God has promised you His constant presence (Hebrews 13:5), but are you conscious of His presence every day? When you are conscious of His presence every day, you will experience a peace that gives you rest, joy inexpressible in your spirit and a power that nothing in this world can offer. In fact, you will begin to be peaceful and powerful like Jesus. You will speak and behave like Him. This is because you cannot be in God’s presence without His beauty, love, peace, power and glory rubbing off on you. 

But how do you practice being conscious of God’s presence? 

Start by seeing God with you in whatever you do and wherever you are. For example, at your board meeting, while deliberating on issues, see the Lord there in the boardroom with you, guiding you in your thinking. And you can be sure that His presence will bring clarity of thought and wisdom to you. You will find yourself flowing with great and sound ideas. 

If you are going for an interview, see the Lord there in the interview room with you, putting answers in your mouth. Your nervousness will melt away as you see His favor on you bringing on smiles and approving nods from the interviewers. 

Perhaps you are going for surgery. Well, see the Lord in the operating theatre with you, guiding the hands of the surgeons. Your worries will dissipate because nothing can go wrong in the Lord’s presence. 

If you are in the middle of an argument, see the Lord standing within earshot. Your words will change and your body language will become more reconciliatory as you see Him right there with you extending His grace to you. There will be a restraint which is not borne of willpower, but which comes supernaturally when you know that the One who loves you and watches over you is with you. 

Beloved, when you become conscious of God’s presence in your life, worries and fears will have no foothold in your mind. You will see Him maximizing your joy and fun, and prospering you in what you say and do! 

About the Author:
With almost two decades of full-time ministry behind him, Joseph Prince has become the leading voice for a new generation of believers — a generation that builds its hope on the abundance of God’s grace and the gift of His righteousness. Read more about Pastor Prince and his book Destined to Reign.  For more information go to http://www.josephprince.org/.

If you’re focusing on yourself, then you probably should have low expectations for the outcomes of your class or study group. 

Open secret: It’s not about you!

Here are reasons you should have high expectations: 

This is the Word of God. It’s powerful. History has shown that God changes people as they genuinely interact with His Word. He promises that it will not return to Him without it accomplishing what He intends (ref). 

The Holy Spirit is at work. I really want you to work hard on preparing your lesson material and practicing. I believe God wants you to work hard at your teaching craft. But even a “mediocre” lesson or presentation can be used by God to transform hearts and minds when the Holy Spirit is at work! 

Jesus is interceding for you. Can it get any better than that? See Romans 8:34. 

You are sinning if you do not expect God to “show up” and fulfill His promises. Don’t think less of God’s power in this particular circumstance than the Bible does. 

“Be strong and courageous.” “Stand firm.” “Let nothing move you.” Your task is to obey these clear commands from Scripture, and give glory to God. 

About the Author:
Glenn is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

Though Jesus is completely God, He was born completely human. He went through temptation after temptation and conquered every one of them. (Hebrews 4:15) And all that overcoming power is found in His life. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you! 

During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He conquered sickness, the winds and waves, the powers of darkness and death. It is His life that brings victory over the devil and all his works. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you! 

Finally, Jesus went to the cross. And that life in Him put an end to everything that was natural of the Adamic race — sickness, poverty, failures, pains, curses and death. All that was natural ceased to be in that life of His. But all that was supernatural remained in Him. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you! 

Then, Jesus rose from the dead. And in that life of His was added the power of resurrection. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you! 

After His resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven to His Father. Today, He is seated at the right hand of God, resting in His finished work, occupying a place of the highest authority. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you! 

And because Jesus went back to the Father, the Holy Spirit came to indwell you (John 16:7), so that you will live life with His anointing in you and walk in His overcoming power. 

All that Jesus is, God meant for you to be. All that He has, God meant for you to have. All the exciting things that you read in the Bible about Jesus, all the treasures of Him hidden in the Old Testament and the unsearchable riches in Him that you find in the New Testament, all of that life of His, is not out there somewhere. God has deposited all of it in you, so that you can live the abundant life that Jesus came to give you! 

About the Author:
With almost two decades of full-time ministry behind him, Joseph Prince has become the leading voice for a new generation of believers — a generation that builds its hope on the abundance of God’s grace and the gift of His righteousness. Read more about Pastor Prince and his book Destined to Reign.  For more information go to http://www.josephprince.org.

This past year I have had the opportunity to participate in and observe several national and citywide worship events. Looking back, I’ve noticed that many of us who share in these amazing moments are greatly inspired by the nights of worship, concerts, and performances. We experience high times in the presence of God with believers from very diverse backgrounds and traditions, and a powerful sense of community occurs in such a short time because of several factors. God’s presence, intense spiritual hunger from the participants, and the skillful leadership of many of the presenters.

But when I go back to my local fellowship and inadvertently, try to impose a concert experience on my 8:30 am service, it falls flat. They look at me like “what are you doing?”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come back from a conference pumped and instead of letting that encounter pace itself over time from the inside out, I end up trying to copy the experience. But, I’ve come to realize that the concert experience doesn’t translate to most of our churches on a Sunday morning. Sunday mornings are more of an “un-concert”.

