The Acceptable Time

Psalms 69: 13 - 18, But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. And do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily. Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies. NKJV

Are you waiting on the Lord to bring you out of a difficult season in your life? Throughout scripture, we can see that God works within predetermined time frames; and today, the Holy Spirit has instructed me to write about "time."

For instance, God told Abraham that his descendants would be in bondage to Egypt for four-hundred years; however, when their time of captivity was over, He would bring them victoriously out of that land. Another example was when Paul and Silas were thrown into prison for ministering the gospel. Even so, that evening, they began to sing and praise God; and at midnight, God caused the prison to be shaken and the doors to be opened. 

Another illustration is when Jesus sent His disciples out on the lake, and He departed to the mountains to pray during the night. As His disciples were crossing over, a storm arose and threatened their lives. Nevertheless, at the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the water and saved them. 

In the scripture for today, David is praying unto the Lord that He would deliver him from his troubles. Even though David asked God to deliver him speedily, David also acknowledged that it was in God's timing and not his own. It's interesting to me how David knew God had an acceptable time in which to hear his plea, yet he still prayed for God to hasten His reply. Are you asking the Lord to bring you out of a pit or a hard situation, but in your spirit, you sense that God's time of deliverance has not yet come? 

Know this; God won't allow you to stay in any adverse situation one moment longer than necessary. Therefore, the key is to trust in the Lord's timing and wisdom, and to wait on Him to bring you out in victory. Consequently, you must choose to have peace and exercise patience and longsuffering as you wait on God's acceptable time. Remember, those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. You don't have to submit to the adversity; however, if you submit to God's will and time of deliverance, then He will give you the grace (strength) to endure until the breakthrough comes. 

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that we see through a glass dimly, but when that which is perfect has come, we will see clearly. We don't always know why God allows us to go through hard seasons and trials. Nonetheless, if we simply trust His heart and Word, then we have been promised that He would work it for our good. Ecclesiastes tells us that God makes all things beautiful in IT'S TIME.

Timing Is Everything,
Pastor Asa Dockery

There is Nothing about Sin That Is Just

Genesis 3: 6 - 11, So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" NKJV

There's an old adage I've heard all my life that says, "A word to the wise is sufficient." Don't you just wish that Adam would have heeded the Word of warning from God not to eat of the tree of knowledge? I sure do, especially when I remind myself of Adam. I suppose we all turn a deaf ear to God from time to time, but the repercussions should teach us to listen the first time.

We all live on this side of Adam's decision to sin against God. Therefore, we must teach ourselves to be sensitive to God and the leading of His voice. He has promised to be a very present help in times of trouble. Since the fall of man, justice has been very difficult to find and to maintain in the earth. People constantly strive for justice and equality in the world, but only a few will find it. The only One who can give us true justice and equality is Jesus Christ. Even though Jesus never committed a sin, He willingly chose to suffer for the sins of the entire world. Where is the justice in all of that, I ask?

When we read Genesis 3 in its entirety, we never find where God punishes Satan, who orchestrated the fall of man and embodied a serpent to pull it off. The serpent was cursed. The woman received great punishment as well as Adam, but we don't see where God addresses the real culprit, Satan. Doesn't that seem a little unjust? If you said," Yes", then you have a good understanding of how unjust sin really is toward humanity.  

Here's something that the Lord revealed to me recently to help my lack of understanding of why God allowed Satan to go seemingly without punishment. Once Adam and Eve sinned, they began to blame someone else instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. Sin in the hearts of the man and woman demanded the other person receive the punishment as a way of getting justice served. They did not realize that they were just as guilty as the other party. Had God cut one off for the sin, he would have had to cut all of mankind off as well. God had a plan, and He reveals it to His babes in Christ. (Matt. 11: 25)

Even though it appears that God was being unjust in His punishment in Genesis 3, He was actually extending mercy toward the man and woman who had violated His law and deserved to perish. Whenever people are guilty of violating God's law or man's law, it seems that they demand justice more than those who are violated by those who break laws.

The world in which we now live is the result of the fall of man. Consequently, we must be willing to wait on our salvation from the curse of sin, by faith. This means we are going to have to endure hardness as a good soldier, especially when we face the fiery furnaces in this life. We can face them because we know that God is with us, and He will one day deliver all the righteous out of this world of sin. At that moment, God will dispense judgment and punishment upon the head of our adversary, the Devil.  

