Galatians 5:7 – Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Have you ever been distracted by something? If you answered yes, my next question is who or what did you allow to hinder you? Paul asked this same question to the Galatians. He wanted to know what was it that distracted them from doing what they were supposed to be doing. A distraction is something that interferes with ones concentration or takes their attention away from something else. The enemy’s desire is to cause us to lose focus and take us away from our assignment by causing distractions. Once you are in that place of perfection, the last thing you need is to let something or someone pull you away from that place. Therefore, you must give full concentration to what you’re doing. Biblically, we’ve read of men and women in scripture such as Adam and Eve and how they allowed themselves to be distracted at a time where they should have remained focused. We too have our own past stories we could tell about losing focus as a result of distractions. The good news is we don’t have to continue in that same pattern. Distractions are inevitable. However, as believer’s it’s important that we not allow them to overtake us. Seven things that cause distractions are not having clear objectives, lusting after material things, unstableness, unhealthy relationships, seeking the opinions of family or friends on what God has said, not getting adequate rest and being out of focus. To avoid the pitfalls of being overtaken by distractions you must pray, read God’s Word daily and know matter what distractions may come your way, stay focused and keep your eyes on Jesus.
Read this week’s scriptures: Galatians 5:7; Luke 8:12-15; 1 Timothy 6:6-10; James 1:8
Prathan L. Powell, Sr. is the senior pastor of World Changes Tabernacle, Columbus, Georgia. To get more information, visit the website at www.wctministries.org or visit the church at 1241 Alta Vista Drive, Columbus, Georgia
Ephesians 5:22-25 – Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.
Growing up most of us can recall our parents telling us not to discuss what goes on in our house, especially if it was a dark family secret. Some refer to this cliché as taboo – a subject matter or behavior that is forbidden to be mentioned or known to others. Allow me to enlighten you – when abuse is present don’t treat it as a family secret. Abuse is defined as the physical, psychological or sexual maltreatment of a person. Being in an abusive relationship is not where God wants you to be especially when it has the potential to be self-destructive or can cause you your life, health or safety. Unless the abuser commits his or her life to God the chances of them changing are some times unlikely. I would like to deal with four different types of abuse. Neglect by refusing to provide food, shelter or clothing, physical by hitting, shoving or pushing, sexual which includes any form of touching, exploitation or being forced to do something against your will and emotional that involves name calling, verbal threats and chronic anger. It is of no affect to be aware of an abusive situation and not do anything about it. Once you acknowledge the big pink elephant in the room be prepared to get rid of him. If you are in an abusive relationship, don’t make excuses for the abuse, walk away and dare not look back (unless the abuser gets fully delivered based on salvation and allows God to change them), call law enforcement, don’t be afraid to tell, know that God will supply your need and most importantly take your power back. Read this week’s scriptures: Ephesians 5:22-25, 28; Ephesians 6:1, 4; 1 Corinthians 14:4
Prathan L. Powell, Sr. is the senior pastor of World Changes Tabernacle, Columbus, Georgia. To get more information, visit the website at www.wctministries.org or visit the church at 1241 Alta Vista Drive, Columbus, Georgia
Galatians 6:1-2 - BRETHREN, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Have you ever been overtaken in a fault? The word overtaken means to come upon suddenly. This passage of scripture teaches us if a person be overtaken in a fault, we that are spiritual have a responsibility to restore them back to a place where God can speak to them. Every day presents a different challenge in the lives of people. This is all the more reason why we should be sensitive to others to pray for them and encourage them to stay in the fold. God specifically says we are to do good to all; especially unto them of the household of faith. Sensitive is to be tactful and sympathetic in relation to the feelings of others. You are your brother’s keeper, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. When you are sensitive to people’s circumstances, it prevents you from judging them by what you’ve seen or heard. How can one be sensitive to others? Do not look at others with a judgmental eye, do not belittle others so you can be on top, be mindful how you talk to people and do not be self-righteous. In other words, practice the golden rule – do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Read this week’s scriptures: Galatians 6:1-10; Matthew 7:12; 24:12
Prathan L. Powell, Sr. is the senior pastor of World Changes Tabernacle, Columbus, Georgia. To get more information visit the website at www.wctministries.org or visit the church at 1241 Alta Vista Drive, Columbus, Georgia
