Matthew 8:8-10 -“The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”

The Centurion was a Roman soldier. He earned his ranking by being an expert in the brutal Roman battle techniques of his day. In our eyes, he would have been one of the most unlikely people to have faith in Jesus. He would not have looked like the “kind of person” who would trust in Jesus. But Jesus marveled at the Centurion’s faith.

The Centurion asked Jesus to just “speak a word and my servant will be healed.” This caused me to evaluate my faith in the Word of God.

John Piper once quoted Billy Graham, saying, “God will not reward fruitfulness, he will reward faithfulness.” The centurion was faith-full.

Our prayer focus today is to become more faith-full of the Word of God! Think about it…just “a word” was all that was needed to heal this person. If we have faith the size of a little mustard seed we can speak to the mountain and it will be removed and cast into the sea.

Exodus 15:26 – “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”

The name Jehovah means “Lord” or “The Existing One,” and is derived from the word “Havah,” which means “to exist.” Rapha is a Hebrew word meaning “to restore” or “to heal.” Therefore, the name Jehovah Rapha can be translated to mean “The Lord who heals.” This name reveals God’s aspect as a healer who heals people’s spiritual and physical needs.

Isaiah 53:5 – “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”

Our prayer focus today is on Jesus our healer. He is able to heal our body, soul and spirit. We look to Jesus for the healing that we need in our own bodies, our families, our church family and friends. We ask in the mighty name of Jesus for healing from all of our diseases and the restoration of our souls! We worship Jesus our Healer!

The Holy Spirit has directed us to have a special healing service on Wednesday, February 15 from 6:30 – 8:00pm and Sunday morning February 19 beginning at 10:30am. Please pray and intercede with us as we worship Jesus our Healer!

Colossians 3:1-3, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

This verse would be better translated “Since you have been raised with Christ.” Paul is pointing out to us that God has elevated us to a higher place. He has raised us up where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Paul is urging us to stop paying so much attention to the things of this world and start spending more time focused on heavenly things. We are to seek the things that are above where Christ is. The things that are above are eternal. The things in this world are temporal.

I like the way M.S.Lowndes explained the essence of this verse.

“We should be focused on, and tending to things of eternal value. Nothing else matters. We can’t take anything with us. To be pursuing things of earthly value and importance, robs us of what really matters. We still remain discontented because it will never satisfy. Only what has eternal value will ever satisfy.
Pursuing the riches of heaven above satisfies our souls like nothing else does.”
© By M.S.Lowndes

We Are Called According to “His Purpose”
Romans 8:28-30 – And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, and these He also glorified. (NKJV)

We have our own plans and God has His plans. Our destination is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. To this end, God will work all things together for our good.

Psalms 138:8
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands. (ESV)
“The Lord Will Fulfill His Purpose for Me”

His love never fails and He never gives up on me!

Our prayer focus is to fulfill God’s purpose and to be more like Jesus everyday. We are called to be Minsters of Reconciliation and to be a blessing to our community through prayer and works of service. We will accomplish this by seeking God’s will for our lives. Obey Him today. We have no promise for tomorrow.

Dr. Janet Cook

Psalm 84: 11-12 – “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You! (NKJV)

This scripture gives us a glimpse of the majestic, yet indescribable “Lord God” and
what this means for those who serve Him.

Sun – He is our light in the darkness; He enlightens us; He guides us and directs us.
Shield – He is our protector and shield; He is our armed defense; He is our ruler.
Grace – He gives us His grace and favor; He give us kindness; He is gracious towards us.
Glory – He demonstrates His glory through us; His glorious honor.
O Lord – The self existent or eternal one; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God.
Lord of Hosts – He is organized for war and we are in His army.
Blessed – To go forward, to be honest, to prosper
“Blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

Our prayer focus today is to be aware of our “Lord God” who is at work in our lives.
We are blessed when we trust in Him to help us move forward in the midst of our trials and tribulations. He is organized for war and He will fight our battles if we will walk in His ways. We are to keep moving with the Lord God who is our sun and shield!
We give him Glory and Honor and Praise!

Our Prayers and Praise to Him we Raise!
Dr. Janet Cook

Martin Luther said: “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

You may feel insufficient when it comes to praying. According to the scriptures, we are insufficient and need the help of the Holy Spirit to pray.

In Romans 8:26 – “So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.” (AMP)

Often we don’t know what to pray. The circumstances we find ourselves in are beyond our ability to comprehend and understand. God sees the end from the beginning and he knows what we have need of.

Our prayer focus today is to pray in the spirit with “unspeakable yearnings and groaning too deep for utterance.” Pray with confidence that the Holy Spirit is your helper and he is praying through you. He is your teacher in the supernatural realms of prayer.