You see. God designed a place called Hell for Satan and his demons before the fall of man. God never intended man to enter the horrors of Hell, but we have a free will. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 that many will choose the broad way that leads to destruction, and few will choose the way that leads to life everlasting. Many will choose the way that leads to destruction and eternal condemnation simply because Satan has poisoned them against the love of God like he did with Adam and Eve in the garden. Satan convinced Eve that God didn't want her to be like God, so she took on Satan's offence against God and sinned. Beware that you don't allow the spirit of offence to poison your heart thus causing you to depart from the living God through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3)

I pray that this devotion gives you a greater understanding into the ways of God and Satan so that you might be able to resist the Devil and overcome his lies through your faith in Christ.

God Is Always Good,

Pastor Asa

Pray for Your Enemies

Matthew 5: 43 - 46, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. NKJV

Have you ever wondered what would happen in the world if every Christian fulfilled the requirements that Jesus gave to us in today's text? The world would definitely be a far better place to live. When we make the decision to live according to Jesus' instructions, it frees us to live a life that isn't bound by wounded emotions or vengeful thoughts. When we choose to obey the commands of Jesus which are found in this chapter, we are also releasing God to settle the battles justly on our behalf.

In Deuteronomy, we read that it is God's will for His people (Christians) to live above and not beneath. Our heavenly Father doesn't want us to live in bondage to anyone or anything. However, in order to live above the influence of this world, we must know and obey what Jesus has said. Nevertheless, even if what He requires is hard for us to do, if we comply, we will greatly benefit as a result of our obedience.

The Lord has given me two examples to share with you of when someone prayed for their enemies while they were being violently persecuted. After the Roman soldiers had beaten Jesus without mercy, they stripped Him of His clothes and nailed Him to a wooden cross. Nonetheless, before Jesus yielded up His Spirit, He prayed and asked His Father to forgive those who had crucified Him. 

 
This very short, but effective prayer changed the course of history. In Ephesians, 4, Paul tells us that God has forgiven us for Christ's sake. Jesus' prayer on the cross released the Father to have mercy and to show us grace (unmerited favor) so that we might be forgiven. You and I have been forgiven because Jesus chose to honor the very teaching that He gave us during His Sermon on the Mount.

In Acts 7, we read that Stephen was being stoned, yet he prayed unto God and asked Him not to hold their sin against them. Stephen's love for God was displayed to all who were present when he was being stoned to death. He exemplified the very attributes of Christ in his death. Stephen made a very hard, but important decision in the final moments of his life. He chose to love his enemies and to release them from any unforgiveness. 

If you choose to forgive others and pray for your enemies, you are releasing yourself from a potential stronghold of the enemy to harden your heart against God and His Word. When we choose to bless our enemies, we are inviting the presence of God to move on our behalf, thus allowing God's will and not man's to be fulfilled in the other person's life. In so doing, we are living the life that is a reflection of God; therefore, the world will know that we are the children of God. God is love, and everyone who is born of God also loves.

Pray Your Way to Freedom,

Pastor Asa Dockery 

Our Only Hope

1 Timothy 1: 1, Paul, a missionary of Jesus Christ, sent out by the direct command of God our Savior and by Jesus Christ our Lord-our only hope. TLB

I can remember when our sons were babies and learning to stand up on their own. They would crawl over to the coffee table or a piece of furniture and raise themselves up. The furniture gave them the confidence that they needed to take a step without being fearful of falling. Likewise, all of us from our earliest stages of life have learned how to depend on and place our hope in "things" to keep us safe.

We use the life lessons that we have learned, and we place our confidence and hope in natural elements for security. After a while, we begin to rely on those objects and people to support us to the point that we become totally comfortable and at rest. Unfortunately, there are times when we discover that not everything we rely on is trustworthy. Objects break, and people will fail us, causing our faith to be violated and our hope to be lost. 

Let me share a scenario with you that will demonstrate a principle about hope. Life is a lot like taking a cruise on a ship. Because of its strong structure and enormous size, it gives us a sense of safety while it's heading out into the deep. Consequently, the longer we are on the ship the more comfortable we become with its ability to keep us safe. We begin to relax and enjoy the comforts that the cruise liner offers its passengers. 

However, suddenly we realize that the ship is headed directly into a horrific storm. As the ship becomes tossed by the large waves and strong winds, the furniture that we took rest in has now become a flying object. We begin to grab onto anything that is firmly attached to the ship for stability. As the ship is tossed to and fro, we begin to lose our grip, and we are thrown around like a rag doll. 

