God’s will – Westchester Men's Ministry

Christmas Prayer Request

November 28, 2012 by nymensministry 1 Comment

I received this prayer request from one of the men in our ministry and he said that I could share it here. I would bet that we can all agree with the sentiments of this prayer. May the true meaning of Christmas shine through this season, for all of us!

Men,
My prayer is that coming into this holiday season, we not forget the true meaning of our celebration and that we guard our hearts and minds from distractions, subtle behaviors and not so subtle behaviors that could pull us away from God and grieve the Holy Spirit.

I know in the past, it has been very easy for me to conform to the world’s point of view and start setting up and worshiping idols. It is in these times that Screwtape gets a hold of me and says it’s okay to participate in certain behaviors and attitudes because it’s the holidays and it won’t offend the Lord. That leads to a very slow and steady decent into self deception and before I know it I am far far away from God.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2 NIV

Three wise men “Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence. The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil. ” -Proverbs 4:14-27 NIV

Christmas Prayer Request by Westchester Men’s Ministry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://nymensministry.com.

Filed Under: Christian Men, Christmas, Discernment, Husbands, mens ministry, Prayer Tagged With: Christianity, Christmas, christmas shine, Distractions, do not conform, eyes look straight ahead, faith, Fellowship, God, God's will, Jesus, Men's Bible Study, prayer, subtle behaviors, Temptations, true meaning of christmas, will

Do You Know Who God Is?! May Our Eyes be Open

November 27, 2012 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

Today is day 16 of our 40 day challenge, how have you been doing? Why not write a comment here or tell us on our Facebook page. You can find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NYMensministry

God had been reminding me about Himself, that is who He is, and that He is trustworthy. I thought I would share this below, recent journal entry. I hope it blesses you!

God is in Control – Trust God, Follow Him

“Peter … said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘… what is that to you? You follow Me'” – John 21:21-22

“My eyes are on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me…” – Psalm 101:6

“Then the angel showed me the river of life rising from the throne of God and the lamb, and flowing crystal-clear. Down the middle of the city street, on either bank of the river were the trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are cure for the nations. The curse of destruction will be abolished.” – Revelations 22:1-3

Heaven, River of Life, Trees of Life, Revelations 22, Revelations 22:1-3

manualoflife.com

River of life is rising from the throne – Life originates from God
The water is crystal-clear, that is absolutely no imperfections
Abundant crops – twelve a year! Signifying God’s abundance!
Curse abolished – no destruction, satan has been destroyed
Tree of life – instead of being associated with the first sin, it is now the cure for all nations

Hymn – Open My Eyes that I May See – Clara Scott

Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of the truth you have for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that will unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, My God, your will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit Divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear
Voices of truth you send me clear;
And while the wave notes fall on my ear,
Everything false will disappear,
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, your will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit Divine!

Open my mouth and let me bear
Gladly the warm truth everywhere;
Open my heart and let me prepare
Love with your children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, your will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit Divine!

(Judgement on Judah)

“And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sack cloth. But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: ‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'” – Isaiah 22:12-13

Lord, I ask that You open my eyes, as you did John’s in his writing of Revelations. May I not look at others to judge or to prevent your Your will but seek Your will for me! May I be sad and repent when I grieve You. May I celebrate when You are happy. May my life be a tree of life, supplied and nurtured by You, and a blessing to all that see, taste and are touched by it. May I be silent and humble before You. May I be ready to hear You and to act in Your name. May I be a joy to You. May Your eyes ever be on me.

In Jesus’ very precious name. Amen

Do You Know Who God Is?! May Our Eyes be Open by Westchester Men’s Ministry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://nymensministry.com.

Filed Under: Bible Study, communing with God, daily office, divine office, God in control, Heaven, Prayer, Salvation Tagged With: abundant crops, bible study, Christianity, Clara Scott, Curse Abolished, faith, Follow Him, God, god is in control, God's will, Jesus, Judgement on Judah, Open My Eyes That I may See, Revelations 22, Revelations 22:1-3, Rising from the Throne, River of Life, Tree of Life, Trust God, voices of truth

Journaling: Don’t give up!

November 15, 2012 by nymensministry 1 Comment

Don’t give up! You will face resistance in trying to spend time with God. The other day (day 2), I was attempting to spend time with God and the phone rang three different times, and our dog went crazy because someone came too close to our house. It was clear that satan didn’t want me to spend quiet time with the Lord. I persisted on this occasion but if you have missed a day, or haven’t started yet, why not start (or start again) tomorrow. Lamentations 3:21-23 says:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Journal Entry (Anonymous)

We will be posting entries that we have requested from people that are participating in this challenge throughout these 40 days. This is our first one from an anonymous person. I hope it is an encouragement to you.

Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning: Grant me so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that I may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever, Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer)

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘let us go to the house of the Lord… For there are the thrones of judgement, the thrones of the house of David.” – Psalm 122:1,5

“Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our King” – Psalm 47:5

“Rejoice heart and soul… shout for joy … Look your King is approaching, he is vindicated and victorious” – Zechariah 9:9

“Tell it out among the nations: ‘The Lord is King! He has made the world so firm that it can not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.'” – Psalm 96:10

Your throne, O God, Endures for ever and ever – Psalm 45:1-10

Hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come. They will be done on each as it is in heaven – The Lord’s Prayer

“You must go through the trial before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, by going through the trial you learn to know God better. God is working in us to reach His highest goals until His purpose and our purpose become one. (Conforming my will to His) – Oswald Chambers

And He will protect me through it –

“For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” – Psalm 91:11

“If you had eyes to see, you would perceive a bodyguard of angels always attending every one of the blood bought family.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“I have been young and now I am old, but never have I seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread” – Psalm 37:26

Lord, I’m fearful, I’m anxious, I’m depressed. I’m worried about both getting a job and finding a job. I worry equally about the smallest things like my schedule and big things like a friend’s sister in ICU. I feel helpless at times when it comes to my marriage, my ministry, and life in general.

I know you are on the throne but as all of the readers of the Bible need to heat it, so do I (today and probably everyday). I know you are working your will into my life and it’s hard, it feels like dying. I feel like a failure although I’m probably just mourning the loss of my will.

I know you will protect me; I just don’t always see you working. I have absolutely no evidence of your unfaithfulness. You have always been faithful. You can’t not be faithful.

I don’t know how to pray – I ask for a closer walk with You during these 40 days and I ask that it be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ very precious name. Amen.

Journaling: Don’t Give Up by Westchester Men’s Ministry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at https://nymensministry.com/2012/11/15/journaling-dont-give-up/.

Filed Under: anxiety, Bible Study, communing with God, daily office, depression, Discernment, divine office, journaling Tagged With: anxiety, bible study, book of common prayer, Christianity, closer walk with God, communing with God, depression, fear, God's will, intimacy with God, journal, journaling, my will, praises to our king, quiet time, relationship with God, sadness, savior jesus christ, time with God, walk with God

If God is Worthy…

April 22, 2012 by nymensministry 4 Comments

I think we occasionally fall into the trap of thinking that we are doing God a favor when we do good. So much so that we might even think that God owes us. For example, we might say ‘I’ve been a good person, so I think God will let me into heaven’. This implies that God owes you something for what you’ve done. The good news, and this is good news, is that this is simply incorrect. Let me explain

graduation, diploma, ceremony, earned, worthy, respect, deserved

Imagine that you are a principal in a school and one aspect of your job is determining who will graduate, and then giving them their diploma. Now further imagine that there is a student in the school, who not only passed every test but scores the highest possible grade, an A+. Now, when it comes to commencement, will you be doing the student a favor by giving them a diploma? No, they earned it and you would only be doing what was right. Actually it would be unjust for you not to graduate the student. The student is worthy of the diploma and your recognition.

In a similar way, God is worthy. God has done all the work and He allows us to participate in the honor ceremony. It is only right that we honor Him. Honoring him doesn’t make us worthy, but it allows us to participate in His worthiness!

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will you say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t you rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me, while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will you thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'” – Luke 17:7-10

The above scripture is hard to understand in our culture, partially because we no longer have servants. Thinking again of the principal example, we must understand that God is worthy and by providing him the honor and service he deserves, we are simply handing out a well earned diploma.

Jesus, worthy, thorns, crown of thorns, crown, king, king of kings, crucified

So, what’s the good news?! God has taken the test for us!! He has done all the work, he has suffered and sacrificed and he has passed the test with flying colors, a perfect score. We now get to participate in his honor ceremony by walking along side him and following his example. We are not rewarded by doing good; doing good in Jesus’ name is our reward!

So we are to ‘walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory’ (1 Thessalonians 2:12). Lord, please help us to understand your holiness, your worthiness and joyful give up our will, for yours! In Jesus’ very precious name. Amen

Filed Under: grace, Holy, Jesus Tagged With: ceremony, Christianity, deserve, God's will, grace, holy, honor, Jesus, king, Luke 17, servant, worthy

When I saw this, I didn’t think so much of social media, etc. But I did think about Romans 12:5 “so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” Amazing video – we have an amazing God!

How to Ascertain the Will of God

September 27, 2010 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

From “Answers to Prayer from George Müller’s Narratives”

1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

3. I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God’s Will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His Will to me aright.

6. Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgement according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters, and in transactions involving more important issues, I have found this method always effective.

George Müller