Our role is to help others worship. Period. The people that attend my fellowship don’t want or need a performance. They need connection – - with God and with one another. So, our job is to facilitate that as best as we can. Let’s break down the invisible barrier between “the people on stage” and “the audience”. This is not “American Idol.” This is God’s people singing their prayers to their Father, their Savior, and to The Holy Spirit.

At the end of the day, God is not calling us to perform on Sunday mornings but rather calling us to be more authentic and more transparent in our times of worship.

There are many things that we can do to help us from being infected by our performance culture and as always we find timeless wisdom in the ancient text of scripture.

There is a priestly model described in 1 Chronicles….as “ministry to the Lord”. The Levites didn’t “lead people” in worship but instead were charged with the task of ‘singing praise to God both day and night…..in the temple. They sang to the Invisible God. An audience of One.

How often do we minister to God in private? Ideally, worship leading is publicly modeling what we have been doing privately.

“Practice” worship throughout the week by creating some alone time with God and by singing songs and prayers to Him. Often I will go into my church sanctuary by myself or with a few core members of my team and we’ll read scripture out loud, especially psalms, which is the vocabulary of worship. We’ll begin to play guitar or keyboard simply to create a worshipful atmosphere while speaking and singing out psalms and heart felt prayers. It may feel slightly forced at first, perhaps mechanical, but if you persist in “showing up” to bless the Lord in private, you will begin to sense more of His presence and authority in your outward, public ministry.

The other aspect of our ministry is Pastoral. Guitar players and singers are “a dime a dozen’ as the saying goes. But those who will give their time and talents in service to God and His people are rare. Jesus asked Peter, “do you love me?” Peter replied, “Yes Lord”. Jesus’ reply back, “feed my sheep.”

Ask The Lord to give you HIS heart for the community that you serve. Before you dismiss your team from rehearsal, have them come to the front of the stage and look over the empty seats. Ask them to imagine the people who will be sitting there this coming week and encourage your team to pray for the individuals and families who will be showing up in those seats. This is a powerful exercise to help you and your team cultivate God’s heart and love for the people you serve.

I would encourage you to lean toward more of a conversational tone in your leading style as you begin your service. People don’t like being yelled at, manipulated, or artificially hyped up. Whether you lead fifty people, three hundred, or more than a thousand, aim for being as authentic and sincere as you can. We don’t have to be overly sanguine. People respond best when they sense someone being themselves. In fact I used to always pray something like this under my breathe before I walked on the platform. “Lord, at the risk of being boring, please give me the courage to be ‘who I am in You’– nothing more, nothing less.”

We all battle our insecurities in different ways but practicing our ministry to The Lord and praying for the people we serve will take us a long way in distinguishing between performance and effective ministry.

Let’s determine to finish well by helping facilitate a lifelong conversation and sense of community between God and the people He has called us to serve.

About the Author:
Paul Baloche is an American Christian music artist, worship leader, and singer-songwriter. A native of Maple Shade, New Jersey, He is currently the worship pastor at Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, Texas. Baloche composes on piano and acoustic guitar, favoring guitar when leading worship. His wife, Rita, is also a Christian songwriter. Baloche is one of the writers for Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith from Delirious?.

Browse Paul Baloche products at Christian Book Distributors.

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This is especially true of “kingdom.” Clearly the kingdom is central to the story of the gospels (basileia occurs 162 times in the New Testament). But what does the word mean? Let me suggest three complementary ways to look at the kingdom. I realize this is not an exegetical study. But perhaps the theological overview will be helpful. 

What is the Kingdom ?

1. The kingdom is God’s reign and rule. At its simplest, the kingdom is where the King is. Where God is acknowledged, where his subjects are saved, where his enemies are vanquished, where his ways are obeyed, there we see the coming of the kingdom. 

2. The kingdom of God is the long-awaited Messianic rule. Jesus’ prefaced his preaching of the gospel of the kingdom by announcing, “The time is fulfilled…” God’s Messianic rule was explicitly predicted in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 2). It was also prefigured in different ways. The Garden of Eden, with its peace, prosperity, absence of sin and suffering, and perfect relationship between God and man, was a picture of the kingdom of God. So was the nation of Israel in the promised land. The covenant blessings were blessings of the kingdom: safety, security, health, prosperity, God’s presence. These blessings reached their zenith under King David. He was a type of the Messianic King to come. 

3. The kingdom of God is the age to come breaking in to the present age. Think of what we see in the visions from John and Isaiah of the new heaven and new earth. We see a new kind of Eden: no more tears, no evil, no impurity, perfect security, abundance, and holiness, a place where God is all in all, where the Lamb is worshiped, adored, and obeyed. This is the heavenly age that has broken in to our world with the coming of Christ. In Jesus’ ministry we see the signs of the kingdom. The sick are healed. The hungry are fed. Demons are defeated. Sinners repent and come to God in faith. 