Now the confidence and the hope that we once rested in has all but disappeared, and we begin to fear for our very lives. The more the storm intensifies, the greater our desperation becomes about our survival. In a panic-stricken moment, we realize that everything we have placed our trust and hope in has turned against us. 

Out of hopelessness, we look up to heaven and turn our focus on the Lord. Why... because He is the anchor for our soul. When this life begins to unravel and fall apart, God is our Rock in whom we can rely and know of a surety that He won't fail us. The writer of Hebrews tells us that He is a very present help in a time of trouble. Nothing in this life is eternal. Everything and everyone at one point or another will fail us. Only Jesus will be there for us when this world and the people in it fail us and break our trust.

When we think of storms, we tend to think about them only in a negative connotation because we've seen what they can do to human life and property. Nevertheless, there are some good things that the storms of life can produce. Whether they're natural, emotional, relational, or spiritual storms can break us of placing our eternal trust in temporal things and relationships. Storms can teach us that only God is the TRUE ANCHOR for our souls. 

If you have been broken because a job, a spouse, or a possession failed you don't despair; there is still hope after the storm. Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. When the world walks out on you, you can turn to Him, and He will walk in and pick you up. He is the blessed assurance that can never fail you. He will be faithful and go with you, even to the end. 

What could you be trusting in today that might be gone tomorrow and leave you devastated? Everything on this earth has been built by man has a breaking point. Even so, the Lord upholds the universe; and He will hold you when your world crumbles. Jesus is our only hope for eternal life. Are your faith and your hope in Him today? 

My Hope Is in the Lord,
Pastor Asa Dockery 

Made Clean By the Word

John 15: 3, You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. NKJV

As Christians, we have been redeemed from sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Satan no longer owns you; now that you have received the Holy Spirit, you belong to God. Does that mean we are made perfect because of the blood of Christ? No, it does not. We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, but at the moment of salvation, we were not made perfect or mature. Jesus told His disciples, who had remained with Him over three years that they had been made clean by the Word He had taught them.

When we're only taught the principles of salvation, but never taken on into discipleship it can cause us, "believers," to think that we have achieved all that is required of us from the Lord. If all you know about your walk with the Lord is based on salvation teachings alone, and you practice those principles that have been imparted into your life, it can cause you to feel as though you have "arrived." 

This is why Jesus requires believers to continue in their faith by hearing and keeping the Word of God in their everyday lives after they become born again. Even though we've been cleansed from dead works through the blood of Christ, and our spirits have been regenerated through the Holy Spirit, our souls are yet to be purified. As I wrote previously, the disciples had been with Jesus for almost forty-two months. During this time, Jesus had taught them many truths that had transformed their carnal minds. Through the truths that He revealed to the disciples, they learned the importance of following God's Law and not the traditions of the elders. As Jesus continued to teach the disciples, they became clean in their souls from the pollution of the world's ways, which defiles the soul.   

One day, as Jesus was teaching in the temple, some Jews believed His teachings. He told those Jews, who believed on Him to continue in His teachings, and they would become true disciples. You see; there is so much more to being saved than just becoming born again. Now that we are saved, we must continue living in His Word and keeping His teachings in our hearts and lives. This will purge our souls from the fleshly ways that we walked in as sinners.  

We're all fine (or believe we're fine) until we look in the mirror and see the dirt on our faces. In much the same way, we must look into the Word of God so that it might reveal to us what is hidden just out of our sight... but that others can see very plainly. The Word of God will purge your soul and make you free from deceptive pride and fleshly lusts. 

Lord Show Me through Your Word, 

Pastor Asa Dockery

A Rightful Heir

Roman 8: 14 - 17, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. NKJV

Do you have a need in your life? Have you been petitioning the Lord for a while in order to have that particular need supplied? I believe it is safe to say that all of us have need. However, the Holy Spirit has given me a specific word to share with you today so that you might have the faith in your heart to receive your long-awaited miracle or breakthrough. The Word of God declares that the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen.

As human beings, who are recovering from the fall of man and learning how to live and operate in our new identity, we sometimes struggle with faith when it pertains to us personally. I've heard people make this statement my entire life: "I can believe for someone else's need much easier than for my own need." 

