Category Archives: Prayer

Seek First The Kingdom

Posted on October 13, 2010 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

2 Chronicles 7:14-15, 19-20

14If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land

15Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer offered in this place.

19But if you [people] turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them,

20Then will I pluck [Israel] up by the roots out of My land which I have given [them]; and this house which I have hallowed for My Name will I cast out of My sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

This is a pivotal scripture for tonight I have been in what feels as a new season in my life. I feel as if I am in transition maybe still from March and maybe it is a new season that I am coming from. There are things that I am learning about myself that I don’t really like. One of them is that I am back slidden and another is that I am very hard on myself and don’t feel worthy of the position and blessings that I am getting.

My head these days has been full of voices telling me that I am no good, I am not worthy, I should just give up and let things fall where they may. I hear words of wisdom from Pastor Derek like what are you willing to give up to have more of God? What are you willing to give up to receive for from him? Then I hear voices of my mentor saying to me.. the things you have told me are the same things that we have been dealing with.. You know what to do DO IT!

I just today asked for wisdom and council from two very important people in my life and they told me the same thing that even my mentor has said which is Seek God and ask the Lord what you are suppose to do about the situations in your life. Thing brings to mind

Matthew 6:33 (Amplified Bible)
33But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

Matthew 6:33 (New American Standard Bible)
33“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

I know that I have been lacking in this area and I know that I have not been doing the things I should be doing in my life right now. The simple stuff and the stuff that is so easy. I have been so focused on what has had to be done in the natural that I have lost focus on what is most important.

Pastor Derek did an illustration once in a sermon and it showed us how if God is #1 in all things he can bless all that we do and keep them all safe but if we start to put something above God like my relationship then God can only bless the things that I am submitting to him. I should be able to do this as I have been saved since I was 6 and re-dedicated when I was 18 so this should be a no brainier. But it is not I don’t know why but it is not.

I have to remember to get into the face of God The Book of Proverbs reminds us that it is wise to seek council of the people that we trust or God has placed over us. But we must be in the face of God on a daily basis and not be so worried about what others think and what others say. When we allow God to bless all that we have and make him #1 then he can begin to pour out blessings on us as he sees fit.

This brings to mind a scripture from Mark 11 and it says

Mark 11:24 (Amplified Bible)
24For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].

I have learned in my life time that we must always believe that what we ask for will be given unto us but that we have already received it. There are many things going through my head right now that I must turn over to God on a daily basis and we must be ready to do what is asked of us of the Lord no matter what the Cost. But this is hard, I know for I love my technology and I love my media library and I wish to have those things for a long time. But I tell myself I will do what ever God asks of me.. but what would happen if he asked me to give all of this up and what if he said no more I am going to take it away what would I do then.

Am I willing to give up all that I love to serve in the kingdom of heaven? Am I willing to follow God at all costs? At this point in my journey I don’t know. I will have to seek the face of God daily for each day new manna will be given to us. I know that we must take one day a week and rest because God took the 7th day and rested but  We must always be in the face of God and we must always be seeking his will for our lives.

Till Next Entry

Filed Under: Prayer

My Prayer Life

Posted on March 15, 2010 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

It is 5:27 am and I am wide awake after having a semi-good night sleep and you might be asking yourself what would anyone care about that? Well you may not but it is strange to me. I just read an old entry called “Handling Your Own Affairs” and It reminded me that I had wanted to get up every morning between 5:00 – 5:30 and spend two hours with the Lord starting and prayer and seeing where he wants me to go.

Well it is strange that I was never able to keep that up like I used to. Life for me is difficult. I get up in the morning weather at 5:00 am or 10:00 am and find myself having to take some time to just sit in bed and let my body wake up. If you have been following my blog/journal/diary then you will know that I suffer from Fibromyalgia and it takes me a long time in the morning to get going. I take a boat load of pills for that and it is related conditions and then I get going for the day.

Well this old post reminded me that back in January of 2009 Pastor Derek was preaching a series on the Power of Continual Prayer and that was around the time I made a commitment to myself to get up early before anyone in my house and spend 2 hours a day in prayer.. Well March came by I got sick and BAM! all was done.. by June nothing and by August my prayer life was next to nothing.. It was not until my mentor sparked something in me that I decided to get back in to a prayer life.