Trust - to place confidence in somebody or in somebody's good qualities, especially fairness, truth, honor, or ability. Have you ever asked yourself this question? If your answer is anything less than 100%, how can you improve on what you have left? The Psalmist in Psalm 5:11-12 says but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice, shout for joy because the lord defends them. He says rejoice because the Lord will deliver the righteous and bless them with favor. Then the Psalmist tells that that with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. He is saying that the Lord will be a compass to allow you to understand where you are and give you direction on where you need to be in Him. God is your compass. If you are told to go in one direction or another, you need a compass that always points true North. God’s word is your instrument and your guiding post but the key to successful navigation is trust. TRUST, TRUST, TRUST. To keep moving forward you must have trust. To stay on the path that God has for you, you must have trust in Him. To keep yourself in good standing with God, you must have trust in Him. Regardless of the position you find yourself to have fallen into, there is redemption in God when your trust his plan. Even in the midst of your enemies, you can trust God. So, when you find yourself lost and your direction needs to be clear, look to true North, it always leads to God from any direction. Read this week’s scriptures: Ps 5:11-12, Ps 20:5-7, Ps 31:1-5, Ps 62:8-11, Prov 3:5-7, 1 Tim 4:9-11
Prathan L. Powell, Sr. is the senior pastor of World Changes Tabernacle, Columbus, Georgia. To get more information visit the website at www.wctministries.org or visit the church at 1241 Alta Vista Drive, Columbus, Georgia
God wants you to succeed! Over your lifetime you will learn many things, but this is one thing that you must learn and always remember. If you hold your hand out in front of you and imagine your hand as your life and your each finger as a possible path that your life could take; you will see that you can take many paths. God intends only one path for each of us and it is the path that leads to righteous living.
You must learn to trust God to direct your paths. Know that God has a better plan for your life. It may not seem good right now but if you stay with God it will get better! Present suffering does not last always. Like flu, you feel it coming as your body begins to change but you cannot prevent yourself from becoming sick. Change makes most people uncomfortable. In Matthew 16:13, Jesus asks and wants an answer from his disciples. “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” They gave answer to his initial question “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some Elias and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. When Jesus asks them on a more personal level “But whom say ye that I am”, he changed the dynamics of the question. Of all the disciples, Peter, the most radical one answered! “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God”. At this profound answer, Jesus told Peter that he could not have made that distinction without the Father’s revealing it to him. There are some things in your life that cannot be discerned in the flesh. Your spiritual discernment must be turned on and tuned in everyday of your life. Jesus already told us that the gates of hell will come against us but that it would not overtake us. This means our spiritual discernment. When trails come to alter your dynamics, the Lord will raise up a standard you can live by. Jesus spoke to Peter because he recognized the spirit revealed to Peter knowledge for willingness. In this scripture, Jesus is saying to his disciples that the ‘church’ will be tried, just as later in the scriptures Peter is tried. He tells us that when we triumph over trials we must then reach out to our brothers to witness to them the change agent, which is faith in Jesus Christ. If you look at the scripture Matthew 16:19, you will notice that the decree begins on earth and heaven is then in agreement of the decree. Our control is in the earth and we change the dynamics of something when we speak to it. There are 5 ways to change your dynamics so that you can become a “change agent”. First, do not fear change. Two of the biggest hindrances of our lives are that we are afraid to move out of our comfort zone and we settle rather than risk change. We have to want better and want to do better in our lives. This requires change. Secondly, step out on faith and pursue dreams. We must be willing as David was to ask God “Do I pursue” God will answer us as he did David “Pursue and overtake!” When God says it’s yours, it is yours! GO GET YOUR STUFF! Third, be content but do not settle. Believe God for more. Increase your knowledge for opportunities to get more. Change the dynamics of your current life and learn to be qualified for something that you may not be. Fourthly, help someone else. Selfishness is easy. Prefer your brethren. Open doors for others. Shift, change to allow someone else’s to go before you. In doing this, you are allowing someone else to benefit and you are saying to God, I trust you to bless me. Lastly, try something new. Do something different. Change your style. Be adventurous. Change your dynamics for yourself and your life will become even more meaningful. Then, the people around you will want to know what has prompted this change; it is then that you can witness the goodness of Christ, who is a change agent that can alter the dynamics of anyone willing to accept him.