Nevertheless, since God is no respecter of persons, it isn't God that makes us feel inferior, it is our own hearts that do so. Therefore, we must take our focus off us and who we are in the natural, and we must begin to fasten our attention on who we are in Christ. It is only in Christ that we are made the righteousness of God. It is also through Christ that we have become the children of God; and as His children, we are heirs of God's promises.

Christ gives us the "right or the power" to become sons and daughters of God. Jesus has made us legitimate children of God. We have a legal and binding covenant with God through Christ that gives us access to receive His promises. We have the right to be healed and to walk in divine health. It is our right to prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers. You and I have the right to be delivered from bondages and to walk in spiritual liberty.

As Christians, we need to know what our rights are so that we don't allow Satan to rob them from us through spiritual ignorance. Please note that we're not being arrogant to God when making such audacious proclamations. Instead, we're being bold to Satan. If Jesus needed to declare the Word of God about His identity and about God being the source of His needs, then we must be able to quote the Word to Satan as well. When we tell our adversary what Christ has done for us, and we recite the promises of God over our lives to the Devil, it lets him know that we're not standing in our strength; we are standing in faith. Without faith, we can't please God. However, when we stand on God's Word, this allows God to rebuke the devourer from our lives and to release His promises upon us. 

Therefore, if the manifestation of your healing, your deliverance, or your breakthrough has been prolonged, then allow this word to get deep into your heart and begin to declare: "In Christ, I am a child of the Most High God, and I am a rightful heir of God's promises. Christ has paid the price for my redemption and has given me an inheritance." It is my prayer that you will take a stand of faith today against the demonic forces that have invaded your life and have robbed you of God's blessings. Take back what rightfully belongs to you as an heir of God.

Standing in Faith with You,
Pastor Asa Dockery

You Can Overcome through Christ

Philippians 4: 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. NKJV

As a pastor for more than eleven years, I have seen many Christians fall into the traps that were set by Satan, the adversary of their soul. To fall into a trap of Satan simply means we believe a lie about ourselves, and we, therefore, remain in bondage to a demonic stronghold. A lie of Satan becomes a stronghold the moment we believe what he is telling us about a situation or a condition we are facing instead of standing on the Word of God.

In the natural, a trap brought on by a lie may be an addiction, an emotional wound, a crutch, or anything that forces you to believe or think that you can't get past a certain issue or vice. If you think that you can't overcome a problem or an addiction in your life, then you are bound in your walk. Christ didn't come to save us from sin so that we could die in bondage to its power. According to Luke 4: 18, He was sent and anointed to set us FREE!!

I, myself have fallen prey to Satan's lies in recent years and thought I would never break free, but God was faithful. Satan had me blinded and convinced that things would never be any better. For a while, I believed his lies because I was weary from the battles. Nevertheless, through prayer and continued obedience, Satan has lost the strangle hold on my life that was brought on by fear. 

 Like many others, you may be in a trap of Satan today. Are you fighting a battle against something in your life that won't seem to let go? Then you need "MORE GRACE." This is not a cliche'. Instead, it is a truth that can set you free so that you can begin to walk out of the trap. You must not accept defeat. If you are a Christian, then Christ will cause you to triumph ALWAYS. The key is to turn to the Lord and submit yourself (including any doubts, fears, or unbelief) you may be holding onto in your heart. God is for you. However, you must be willing to believe and accept this truth before He can give you the power to come out completely.

Just because you have a stronghold in your life, it doesn't mean that God has abandoned you. The Lord has promised that He would never leave or forsake us. Even so, we must give Jesus our full attention and cooperation in this matter. When the Holy Spirit instructs you to make the first step or to take action, you have to obey His voice and let Him take care of the details. This will require you to submit to Him and trust His instructions at all times. As you take the initial steps, doubt, fear, and unbelief will begin to scream out, "You can't do this." Nevertheless, don't worry; once you obey God's voice, it's not you doing the work. It is God's strength and grace flowing through you.

With each act of obedience and faith, you will find that it will become easier to obey because of the new grace that has been given to you.  "You" have gotten out of the way, and grace has taken over. Remember, before grace, you couldn't even attempt to walk out. However, now that you have submitted, God's grace is moving you forward to freedom. You can walk out of the trap and never look back. 

Before I leave you today, let me share the verses that God gave me for you:

James 4 : 5 - 7, What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful? He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble." So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. NLT 

The more we submit by faith to God's will and His Word, the more grace He will extend to us so that we can come out of the traps of Satan. 

Walking in Freedom through More Grace,
Pastor Asa Dockery