Servias Ministries Blog

We should focus our hope on Eternity!

King David recorded by The Holy Spirit in Psalm chapter 39:

1-2 Here’s my life motto, the Truth I live by: I will guard my ways for all my days. I will speak only what is right, guarding what I speak. Like a watchman guards against an attack of the enemy, I’ll guard and muzzle my mouth when the wicked are around me. I will remain silent and will not grumble or speak out of my disappointment. But the longer I’m silent, the more my pain grows worse!

3-4 My heart burned with a fire within me, and my thoughts eventually boiled over until they finally came rolling out of my mouth: “Lord, help me to know how fleeting my time on earth is. Help me to know how limited is my life and that I’m only here but for a moment more.

5 What a brief time You’ve given me to live! Compared to You my lifetime is nothing at all! Nothing more than a puff of air—I’m gone so swiftly. So too are the grandest of men; they are nothing but a fleeting shadow!”

Pause in His Presence (Selah)

6 We live our lives like those living in shadows. All our activities and energies are spent for things that pass away. We gather, we hoard, we cling to our things, only to leave them all behind for who knows who.

7 And now, God, I’m left with one conclusion: my only hope is to hope in You alone!

How vital it is to only place our hope in Our Heavenly Father and allow nothing on earth to redirect our hope in men or things!  Is your future here on earth based on your financial wealth?

Wisdom wrote by The Holy Spirit in Proverbs chapter 23:

4 Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!

5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

In recent years, I have seen people acquire houses for investment purposes with the expectation that the value of housing will never go down.  Wrong!  During the mid-1980’s, real estate went down in many areas by 40%.  Those who were leveraged lost everything.  Their wealth DID have wings!  We must not trust in the temporal riches here on earth.  Their value is subject to change in the blink of an eye.  We must place our trust in GOD, not man.  HE is our Hope.

We must live conscious of the Eternal on a daily basis.  Those who have acquired wealth tend to place their hope in riches, forgetting the Eternal.  That is a mistake!

Those who go through seasons of great breakthrough, great healing and miracles, great financial blessings, provisions, promotions at work, tend to redirect their focus toward the temporal.  If this path is left unchecked, they will become void of HIS Word and potentially face calamity in their life.  They forget that those blessings are demonstrations of the Heart and Nature of THE FATHER which is supposed to keep our focus on Eternity.

We must protect ourselves from allowing our focus to be redirected to those blessings that FATHER provides.  HE is our hope.

Differentiate between two types of prayer!

In Matthew chapters 6 & 7, Jesus spoke on two different types of prayer.

Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 6:

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

In this instance, you are praying about a basic need such as food.  You don’t have to convince FATHER with repetition to provide food for HE knows you need food. 

Then in chapter 7, Jesus spoke in:

7 “Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

8 For every persistent one will get what he asks for. Every persistent seeker will discover what he longs for. And everyone who knocks persistently will one day find an open door.

11 If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your Heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?”

One chapter says ask but don’t keep asking; the other says to ask and keep asking.  What’s the difference between the two?  In chapter 7 above, your prayers focus on the righteous desires and dreams of your heart.

Persistence in prayer changes you where you become a person that can properly steward the manifestation of your dream or desire.  Maturity of stewardship is the issue.

Why does GOD discipline HIS children?  So HIS blessings don’t kill us!  If we ask for an oak tree, HE gives us an acorn.  Can you steward the answer in its embryonic form?

When I properly steward, I become a different person, my strength increases my resolve, my sense of priorities change.  Suddenly, I am willing to pay any price to achieve the dream.  Persistence in prayer is connected to breakthrough.  Where there is not the prayer of persistence, there is an absence of breakthrough.

Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 11:

24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.

26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

And in John chapter 7:

38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.“

39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The man whose heart is a dry place, has not sought the flow of Presence of GOD by His Holy Spirit Who brings forth living water.  We are not to give place to the devil and his influence by walking in prayerlessness.  Prayerlessness creates vacancy in the heart of a person.  Prayer fills the vacancy in our hearts.

Don’t be forced into an opinion in a situation where you have no responsibility!

Once again, do not criticize a servant to his Master.  We are to pray for those who oppose us rather than form an opinion in our own mind that would exalt us above that person.

The Beloved Disciple wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1^st John chapter 3:

20 Whenever our hearts make us feel guilty and remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more merciful than our conscience, and He knows everything there is to know about us.

If you form an opinion about someone, in essence you have done so with very little knowledge about that person and his circumstances and intent.  Only FATHER knows, so don’t take a position in such a situation.  Judge not lest you be judged.

