“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” 2 Timothy 4:7 (ESV)
Sometime in the next 50 years, each of us reading this or within the sounds of crunching snow and ice, will stand before the LORD JESUS! Think about how short a time that is!! Even sold-out for Jesus Christians like myself are amazed at this fact! Think about this…50 years ago it was only 1961!! I just returned last weekend from a memorial service for my good brother in Christ Dan Zanoza who died of cancer at the young age of 57.
Dan was a blind man, yet he was a tireless pro-life activist in Illinois and the man responsible for getting the ONNLY NATIVITY SCENE in a state Capitol in the US, into the Illinois State Capitol Dome building in Springfield. Watching brother Dan die was an amazing thing to behold. Of course his wife, Julie, was understandably grieved. But I got to watch a man die not just with grace but going out with his boots on for Jesus!
I won’t forget some of his last words “I will see again and the first person I will see is Jesus!!!” If that doesn’t give you Godbumps…well….!
I uploaded one of my TV shows from a couple years ago about this topic – “what would your last or my last words be”? Prayerfully and hopefully, they will reflect the precious fruit that never perishes in the Eternal Kingdom….I show the various steps on how to plant, grow and nurture this type of fruit!
By Bernie Lutchman
Revelation 6:11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin got in some media difficulty in the past few months for using firearms imagery to get a political point across. (In her case she urged her supporters to regroup, retreat and reload.) In Kingdom terms however, that is not a bad strategy!
Jesus said in Matthew 6: 6-7 (NLT) “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again”.
The Messiah is urging precisely this – gathering yourself as a worshipping entity and repairing to a Secret Place where only YOU and Abba Father are one – in body, soul and spirit! The recently concluded Business Men In Christ was such an experience. It was primarily led by Five Fold Minister Dennis Nichols, with additional power teachings from Bernie Lutchman (Praying with Power); Keith Haynes (Godly Character), Dr. Earl Powerll (Godly Relationships) and Dave Fitch (Exceedingly Grateful).
Aptly named “BREAK FREE”, over 60 of your closest friends – men and teenage young men – broke completely away from the captivity of man-made philosophies of WHO AND WHAT they were and are! Once this was established by Dennis, the clouds of denominational bureaucracy and bondage, were lifted from their eyes in order to see the REAL JESUS a whole lot better!
While each teacher had our set verses and topics, no man knew exactly what the other was going to say. But somehow Holy Spirit put a thread in our hearts and mouths which wove a fine garment of Praise, Prayer and Possibility!! What does this mean?!
I will speak for myself. Let’s establish some truths immediately – the latest George Barna survey found the following :
The Average Pastor prays 5-10 minutes per day!
The Average Christian (if he or she prays at all) prays one, as in 1 minute per day!
Now chew on this for a second!
Compare this to watching television. Southern Baptist Convention Prayer Evangelist Phil Miglioratti estimates the average person watches the equivalent of 9 years watching TV while only SEVEN MONTHS IN ENTIRE LIFETIME OF 77 YEARS!!
How in the world can American Christians expect to know the God of Heaven and Earth, when we spend more over ten times more passively watching the TV set than praying? In fact, how can we even know about this Mighty, Amazing and Powerful God if we can recite the Offensive line for the Chicago Bears, but cannot remember two verses of Psalm 1!
What the session “PRAYING WITH POWER” began was the simplest yet most vital of Prayer/Praise Exercises and that is – Learning to Pray The Scriptures. This hands on mini-workshop had such a powerful impact, as witnessed by the 4-5 Testimonies afterwards that I will be expanding it into an e-book within the next couple months!
The men and boys there immediately went from a cheap American prayer life to being ahead of the curve…not just ahead of their fellow church member or pewsitter but as we see from the Barna survey – a man who prays and digs deep into this awesome type of Worship, is ahead of even most pastors in America!
This is what the B.M.I.C. Men’s retreat set in motion as an EXCLAMATION point to the Transforming, Life-Altering Teaching/Impartation of brother Dennis Nichols! Everyman there came out better than he went in! Glory to His Name! Amen.
by Bernie Lutchman
(Images courtesy GOOGLE Images)