Well here we are back in March 1 year later and back in the same position trying yet again to get this right. Plus this month is a month of changes in my life. Yet I look back and it was this time last year that I was still not into a full prayer life. I look at people like Andrea Smith, Pastor Derek, My Mentor and i think to myself “they have it all together” they some how know how to work prayer into their daily schedules and still do all the things they need to get done.

So me being a single man with lots of health issues should be able to do the same.. nadda I suck at this part of my life. Yes I can do the afternoon a week at the church and get some time in with the Lord but that is not enough 1 day a week does not cut it. So I began to think to myself what is it that is keeping me from the lord?

What is it that I am doing wrong. What is it that guys like Ron, Matt, Andrea and Derek have that I don’t. Why is it a man who is called to ministry of some sort still cannot fit in even 15 min to pray. What a looser am I. If I can make time almost every day to write in my blog. then why can I not make time to pray. My priorities are out of whack.

My life this month seems out of balance. My life seems to have the scales tipping towards the world more then the things of God. Is that bad? Yes! Should I re-evaluate DUH! I really gotta sit down and look at my life and Go okay now what? What needs to change.. is it the time I go to bed.. is it the time I spend on the computer, tv, internet etc.. well DUH again this is only part of it.

If I don’t get the most important part of my life in order then nothing will ever fall into place.. I look like I have it all together but really inside my spiritual life is the biggest mess of all right now. Strongholds getting the better of me. Joke I make with friends, and even my thought life right now SUCK!

I find that when I spend time with the Lord my life always falls into place. My jokes are better, and things in ministry seem to get done. That two hours or the time I spend seems to get redeemed back. There is a no secret to going after the things of God put that first and the things of life will fall into place and when you look like you have it all together you do!

I have learned from experience and from my mentor seek the kingdom first and all the things of life will fall right into place.

Try it. I will be this week for sure. Give 15 min and find some one to keep you accountable. My Mentor has been working with someone else like this and his prayer life is off the wall. So why after 3 years with my mentor do I struggle with this. I should be way farther then ever before and yet I am not.

Am I an idiot, am I lazy none of the above. Should I make excuses? No. So what is wrong with me? At the church when I am all alone and there is no technology except my laptop and some music I am fine. At home with two computers, pvr, tv, stereo etc… I cannot turn off ministry I cannot stop working on the things that Lorna, Matt, Sunday needs to get done. Yet I know the key to getting all that done and don’t do it.

Well it is Monday the start of a new week. So lets get my butt in gear and get on this quit talking about it. Move it. Put that music on and get in to the prayer life I so want.

If there is anything the Lord is teaching me it is “I have told you enough now.. JUST DO IT!” I know things from the Lord that I really should not know anything about and yet he still shows me after such a crappy prayer life. Now is the time do it or shut up

Till Next Entry

Filed Under: Prayer, Questions

Random Thoughs 9 of Many: Questions

Posted on July 7, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

It has been quite a long time since I wrote in my blog and if you know me I only write when I am inspired and for 90% of my writing only write when I am Holy Spirit lead. Well it has not been a great road for me spiritually since I got the flu in March. My prayer life has taken a nose dive and my strong holds are getting the better of me. I am still doing all of my ministry work and still spending time with my family. But… How can one man have it all (good friends, family, doing what he loves) and yet still feel so far away from everything?

This is a question I have been asking myself for a long time now. I feel very blessed to have all that I have but yet feel so far away from everything. I am embarking on a move to Whitby while the rest of my family is just doors away from each other in Oshawa.. I feel so blessed to have this bachelor apt. But.. I am sad that I am going to be so far away from the family. I could not believe that with all the trouble I had going to see the apartment that the Lord still kept it open for me. It amazed me that the Lord can still provide for his people no matter how far from him we are.

But here is what has been really on my mind..

I have been in ministry for 3 years come September and the strides I have made, makes me realize how far I have come and what I have come out of. But I ask my self why me? Why would the Lord want to help a guy like me? Why did he place me in this position? Sure there are things about my ministry work that could use some improvement and there are some things that I have to learn to let go of. But WOW if you saw me back in 2006 and then see me now even I amaze myself.