Prathan L. Powell, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of World Changes Tabernacle, Inc. located at 1241 Alta Vista Road in Columbus Georgia. To learn more about Reverend Powell or World Changes Tabernacle, visit the website at www.wctministries.org
I remember a zany song from my childhood that goes something like “Just what makes a little ant think he can pull a rubber tree plant? Everybody knows an ant can’t pull a rubber tree plant but he’s got high hopes!”The children’s song was a way of teaching children of the power of perseverance and determination when they were faced with challenges. Perseverance is defined as determinations, to be persistent, refuse to give up. In Luke 18, the parable of the unjust judge and the widow teaches us of the power of perseverance. As the story begins, we are told that there was a judge in the city that did not fear God neither regarded man. And in the same city, there was a widow who would appear before this judge asking him to avenge her of an adversary. Some bible translations, it says the widow had a debt she wanted to be relieved of. In biblical times, when a man died, his family was responsible for settling his debt. It was hard to settle debts as a woman because women were forbidden to own property or work. The woman would appear before the judge making her appeal to him but because he lacked compassion, he would not relieve her of the debt for a while. It is not known what the nature of the widow’s debt is. It is irrelevant for the most part. The widow believed that petitioning this judge would relieve her of it. I imagine that each day of court, the woman would come with the same story, the same request in order to get the judge’s attention. She must not have broken any laws in her approach of the judge or she would have been imprisoned for in contempt of court. She was persistent. The widow had high hopes and she was determined not to give up, just like the ant in the song.
When circumstances begin to close in on you from every side, the proverb tells us to look to the ant, consider its ways and be wise. “An ant has no commander, no ruler yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers it food at harvest”. The proverb further tells us to “free ourselves like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler”. Take authority over the situation and move into action to change it. The bible asks how long you will continue to lie there in slumber. When will you get up from your sleep? Get up and do something! Change your surrounds, your position, and your lifestyle but make the change so that you can improve your life. Don’t stop until the change takes place. Going back to the parable of the judge and the widow, her perseverance and God’s favor worked to her good. The woman was persistent to the point where the judge began to reconsider his treatment of the woman. The story says that he admitted to himself that he did not fear God or any man but that the widow troubled him in her persistence. It appears that the woman’s determination began to wear down this judge’s resolve over a time.
Remember that it was not the judge’s change of heart but the woman’s determination that effected a change in him. In the scriptures that follow, the Lord tells us to hear what the unjust judge had to say about the case with the widow. The writer reassures us that God takes care of his elect that cry to him day and night and that not only does he take care of them and he does so speedily. When we press forward in faith through perseverance in the things of God, the Lord makes a way for our success. This means that when the cares of life appear to overtake you and consider taking the easy way out rather than persevering through to the end you have a choice. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, God’s word tells “every test that you have experiences in is the kind that normally comes as we live day by day. But God will keep his promise he made to you. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm and at the time you are put to the test. God will give you the strength to endure the test and He will provide you with a successful way out. This strength, this perseverance can be applied to many areas of your life. Three areas that you can apply perseverance are number one “your dreams and goals”, number two “as a parent for your children’s future” and finally” in your personal walk with God”.
