Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

3.2- Guess whose coming to dinner? Luke 14. 12  Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14  and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

3.1- The many benefits of humility. Luke 14. 7  When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8  “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10  But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11  For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Philippians 2. 2  Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and...

2.28- Beth Moore wrote, "For some of you in the fire trying to stand firm for what you believe is right: when lines are drawn so tightly it’s not a matter of choosing whether to be liked or disliked. Oh you’re going to be disliked alright. It’s a matter of choosing what you’re willing to be disliked for." Matthew 5. 10  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  

2.27- Plan something big and audacious.  Know that if it is aligned with God's will to expand His kingdom He will stand with you when no one else will. 2 Timothy 16  At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17  But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18  The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

2.26- Good prayer and Bad prayer. Good prayer is persistent, bold and shameless.  Luke 11. 11  It happened that while [ a ] Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2  And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘ [ b ] Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 3  ‘Give us each day our [ c ] daily bread. 4  ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” Bad prayer. Lacks honest feelings. Lacks justice and loving work and prays without any action and involvement. Lacks humility but is filled with arrogance and conceit. Lacks doing the hard work, but burdens others with the worst tasks. Luke 11. 37  Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table . 38...

2.25-Want to see big answers to prayer? If you want to see amazing answers to prayer you must have prayer that is persistent, bold even and more important, shameless. People making big requests of God must be shameless in their request.  The religious way of prayer is to come with shame to ask God for a little help.  We can do most of this plan God but we want to ask you can help with the remaining small part we can't handle. That is not the way of the great prayer heroes in Scripture.  They were bold with God the almighty. The value of audacious goals is that they demand constant, persistent prayer. This requires alertness and focus on what you need and want to do and the specifics of how you want God to help you. Yes, there should be reverence for who God the Father in heaven is, but Jesus taught prayer to be persistent, bold, shameless, persistent, confident, not passive not even assertive but aggressive. The greek word translated "bold" is an...