John 14:26 – “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

James 5:16 – “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Christians desire for their prayers to be answered. This scriptures sets forth a pattern for effective prayers.  First, James urged believers to confess their “trespasses” to each other. This word is translated “faults” in the King James Version. The Greek word is G3900    παράπτωμα which means to side-slip (lapse or deviation), i.e. (unintentional) error or (wilful) transgression:–fall, fault, offence, sin, trespass.

We are instructed to confess our sins to one another “so that you can live together whole and healed.” (James 5:16, MSG)
It is important that we are open about our weaknesses with one another. We are to Confess and Pray for one another regarding our trespasses. We cannot leave this step out because it will have an influence on how effective our prayer life will be.

James teaches us to pray for ourselves, seek the prayers of the elders and to have private times with friends to pray.
Matthew Henry Commentary says this: “Those who make confession of their faults one to another should thereupon pray with and for one another. James 5:13 directs persons to pray for themselves: “Is any afflicted let him pray”; James 5:14 directs persons to seek for the prayers of ministers/elders; and the James 5:16 directs private Christians to pray one for another; so that here we have all sorts of prayer (ministerial, social, and secret) recommended.”

What is “fervent prayer”? The Greek word G1754 for “fervent” is ἐνεργέω; Pronounced en-erg-eh’-o, which means to be active, efficient:–do, (be) effectual (fervent), be mighty in, shew forth self, work (effectually in). The dictionary definition is; “having or showing great warmth or intensity of spirit, feeling, enthusiasm etc.”

James is making the point that praying with passion and intensity is an important part of seeing our prayers answered. The other important part is that the prayers are prayed by a righteous person. These two elements make our prayers effective.
It is a blessing to have righteous friends whose fervent prayers are effective, powerful and acceptable to God. I thank the Lord for all of you!!

John 4:23-24 in the NIV says- Yet a time is coming and NOW has come when the TRUE worshipers will worship the Father in SPIRIT and in TRUTH, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers MUST WORSHIP in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.

God is spirit so we can worship Him anywhere, He is more interested in how we worship, ( is it genuine and true) then where.

What does it mean to worship Him in Spirit? Romans 12:1, (NIV), says- Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your SPIRITUAL ACT of WORSHIP.
Verse 2– Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. THEN you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is— His good, pleasing and perfect will.

IN the Old Testament animals were sacrificed on the altar by the priest as a means of worship. Jesus, our example, became the ultimate sacrifice so that we might live. What a mighty God we serve.

Out of a heart of obedience and thanksgiving we can joyfully offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and be the worshiper that our Father seeks, one who WORSHIPS in SPIRIT and in TRUTH. What a privilege we have been given.

Lamentation 3:21-24 – “This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

Jeremiah is the author of the book of Lamentations. To lament is to express sadness with weeping. He’s the one who cried out that God’s mercy is new every morning even as destruction surrounded him. In the middle of his sorrow, He found hope in God’s mercy and compassion and so can we. The name Jeremiah means “the Lord exalts.” God will exalt you above your lamentation and sorrow. It is our responsibility to focus on the Lord as our portion. Our hope is in Him! This world has nothing to offer us but trouble and tribulation.

On January 1, 2017, in our Sunday morning service I received this word from the Lord.
Our focus today is to meditate on the Lord as our portion and to consider what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the Church.

“My mercy is new every morning.
I am calling you to come close to me…do not be afraid.
This is your time church – this is the day of my favor for you.
Nothing is impossible for me.
Trust me to fulfill the purpose I give you.
Now is the time – today is the day.
I am releasing a fresh anointing.
A fresh anointing of my grace my favor.
Adjust your focus – bring your thoughts into alignment with my word.
I am doing a work in each one of you.
And everyone who Gathers with you will receive my grace anointing for this time. 2017 is a year of fulfillment and advancement.”

Dr. Janet Cook

1 Corinthians 1:9 – “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

God wants to have fellowship with us. Fellowship in Greek is the word koinonia.  It means intimacy, communion, and fellowship. It is translated into the word “communion” when referring to the communion supper. The communion supper is a place of intimacy between God and the members of the Body of Christ. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Our fellowship with God must be through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no other way to have communion with HIm. We can only have fellowship with God by trusting in what Jesus did for us on the cross. He was our living sacrifice. He gave Himself so we could be forgiven of our sins and have fellowship with God the Father.

Meditate today on what it means to have fellowship with God. Thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all of our sins so that we can have fellowship with Him. Praise God that we can “walk in the light of God” and have fellowship with one another. Rejoice that God loves us with an everlasting love and nothing can separate us from Him. God wants to have fellowship with us!!

1 John 1:5-7 – “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Dr. Janet Cook