, I stop. I meditate on that scripture and what God has for me.

  Every now and then I recieve a word (Rhema-greek) from God that applies to Hidden Bars. I felt like this morning He spoke into my ministry as a whole, but specifically for Hidden Bars. If I do get a word for this ministry I will put it under this heading, Relevant Rhema. I would consider this a "prophetic" word, wich simply means from the mouth of God. So help me pray for these things to come to pass.

  Acts 2:47 ".....and having favor with all the people"

  I feel like God is going to be giving this ministry favor. We know where God is leading us and to achieve great things we will need favor. Favor from jail chaplains, youth pastors, pastors, congregations, families of the incarcerated, schools, and the list keeps going. This ministry will need favor from people I have never met and who will never figure into my equation so its not like I can just send roses. God will have to give this ministry favor to accomplish His goals.

  I feel like God is already giving us favor. If you review the blog you will see that a followup newsletter was unheard of for a jail minister but God gave us favor. Grown men leave weeping the ministry sessions and ask for the "cool" minister to come back. Thats favor.

  But God told me this morning that He gives favor to enlarge our territory and that He is giving us favor within our territory.

  I believe that this is His desire and faith and obediance make it a reality. Join me in prayer that our favor and territory will be increased especially in the area of Juvenile detention. Thank you and God bless.

Branching out

  Hidden bars will be branching out to include juvenile detention facilities in this ministry. This is God's desire for this ministry. I have had this on my heart for a while and after looking at statistics that broke me open for this cause, I know the direction the Lord is taking me.

 More than 2.5 million juveniles are arrested every year in America and 70% of juveniles convicted of crimes have gone on to commit crimes again. Think that is shocking? Statistics tell us that over 75% of the people who ever come to Christ do so by the age of 18. Add these two facts together and what do you get? I know what I get. I get the feeling that it is a miracle of God alone that can change the course of delinquency in this nation and, in turn, begin to empty out our prison system.

  But that was never this ministry's goal, to empty the prison. That is a healthy byproduct of our purpose; freedom and healing in people's lives. I cant look at myself in the mirror and know that I have done all for this cause until I step into these facilities and begin to minister to youth that are caught in the destructive cycles of fatherlessness, crime, peer pressure, sin, bondage and darkness.

  I was once a youth pastor, and still carry some of that with me, but that doesn't mean you need to be to assist this ministry. Our goals are simple and straightforward and resemble our plan for evangelizing older offenders:

1. Take the love of Jesus into the facility by offering services that consist of worship, prayer, and teaching.

2. Lead these youth into revelation about who God is and who they are, their inheritance or "promises for life" in the Kingdom of God, and their life purpose.

3. And finally to get them grounded in a local church. This is hugely important for these youth as 95 percent of youth in these facilities say that they have had no positive adult presence in their lives. The local youth pastor's patience and anointing are instrumental in the ongoing freedom that these youth need.

  If you can help in anyway, from leading a service in a facility, to ambassadoring these youth into local churches partnered with us, or in prayer please let me know via email at hiddenbars@excite.com.

10/09/11 Proper Fellowship

Telling Inmates that their friends are potentially harmful to their spiritual health is not as easy, or welcome, as you might think. But of all the hindrances that lend to a cycle of bondage in an Inmates life, in my experience, ungodly relationships seems the hardest to get away from. God really wanted me to emphasise today that the ministry letter I send is all about follow up. Follow up that gets them grounded in a local church and allows them to expand their support base in a Godly environment.

What I have done here is I have pasted my notes from the teaching. I do this so that Inmates and their families can follow up with what was taught and so that intercessors for this ministry can have an idea of how to pray for impact of my teaching.

As a final note, two received Christ today and several more signed up for ministry letters. Thank you for your prayers and support.

 

Proper Fellowship Matt. 22:36-40

Proper fellowship with others can make or break us. Choosing your friends and how you treat those friends can literally make or break the rest of your life.

How to choose and maintain proper friendships:

1.      Must be God centered. V. 37 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

You cannot have a friendship that will enable you to live the life God wants for you have if that friendship isn’t focused on God. God designed friendship to strengthen us in our walk with God. Relationships give strength to whatever it is centered around. Sin, then strength to sin, God then strength to God.

2.      Understand how you should be treated in a friendship. V.39 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”

You don’t need to be cheated, wronged, taken advantage of, or hurt in a friendship. You can’t respect others unless you first respect yourself. Being taken advantage of IS NOT FRIENDSHIP and not what God wants for your life.

3.      Love them as you love yourself. Both of you can benefit from this relationship. If you each care about each other as much as you care about yourself, then you won’t let them make harmful choices.

4.      Let God speak to you through relationships. Matt 18:20 “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst.”

If you have a godly friendship, then God will be in your midst and He will use that friendship to speak to you and care for you.