James wrote in his epistle by The Holy Spirit in James chapter 4:

2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

Prayerlessness creates lack; prayerlessness fuels lack; prayerlessness is what lack wants to consume.  When we face a need and there is prayerlessness, it actually fuels lack instead of causing the need to be solved and disappear.  You have not because you ask not.  So, prayerlessness actually sustains need and lack.

Most of the time, GOD is waiting for me to do something.  HE gave you and me that authority over the earth, but we must express authority with our faith-filled words and prayers.

The weightiness of what you are facing should determine the weightiness of how you pray! 

And in James 4:

10 Be willing to be made low before the Lord and HE will exalt you!

When you pray, you are humbling yourself before THE LORD.  You have the problem and HE has the solution.

And in James chapter 5:

16 Confess and acknowledge how you have offended one another and then pray for one another to be instantly healed, for tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a Godly believer!

We must not be casual in our prayers to FATHER.  Casual prayers get casual answers.  If you want Heaven to move, let your heart be moved!  We are to pray with sincerity and intense conviction.  We are praying to THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY so don’t pray a casual prayer expecting the King of The Universe to respond. 

Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 18:

1 One day Jesus taught the apostles to keep praying and never stop or lose hope. He shared with them this illustration:

2 “In a certain town there was a judge, a thick-skinned and godless man who had no fear of others’ opinions.

3 And in the same town there was a poor widow who kept pleading with the judge, ‘Grant me justice and protect me from my oppressor!’

4-5 “He ignored her pleas for quite some time, but she kept asking. Eventually he said to himself, ‘This widow keeps annoying me, demanding her rights, and I’m tired of listening to her. Even though I’m not a religious man, and I don’t care about the opinions of others, I’ll get her off my back by answering her claims for justice and I’ll rule in her favor. Then she’ll leave me alone.’ ”

6 Jesus continued, “Did you hear what the godless judge said—that he would answer her persistent request?

7 Don’t you know that God, the True Judge, will grant justice to all His chosen ones who cry out to Him night and day? He will pour out His Spirit upon them. He will not delay to answer you and give you what you ask for.

8 God will give swift justice to those who don’t give up. So be ever praying, ever expecting, in the same way as the widow. Even so, when the Son of Man comes back, will He find this kind of undying faith on earth?”

There is a tipping point in prayer in which the answer is released.  The widow was persistent in her prayer, so should we.  Her persistence got her the breakthrough.

Prayerlessness allows the absence of breakthrough to become the norm.  We must be diligent, persistent, and fervent when we pray if we truly want a breakthrough.

Heaven is withholding certain things until the Sons of GOD are manifested on the earth!

Those who aspire to be manifested Sons (and Daughters) of GOD, will take on FATHER’S attributes and be known in the spirit realm.  When this level of maturity is achieved, you are using your authority to come before a Perfect Father, and you are using it to actually pray FOR someone who has opposed you rather than AGAINST such a person.  We are to pray for their blessing and welfare, not for their cursing or personal loss.

Wisdom spoke in Proverbs chapter 30:

10 Never defame, criticize, or slander a servant before his master, for you will be the guilty one and a curse will come upon you.

We must watch over our words!

Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 18:

11 “The Son of Man has come to give life to all who are lost.

12 Think of it this way: If a man owns a hundred sheep and one lamb wanders away and is lost, won’t he leave the ninety-nine grazing the hillside and thoroughly search for the one lost lamb?

13 And if he finds his lost lamb, he rejoices over it, more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

14 Now you should understand that it is never the desire of Your Heavenly Father that a single one of these little ones should be lost.”

When you view lost sheep as FATHER does, your identity in Christ becomes manifest.  HE is in the restoration business; we should be as well.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 8:

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

All of creation is travailing, waiting for the manifestation of The Sons and Daughters of GOD.  Our intention is to teach and encourage those who want to mature into the manifested Sons and Daughters of GOD.  We have no other agenda.

When you reach maturity, your identity becomes established, firm, and revealed.  When we reach this level of maturity, the things that are being withheld of the purposes of GOD in the earth, will come forth for HIS Glory.

It is essential that we step into identity and one of the clearest ways is to pray for those who oppose us.

Again, Jesus directed us in Matthew chapter 5:

44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

When we pray earnestly in this manner, we are truly Sons and Daughters of Our Heavenly Father.  The world would have us do the opposite thus keeping us in bondage.

There are realms in GOD, in the manifestation of Presence in the Kingdom of power; there are realms that HE has withheld from the earth, only willing to release them upon a people manifested as Sons and Daughters of GOD.

When we come before THE LORD in Holy Communion, acknowledging what HE paid for you and me, we move toward a greater state of maturity.  My wife and I now take Communion daily, even on trips.

If we are to expect breakthroughs, we must pray effectively according to The Word.