Too often, as believers, we think circumstances give us the right to grumble, complain, and moan. Are we any different then than the children of Israel in the desert? Was that not the reason the Lord God was upset with them? Undoubtedly, life is uncertain and never far from circumstances, situations, or problems. In all events, we can grow in the Lord.
I Thessalonians 5:18 (AMP) “Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].” Often, we are only thankful for things that please our fleshly desires. We would term that as a selfish heart. Without genuine gratefulness, we become self-center and self-important. Sometimes, we focus on what we do not have instead of what we have. Other times we take things for granted instead of being thankful. As believers, we need to remember everything we have comes from the Lord.
Believers always want to know the will of God; being thankful in every circumstance is the will of God. We are enabled by the Holy Spirit to do the will of God, so we can be grateful. In thankfulness, our attitude can change. For example, our car breaks down. We are not thankful that our car breaks down, but we can be grateful that we have a car. We can be thankful that it did not break when we are driving and cause an accident. We could be thankful our car is paid for etc.
Copyright @November 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
What is the proof of a changed heart as a believer? Romans 5:5 (NKJV) “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” As a believer, love will indicate a changed heart. John 13:34-35 (NKJV) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” The Holy Spirit enables us to walk in love or to have a life of love. Love by the enabling of the Holy Spirit should be a natural response. We will respond to the needs of others. We will see them as valuable and precious. A life of love is a choice. We choose to obey the Holy Spirit.
A song that should remind us that we need to walk in love by the Holy Spirit.
Let’s make a difference in our world by walking in love all of the time. Choose Today to obey the Holy Spirit.
Copyright @November 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
With all that is happening in our world, we might feel we are in a desert. Let's look at scripture to learn about a desert. Deuteronomy 8:2 “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. “ What is a desert? It is a wilderness or uninhabited land—a place where most people do not want to stay. A desert is a place to meet with God and hear His word to us. It should be a place of hunger for the things of God. A place where we seek God. When the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to fast and pray, what was the first thing that the devil tempted Him with? The devil tempted with natural food to take the place of what God had to impart to Him. Why? The devil wanted to manipulate Jesus from the things above, the things of God, to look to earthy things. In the desert, the devil will offer us hundreds of solutions and alternatives except one to seek the face of God earnestly. When you are in a desert, seek God, hunger for Him. All solutions to any problem must come from above. God is the only one who knows the answer or solution that will bring joy, peace, and blessing.
What was the purpose of the desert? First, it was a place of humbling. Humbling is yielding. The deserts of our life are a place of submission to the Lord. A desert is a proving place. It proves our hearts. In the desert places, we find out what is truly in our heart. Or what indeed occupies our heart. We might think we know what occupies our hearts, but we do not. In the desert, God deals with our character. He wants to bring us to a place of maturity.
In the desert, God was to be the children of Israel's source and reliance. They need to obey what He had to say. God wants to be our foundation and source. He wants us to rely on Him for our daily provisions.
Copyright @November 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
Ephesians 4:30—32 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. “ What grieves the Holy Spirit? First, bitterness. Bitterness is often displayed in resentment, anger, unpleasantness, animosity, and hostility. There are many bitter people in the world, including the church. Bitterness and other similar attitudes and behavior grieve or offend the Holy Spirit. These types of actions stop Him from flowing. Wrath causes the Holy Spirit grief. Wrath is displayed by indignation or anger the boils up. In other words, it is rage or fury. It goes on to say the Spirit of God is offended by anger. Angry people like to punish others. Angry people throw temper tantrums. People who clamor cause the Holy Spirit to grieve. Clamor means that they complain loudly, shout, and demand. There is too much complaining in the body of Christ. They have so many demands; no wonder the Spirit of God does not move.
People who speak evil is a source of the Holy Spirit's grief. They slander. Their speech is injurious to a person's name. There are even people who speak evil of God. There are too many people in the body of Christ that do character assassination. The Spirit of God can not work in this atmosphere. The other thing that grieves the Spirit of God is malice. It is ill- will towards others. It is the desire to see other injured; it does not want the best in others' lives. It is hatred or spite.
The Word of God tells us the kind of people that the Holy Spirit rest upon or can work in. When nothing grieves the Holy Spirit, He can flow and move as He desires. We will see freedom, the anointing, signs, wonders and miracles, the gifts, and the fruit. We need to be kind one to another. We do not have to agree with everyone, but we still can be kind. In other words, we do good things; we want good things to happen in their lives. The Holy Spirit is with those who are tenderhearted. Those who have compassion. The Holy Spirit is with those who walk in forgiveness. So what if someone offends you do not enter in. In the first part of Ephesians 4:1-3, it talks about forbearing one another in love. Love unites and keeps the unity of the Spirit; then, the Spirit can flow. His anointing can flow.
Copyright @November 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
Often, we need to be reminded of all that God is. Jeremiah 32:17 (AMP) “Alas, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too hard or too wonderful for You—.” With the Lord God, nothing is impossible. We limit the Lord God by our thinking. Nothing is beyond the power of the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Nothing is too difficult for Him. No matter how overwhelming or grave things are we need to look to the Lord and trust Him.
The way we need to handle anxiety, doubt is to go to the Lord in prayer and wait for Him to give us a Rhema word. The more we focus on the greatness of God the less overwhelming our problems will become. We should continually remember what the Lord God has done for us, the great things He has done, the promises He has kept and how He has met our needs. We just need to put all our issues in the hands of the Lord God. Nothing is too hard for Him.
We need to confess all that God is all- powerful and that nothing is too hard for Him. Instead of talking about our problems and the issues in life. His promises should aid our faith in His ability to deal with our situations.
