by Tim Cameron | Oct 10, 2017 | Daily Provoking Thought
We need to remind ourselves over and over again that we cannot love in our own strength. Our love will always run out at some point. Our love is not perfect; it will fail. It is only as we are wholly surrendered to the Spirit that we will be able to live according to God’s will and walk in love towards those around us. What I believe we have failed to realize is that we learn to know the person of the Holy Spirit in the secret place of prayer. You see, the Holy Spirit is sensitive; it is His nature. You will not become acquainted with the Holy Spirit amidst the noise of the day or the clamor of work. You must engage Him and listen to Him in the secret place.
Open your spiritual ears to hear now (Rev. 2:17, 3:6, and 3:22). You may know the fullness of God’s love on one condition: you must be strengthened by the Holy Spirit so that Christ may dwell in your heart. Take this message from God’s Word. Unless you are on your knees you cannot live in the love of Christ. A life of prayer will make a life of love to Christ, other Christians, and those without Christ a reality in your experience.
by Tim Cameron | Oct 2, 2017 | October 2017 Weekly Provoking Thoughts
Scripture for the Day: Daniel 6:10 “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”
As I look at the condition of our country today I am deeply persuaded that most Christians do not grasp the intention of conversion; it is after all, to come into daily fellowship with our God. The goal is not to just survive our culture, but to thrive in it and to engage it for Christ. Battling the culture requires us to make time every day for the Word and prayer. The bottom line: we have no power on our own for this war.
We daily need new grace, mercy, and power that are received from fellowship with our God. This will never be received in a hasty, superficial glance at a few verses in the morning, then on our way. We must come and wait in His presence; there we will feel our need, our ineptness. It is here we encounter the Holy Spirit.
The goal of my provoking thoughts on prayer is to help Christians realize the absolute necessity of spending time with the Lord every day. If you do not do this, the joy and power of the Holy Spirit you desire will be but a wish.
by Tim Cameron | Sep 22, 2017 | Uncategorized
What in the world does obedience mean? Just the sound of the word conjures up thoughts of: don’t smoke; don’t drink; don’t this; don’t that; bla, bla, bla, bla, bla. But, if we want to access the fullness of the Holy Spirit and see answers to prayer, we better get a precise understanding of obedience. Is it vital? Check out the verse for the day above (Rev. 22:14).
Here is the short of it: obedience is simply doing God’s will and obeying His commandments. Do you think God gives commandments men can’t obey? Look at it this way. Do loving parents require their children to perform tasks completely out of their reach? Is our Heavenly Father less kind and compassionate than our earthly parents? What an irrational thought.
Our obedience is an act of love, an expression of delight in pleasing the beloved (1 John 3:22). Here’s what I mean. It is discovering what pleases our Lord and doing it with boundless joy and anticipation. Anticipation? Yes, the great anticipation of the “God possibilities” that simple obedience brings to our prayers.
by Tim Cameron | Sep 18, 2017 | Uncategorized
There are many distinguishable traits of a Christian. They should be kind, compassionate, humble, forgiving, and more. But there is one infallible test of the child of God, prayer. The citizens of the Kingdom of God are prayerful. The citizens of this world are prayerless. Christians depend on God. The worldly depend on themselves. Yet, every Christian must cultivate and nourish a spirit of prayer, that prayer life that lingers throughout the day. Prayer must be a habit, but it needs be so much more. Prayer must be a duty, but it needs escalate so much farther than the normal inferences of that word.
Prayer is an expression of intimacy with God. It is God’s invitation to see deeply into the mystery of who He is. There is no pathway for a man who does not pray to travel down and yet call himself a Christian. There is no other way the soul (mind, emotions, and will) of a man can enter into fellowship with God. The Prayer life is the infallible test of being a follower of Christ.
by Tim Cameron | Sep 15, 2017 | Uncategorized
We can be accused of a lot of things, but we should never be accused of lacking passion for prayer. Prayer without passion is heartless. It is the fervent prayer of a righteousness man that avails much (James 5:16).
The Holy Spirit comes as fire to dwell in us. When we are baptized we are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16). Our charge is not to drum up fire, but we can cry out to the Holy Spirit to burn away the chaff in our lives that prohibits us from cultivating a passionate, fervent prayer life. When a man is passionately bent on intimacy with Jesus through prayer and purity, he or she will attain all the powerful graces that adorn the child of God.