So, when you consider the “rubber tree plants” in your life, consider the little ant from our song. In the chorus of the song, we would sing “So any time you’re feeling blue, don’t know what to do just remember that ant! Woops there goes another rubber tree plant!” Persevere! Begin to petition the unjust judges in your life to forgive you of your debts. Move the rubber tree plants of life out of your way. And with the perseverance of the little ant have high hopes!
Prathan L. Powell is the Senior Pastor of World Changes Tabernacle, Columbus, Georgia. To learn more about Reverend Powell or World Changes Tabernacle, visit the website at www.wctministries.org
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praisewrothy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9 (NIV)
God's Word does not tell us to think on whatever reminds us of our past, of failures or whatever is untrue. We've all heard the saying, you are what you eat. The same applies to our thoughts, you are what you think. If we constantly allow negative thoughts, past failures and mistakes to occupy our mind and stay there, then our actions will be molded and shaped by our thoughts. We can think our self defeated or victorious; failures or conquerors; unimportant or the apple of God's eye. We have the ability to control what we think. It just takes practice. The Message Bible says it this way - let us put into practice to think the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. We know practice means to perform or work at something repeatedly until it becomes habitual - and practice makes perfect. Not perfect as in complete, but perfect in our ability to choose to think healthy thoughts. So starve your mind of the negative and everything that is excellent or praiseworthy - think those things. You can do it! It just takes practice.
Webster Dictionary defined the word ‘Formed’ asthe shape or appearance of a thing that makes it identifiable. As believers in the body of Christ, we should be formed, identifiable in the shape or appearance of our Creator, God. In the book of Genesis the scripture states “And God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Not only did God form us in his own image, he went further by giving us dominion, charge, over everything in the earth. And in for formation, God placed his seed in each of us. Inside the seed is the possibility of endless harvest that is the form of its originator. As with a seed, in order for germination, life, to occur, ideal circumstances must be present and key ingredients or actions musts occur to cause the seed to grow from its seed form to a harvest. Inside of each of us are the endless possibilities that God formed in us from the beginning of time. For In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same (Word) was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1-5) Jesus, the Word, was there when God blew his breath of life into the dustless, lifeless form of man and caused it to become a living soul. In that precious breath were seeds of possibilities given to us by our creator. But it was not until God allowed the rain to fall onto the earth that the seed began to germinate or grow. We are the living descendants of the first man and though he fell into sin, we continue to have the seed of hope inside of us. Regardless of how we see each other or ourselves, God sees His likeness, his form in each of us. It is our role to become that which we were formed to be. The only way to do this is to grow the seed placed in us. We must learn to delight ourselves in the word of God and in his commandments so that our lives are formed into the life that takes on the appearance if what makes us identifiable as the likeness of God. The Psalmist states in 119:11 and 16-17 “thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget they word. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep they word. It is for this reason that we must remember that all things were made by him (Word); and without him was not anything made (formed) that was made. This is true for Man or Woman. For it is in God’s word, in his Son Jesus that we are perfectly formed in His image. Our seed of righteousness comes directly from God. Our harvest is to glorify God. Our lives are to follow His statutes and to obey His commands.
“For in him was life, and the life or seed was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” Jesus came into the world as a bright shinning ray of light. Our life, our seed, is to produce and multiply that light into a dark world so that those who don’t know Him can understand what it means to become a child of light. The seed sower: the pastor sows the word into the ground (mankind) so that the word, the seed, can grow. But for a seed to grow, those conditions must exist for it to germinate. The seed must be sown into good fertile ground. If we are to hide the word of God into our hearts, our hearts must be fertile ground for it to grow. We can begin to break up the fallow ground of your life to rid ourselves of situations, people and actions that are not fertile. Begin by enriching your life each day, read your bible, live a life that is pleasing before the Lord, practice daily exercising your spiritual gifts and above all, become formed into the likeness of your creator.
Mark 4:20 And these are they which are (sown on)good ground(Believer); such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Reverend Prathan L. Powell, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of World Changes Tabernacle Church in Columbus Georgia. For more information and further study resources, call or visit the church or go to the website at www.wctministries.org