Copyright @October 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
The Holy Spirit desires to guide our life, or we could say steer our life. The question is are we listening. Too often, we attempt to guide ourselves. Proverbs 3:6 (AMP) “In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.” The Holy Spirit desires to direct our lives daily, not just in a crisis. He desires to help us in all our undertakings and with whatever we are dealing with.
Jeremiah 10:23 (NKJV) “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” We truly cannot direct our own steps, although we certainly try. As believers, we have the Holy Spirit to help us.
Isaiah 30:21 (AMP) “And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.” Too often, we ignore what the Holy Spirit is saying. We always hear what we are tuned in to. Are we tuned in to the Holy Spirit? When I worked in a bank in Tulsa, I was the supervisor of sixteen young women. There were machines running, phones ringing and a lot of chatter. I learned to tune it out. I used to tell the young women to make sure they had my attention when they asked me a question, or I wouldn’t say anything. The point is it is very easy to tune out the voice of the Holy Spirit. Are we walking in the way He tells us to go?
Copyright @October 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
Are we taking the time to wait upon the Lord? Isaiah 40:31 (AMP) “But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” Wait does not mean to passively sit waiting for Him to do something. Wait implies that we pursue the Lord, rely upon, and depend on Him, instead of our strength. If we are weak, feeble, or faint, it is because we are not waiting on the Lord so that He can renew our strength. It is as we wait on the Lord, we will keep having fresh strength. The strength the Lord gives us is his strength to soar like an eagle above things. The Lord gives us the strength to run and not be weary and walk and not faint. So, we have the strength to go forward in life, no matter what is happening. We can run the race and walk the walk.
We should be confident that the Lord has strength for us daily. Psalm 27:14 (KJV) “Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 130:5 (NKJV) “ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His Word I do hope.” Pursue the Lord in prayer and His Word. As we wait on the Holy Spirit, He will give us the strength we need daily.
Copyright @October 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
Many believers are crying out for change; for revival. The Lord does not just pour out revival in the land. Revival must first start in each believer, individually. Revival begins with us returning to the Lord, by getting rid of all compromise in our lives by allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal the areas in our lives that need change, repenting. We can no longer be complacent. We need a transformation in our wrong thinking, attitudes, behavior, and speech. For the church and our nation to be different, it begins in us. It is time to lay aside our desires and seek the Lord fervently. Are we willing to listen to the Holy Spirit? We need to purify our hearts. We need to lay aside resentment and unforgiveness. We need to say the Holy Spirit work in me.
Psalm 119:10 (ESV) “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments." Let this be the cry of our hearts. Revival begins with us. It is each of us deciding to get our lives straight and praying. Confess whatever the Spirit reveals as sin, whatever is hindering us and others, such devices. We need to see a renewal and reformation of the church. Too many people have become indifferent to the things of God; as the Holy Spirit works in us to change, we will be drawn to the Lord, the Word, and pray.
A man once came to Gipsy Smith, the celebrated English evangelist of an earlier time, and asked him how to have revival. Asked Gipsy, “Do you have a place where you can pray?” “Yes,” was the reply. “Tell you what to do, you go to that place, and take a piece of chalk along. Kneel down there, and with the chalk draw a complete circle all around you—and pray for God to send revival on everything inside of the circle. Stay there until He answers—and you will have revival.”
Copyright @October 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
We live in a world that has become extremely self-centered. People are preoccupied with themselves, what will benefit them, their wants, and desires. We must ask ourselves as believers have we fallen prey to that kind of thinking or are we concerned about others? Are we willing to lend a helping hand? Are we interested in the affairs and well-being of others? If we are truly yielded to Jesus Christ then we will serve others because that is how we enter into the fullness of the life that He has for us.
Philippians 2:3-4 “ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Life is full of choices and opportunities to help others. OTHERS should always be at the forefront of what we do. We need to think of OTHERS. This means that our eyes are turned away from ourselves and focused on the needs of others. We need to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus. He thought of others not himself. He had compassion. Our attitude and outlook determine our outcome. If our attitude or outlook is selfish then our actions will follow suit.
A great example of living a life in this manner is Nehemiah. Nehemiah never read Philippians, but he indeed practiced it. During his term as governor, he used his privileges for helping the people; he did not use the people to build a kingdom for himself. In that day, most officials exercised their authority in order to promote themselves and protect their personal interests. They had very little concern for the needs of the people. How do we use what the Lord God has given us, our talents, treasure etc.?
We often think we have nothing to give but all have something to give we have ourselves. We should be eager to help, always looking for ways to help and a place to help. The Gospel is not selfish but it is to touch other people’s lives for their good and benefit.
Thinking of others involves our prayers also. Do we only pray for ourselves and our needs or are we lifting others up in prayer? If we would think of others and not ourselves we could solve a lot of problems, marriage problems, family disputes, and problems in the church and on the job. Thinking of others involves our treatment of others. Do we treat others as important? We should love our neighbor as ourselves.
Copyright @September 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
Philippians 1:6 (AMP) "And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you." At salvation, a good work begins in us. The work continues in us daily by the Holy Spirit. We need to realize what the Lord God starts, He always finishes. The Lord God desires to transform our lives, and it is a continual work. Even when we feel discouraged and we are not making progress in our walk with the Lord. We must remember that the Lord God never gives up on us. He promises us that He will finish the good work in us.
When we feel distressed by our shortcomings, we need to remember and be confident in the Lord God's promise, provision, and power. We cannot let our present condition rob us of the joy of knowing Christ, keep us from growing closer to Him, or to be more like Him. Romans tells us the Lord God's goal for believers is that they are to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Copyright @September 2020 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
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