25 Nov 2013 by Kim Yung CM-
Jim Mclaughlan, a pastor who frequently visits Malaysia, recently preached at C3 Church Subang on t9th of November 2014. He shared that we need to be able to engage God’s promises and catch them; we need to understand the divinity of what God has called us to do on the planet today.
“God wants us to be divine in the planet that He has put us in; in our workplace and in the things that we are doing. We need to be absolutely contagious in those places so that people will ask questions about who you are and what you do; so that they would want to be a part of it,” shared Mclaughlan.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
That hope within you generates the future and a destiny that is set for you.
“If you stay obedient and in the will of God, then you can begin to see that future formulate and materialize in your lifetime,” he shared.
There are so many Christians who are devotional, encompassing, and consistent in praying. But their prayer always relates to requesting God to fulfill their constant needs. Only when one begins to glorify God for who He is, the favour of God will carry you to a different level and a whole new lifestyle.
“It’s not like I strive to get things constantly but it is the favour of God that follows me. I seem to walk in great opportunity, greater blessing, and a greater understanding of what God wants me to achieve in my life,” he said.
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue[a] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son[b] shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” (Genesis 15:1-7)
No longer shall your name be called Abram,[a] but your name shall be Abraham,[b] for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. (Genesis 17:5)
Mclaughlan then cited the verses above, contained in Genesis 15:1-7. The story as a whole speaks of Abram (also known as Abraham); how he loved God, how he did not waiver and how he believed in God with all His heart despite the circumstances.
Abraham did not have a child of his own and could not have fathomed God’s promise to him. Nevertheless, the story encourages us to know that our reward is great in God when our eyes and ears are attentive to the Word.
Just like Abraham, faith should be an integral part of our character. We need to have great confidence that God will fulfill His promises as mentioned in the Bible.
Furthermore, we need to be reminded that Abraham was not perfect yet God regarded him as a righteous man, simply because he deeply believed and obeyed.
“We sometimes see God as something that is so far out there, though He is closer than we realise. We think that He is so far out there that He cannot answer the things that we want Him to answer, but He wants a response from His people, and the Bible declares that faith would produce the very outcomes of God wanted and intended. Faith is what we call a partnership with God,” shared Mclaughlan.
And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous (Romans 4:22)
“We believe that when something external is unholy that it somehow is going to make me unholy,” shared Mclaughlan.
He added that being righteous does not mean that we stop doing this and that. On the contrary, it is whether we believe in God and His Word. Living by faith will cause us to act, but when our actions come out of a time of living in faith, they are not only natural but supernatural actions, an extraordinary demonstration of God in our life.
Mclaughlan stressed that Abraham first came into the promise by the Word of God though it had not yet materialise. His wife was 90 years old when he told his wife about God’s promise that she would conceive. We can only imagine his wife’s disbelief. Nonetheless beyond anything, she conceived and had a child whose name was Isaac.
“Wow! I want you to grasp the promise, because God took Abraham outside of the tent that he was just performing devotions in and told him to look at the stars in the sky and count them, giving him an extraordinary promise, ‘Abraham when he looked at the stars, he saw you and me,’” shared Mclaughlan.
“If you work at it you will receive the precious promise and great reward in your life,” he shared.
In order to receive promises, you need to prepare for ownership, because when God gives you a promise, you need to own it and speak out of the promise that has been given. When we face life problems, the promise often becomes so faint that it is difficult to allow its perspective to change us.
“Know that your preparation in God is so vital, and that your plan and your preparation is connected. Like if you want to play a guitar and you don’t plug it in you will not get much of a sound. Your promise is connected to God, it does not count on your ability. God’s promise, is to you!
“You need to be ready for it and do whatever it takes to fulfil the call of God upon our lives. We can never flourish unless there is a desperation in our spirits, unless there is a desire to see what God will do within our hearts. God, He prepares it and we possess it,” shared Mclaughlan as he closed his sermon.
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