With Jesus, the kingdom has arrived, but it hasn’t fully set up shop. The kingdom of this world has not yet become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ (Rev. 11). We have the kingdom now as an appetizer. We can taste it. It is real food, but it’s not the main dish.

A Few Cautions

Whenever we try to define something as big, broad, and potentially confusing as the kingdom, it’s important we state our definition in positives and negatives. So in addition to the three statements above, let me suggest five cautions. 

1. Don’t be afraid to talk about the kingdom. Some conservatives avoid preaching the gospel of the kingdom, believing that kingdom talk is for liberals. But Jesus and the apostles showed no such hesitation. The message about God’s reign and rule was hugely significant to their theology and should be to ours as well. 

2. Don’t have a truncated view of the kingdom. For many people the kingdom of God equals social services. But the kingdom is not just the alleviation of suffering, it means conquering God’s enemies, ridding the world of impurity, and acknowledging the splendor of the King. So before we get all excited about “doing kingdom work” we should remember that the coming kingdom will not just be devoid of hunger, it will also be devoid of the wicked and unbelieving.

 3. Don’t drive a wedge between the church and the kingdom. The church does not equal the kingdom, but in this age the kingdom is largely manifested in the church. That’s where we find the people of the King. That’s where we are supposed to see reconciliation, the alleviation of poverty, the mitigation of suffering, the conquering of evil powers, and the worship of King Jesus. A vision for the kingdom is a vision for the growth, reformation, and revival of the church. 

4. Don’t think we build the kingdom. The kingdom is something brought by the King, not something we build. The verbs related to the kingdom in the New Testament aren’t verbs like “build” or “expand,” but verbs like “receive,” “inherit,” and “enter.” The kingdom is a gift that God gives to us, not a project that God expects us to accomplish. 

5. Don’t forget to talk about how we enter the kingdom. As Greg Gilbert has pointed out before, we haven’t proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom unless we have told how people they can enter into this kingdom. The good news of the kingdom is not simply that God is in the world establishing his rule, conquering his enemies, righting wrongs, forming a holy people for himself, and reversing the effects of sin and suffering. The good news must also include the message that through Christ’s wrath-bearing death and his glorious resurrection we can be a part of this kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom is no good news unless we tell people how unrighteous, unholy, undeserving sinners can receive this kingdom through repentance for our sins and faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

About the Author:
Kevin DeYoung. Article printed from http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung

I met weekly with my friend for encouragement and mutual accountability in agreed-upon areas of weakness. For three weeks running I had to confess failings in one particular area. “I hate that I’m saying it,” I said quietly, “but… I did it again.”

“Here comes the lecture,” I thought, knowing I deserved it.

My friend paused; then asked me this simple, profound, and powerful question:

“That’s not consistent with Christ in you, is it?”

In that moment God catalyzed something wonderful in my mind. Following Jesus is not about making my heart and mind better through external “righteousness.” Following Jesus means my thinking, acting, and living should flow out of the glorious reality that I am a new creature in Christ.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) The reality of this new creation is the primary source of all wisdom, godliness, and righteous living (see Galatians 6:15).

Use this question to help frame your decisions. When you’re faced with a choice, you can ask “Lord, what’s most consistent with Christ in me?”

Use this question to resist besetting sins. When you are tempted, it helps enormously to ask “Is this consistent with Christ in me?”

Use this question when you are fearful, or weak, to remind yourself of the character of Christ in you. “Is this consistent with Christ in me?”

Let us be grateful people, confident in “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) 

About the Author:
Glenn is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

Yellow is somewhat alert. You know you’re on a street and you’re aware that there are cars going by you. You know you’re on the sidewalk.

Red is hyper-alert state. You know the position and direction of every person around you. You’re aware of the man who stopped by the streetlight and turned back to look at you. You know the color and model of the three cars that just passed you. You smell the barbecue joint half a block away. You feel the wind shift in your face.

Black? You kill anything that moves.

We agree, I’m sure, that you don’t want to be in white or black state of awareness. We tend to go through much of our daily lives with minimal awareness of what’s going on around us. The sad truth is that we go through much of our daily lives with minimal awareness of what God is doing in us, and around us.

We serve the Lord God who rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves (Colossians 1:13). We have been given life (John 5:21), a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), a renewed mind (Romans 12:2), the presence of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7), and the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us (Matthew 28:19-20).

These are tremendous truths! And yet, we’re on autopilot much of the time, unaware of the Father who is always at work (John 5:17), our spiritual kinship with the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us (Hebrews 12:1), and perhaps missing good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

What should we do?

1. Repent.

2. Ask the Lord for awareness of His presence, and to see people and situations the way He sees them.

3. Make efforts to be more aware – practice noticing details around you. When you catch yourself in a low state of awareness, take a moment and re-connect with Christ.

4. Let us help one another recognize and discern the ways of the Lord.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has called you to much, much more than zombie living! Open your eyes, dear saint, and see the evidence of your Loving Father’s hand, all around you.

Keep on teaching to change lives! 

About the Author:

Glenn is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

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