Local Area FCA Blog

Student Tetimony

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 17:27:41 GMT

Growing up, I was always like the "perfect kid." I always tried my best to follow the rules, be good in school, and honestly I thought I had it all together. But as I started to mature, there was always this anxious feeling- this pressure to be perfect. If I said a bad thing, I thought my world was gonna crumble. If I had a sinful thought or got in the wrong crowd for a moment, I thought my life was over.

At the time, I believed that God was real. I claimed to be a Christian, and yet I still thought I could be righteous on my own. I had this idea that I had to be good enough to get into heaven. But every time I saw those ten commandments and looked back at my life, I knew I could never make the cut! So I tried finding my identity in worldly things. I thought that if I was known for something unique, then everything would be okay. I was searching for who I am, but I was looking in the wrong places.

About a year ago, my church hired a new youth pastor. I thought he was cool and all, but something was different about that dude. He always wanted to make sure I was okay, and would hang out with me once in a while to study the Bible with me. I saw that my youth pastor was demonstrating true discipleship- investing in people to encourage them, build them up, and to turn them to Christ. That's something I had never really seen before.

Later in the summer, I decided to rededicate my life to Jesus through baptism! I had finally learned one night at church camp that truly, we all have a mess in our life. We can't fix it all on our own, we need Christ in our lives to have righteousness. And His plan for us is a billion times better than our own. To put it simply, I learned to put my trust in my Savior!

So what does FCA have to do with any of this? When the school year started up, I wanted opportunities to minister to others at school. That's when I found our small local FCA group hosting weekly meetings where we share testimonies and words of encouragement. I used the opportunity to start a new Bible study ministry in the school under the FCA name! We had some roadblocks with the administration, but God is good! Now, we have many new students enthusiastic for this new year of ministry.

- Cannon L., FCA Student Huddle Leader

Discipline of Prayer

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:08:24 GMT

Mark 1:35

Discipline is the training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior. So when we speak of the discipline of prayer, we are speaking of a pattern of behavior that leads to communicating and listening to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. A pattern is a consistent or standard way of doing something (1 Thess 5:17, Romans 12:12, Col 4:2, Luke 18:1, Eph 6:18).This then leads us to a question: do I have a disciplined prayer life? This is VITAL, because it TRULY leads and guides the course of your life.

Mark’s gospel is all about Christ in action. In Mark’s gospel we see him doing many deeds and the word immediately or suddenly is often used (around 40 times). Even in this first chapter of Mark we see Jesus casting out an unclean spirit from a man in the synagogue. If I had time, study and read for yourself, I would connect the fact that this occurred after verses 21 & 22 which tell us He was teaching and He taught as one having authority. Next Jesus heals Simon’s wife’s mother who had a fever. Then they brought many who were sick and demon-possessed and he healed them.

I gave this brief overview to say: when you have disciplined time with God, He will use you in mighty ways. We are all pouring out something into people's lives, the question is what is it (OH JESUS). And part of our disciplined time in prayer, MUST include the reading of the word of God. Acts 6:4 “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”” Psalm 119: 97 “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. 98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. 104 Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.”

Why was Jesus prepared in and out of season? Because He prayed. And He helps us to know how to get disciplined. We must start early in the morning and we must find a place of solitude. This does not mean we should not come together corporately to pray, because there is MUCH power in corporate prayer. But before we come together corporately, we must have the discipline of praying individually (Daniel 6:10). Question: do you wake up and say, “I have no time to get dressed” or “I have no time to brush my teeth?” I would go to say the answers are a resounding NO! Why? Because you make time to do these things whether intentionally or even if you are late, you still do these things. As children of God who say we love God, who say He is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and who say we have a relationship with Him, then we MUST make time to start our day with prayer.

The word of God is clear on the importance of prayer and the gospels show us how prayer was the heartbeat of Jesus’ ministry. I know, I hear you saying, “Anytime, but early in the morning (Psalm 143:8, Psalm 5:3, Psalm 59:16).” But understand that, yes, you can pray whenever, but know that the enemy already has the demonic waiting on you first thing in the morning. This is why we must start our day in prayer and the word, so we are prepared and girded up with the armor of God. JUST START SOMEWHERE. If you only start with 15 minutes and grow from there this is fine. TODAY, evaluate your pattern. TODAY, intentionally set your alarm earlier and get up. TODAY, see where you can remove or change something to build the most important relationship you have, which is with God. Psalm 119:147 “I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help (this is prayer); I hope in Your word (when you hope, you wait on His Spirit to speak, meaning I must get to a place where prayer is not rushed).”

Wisdom for God-sized Prayers:

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:05:19 GMT

James 1:5-8

If Jesus asked you, “What do you want me to do for you”, as He did the blind man, would you be able to answer this question, even though it seems obvious. Would you answer the question even if what you needed seemed impossible? Would you answer the question trusting and believing in Him and not your own tactics or plans? Do you even know there are things and dreams God is waiting on you to ask Him, that He is ready to do if you believe?

What I love about God, is that he is liberal to ALL who seek Him. That excites me today, because no one taught God wisdom. That is why I love how God tells Moses, I am that I am. Proverbs tells us that the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. If we ask and seek God, He will reveal to us what we need. As He reveals to us what we need, this then directs and orders our prayers. When I know God’s will for my life, I now know what scriptures to attach, which is also His will. That is why in the first epistle of John chapter five he says, if we ask anything according to HIs will, he hears us. And if we know He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him.

Here is what we need to meditate on this week: How much time do I spend with God listening for his purpose for my life (whether daily or long-term)? As Psalms says and as Jesus did, we must wake up early in the morning to seek God. We daily must be in God’s face for each day. We must ask Him in faith to give us wisdom for the day. Then we will know what to pray for and how to pray. What are you asking God to move, that He wants you to ask Him to give you strength? What problem are you focusing on, and God is saying just praise and worship Me and watch me make away as I did for Paul and Silas in jail.

For long-term purposes, God wants to bless you so that you can be a blessing to His kingdom. A miracle is something ONLY God can do. A lot of times, we ask God things we can figure out with our own resources, and then call it a miracle. God is sovereign and there is nothing too hard for Him. HEAR ME, there is nothing too hard for Him. With God all things are possible. In John 14 Jesus said we will make our home with him. You have been given authority and the greatest power in the world lives in you in the person of the Holy Spirit. So, when you ask, BELIEVE. Do not doubt, that is just a trick of the enemy. God wants you to trust Him for that promotion, to trust Him to use you to heal someone, to trust Him to speak those things that are not as though they were, to trust Him to forgive and love unconditionally, and to trust Him for anything and everything else. There is a book in you, a business in you, a non-for-profit in you, a program in you, but you must trust Him and offer up a God-sized prayer. Unwavering faith is believing God for what He has shown you and asking Him for it, when you cannot see how it will come to pass.

As I started, Jesus is asking, “What do you want me to do for you?” Today, get in your secret place, sit and meditate, and allow God to speak to you the purposes He has for you. Once He does, get in God’s word and seal it with the word that is living, active, and powerful. The omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God is waiting on you to ask for something that ONLY HE CAN DELIVER! FAITH = BELIEF + CONFIDENCE + ACTION! Today, believe in God, have confidence in what God has said, because He cannot lie and HIs word is true, and finally, act. When you do all three, your faith can now move heaven to earth!