But I still wonder sometimes is this for me.. should I really be here and other times I know this is the place that God has always had in store for me. I have found My Seed of Greatness and I know My Purpose in His Kingdom. There is no other place I would rather be then in ministry inside or outside the church.. Some may say this is crazy, Other may not understand and yet I just love all the hours that I put in to my work.. Weather on Sunday in the Sound Booth or Tuesday as Pastor Matt‘s Assistant or Thursday for Durham House of Prayer I love what I do.

But then their is the times when I look at myself in the mirror and wonder what can I improve about myself.. I remember a line in the Optimist Clubs Creed that says “To give so much time to the improvement of yourself, that you have no time to criticize others.” and lately it should read “To give so much time to criticizing others (even in private) that I have no time to improve myself.” why because I have been doing a lot of looking around at what I do and where I do it and find reasons to find fault and want to take over and micro manage it. I even stated to a friend that a Pastor is doing that and then looked around and found myself to be doing the same thing.  So I decided to start to letting go of the micro managing and let other comes into their own Glory.. I also vowed to myself not to criticize other as much and help them more.

I came to a revelation of this after listing to my audio bibles (NKJV, NASB, NCV & NLT) and I got to Matthew 7 about judging others and it hit me then while listing to Verses 3-5.. It Hit Me This Way (in the NCV Version)

3 ”Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood in my own eye? 4 How can you say to my friend, ‘Let me take that little piece of dust out of your eye’?? Dummy Look at yourself! I still have that big piece of wood in my own eye. 5 Me A hypocrite! First, take the wood out of my own eye. Then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your friend’s eye.

Download:

I came to a even bigger revelation of what this chapter was saying when I had a chat from a friend of mine from DHOP and she opened my eyes to things that I should be busy changing about myself and my ministry work before I start to quote unquote ragging on others.

The problem is that I want things done a certian way and I get this attitude that only I can do it right so I tend to take over it myself. At times this can be a good thing and other times this is holding the team that I oversee from coming into their God given glory. I remember a time when my mentor put me on a two week break and how much it killed me to watch others take over things that I was told I could help with or that I knew others were not doing right. I think this taught me a valuable lesson but when I sit back and look at the last 4 months I realize that I am slipping back in to my complacent, only I can do it right ways.

I am tired of just doing ministry. sick and tired of letting my strong holds get the better of me. I don’t want to just do ministry anymore I want to make sure that my heavenly father goes before me and sets the way. I don’t want my heavenly father on the day of Judgment to say “Depart from me I never knew you” that line scares me. I would rather know what the Lord wants for me more then doing any ministry work. I don’t want to end up being the false prophet that the Lord talks about in Matthew 7: 15-23

I am coming to a realization that All Works is no substitue for spending time with the Lord no matter what time of the day you do it. Make time for the Lord. We always say that it is not the amount of time you spend but that you spend it.. but have we ever thought about pushing ourselves to go beyond our usual time with the Lord? Mabey that extra min or more you spend is that time when God will say something that may give you the answer to what you have been praying for.So if I can write this how come I cannot do this.. why is everthing so hard for me these days. Why am I feeling this way?

There are things that the Lord told me while in the prayer room at the church and I recieved them but did not know how much what was told to me would become so hard. But I digress I am rambling so I will stop now and wish everyone a very pleasent good night sleep and all the best for I am at Church all day long.

Be Blessed!

Filed Under: Church, Prayer

My Roots

Posted on April 16, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

WoW!,

I cannot believe it! How long it has been since I wrote anything.. But have you ever had a time where you cannot write anything at all? I have.. you see most of my writings come from what the Holy Spirit puts on my heart and if I am not connected to him in prayer then I ususally have nothing to write.

Lately I have been going though a change in my life both in the flesh meaning I am looking for an apt. and in the spirit. You may ask what is going on in the spirit? Well quite a lot but mostly in the area of media clean out.. the lord has been speaking to me on what kinds of shows I watch and what they portray or glorify. One show in particular is a show called Ugly Betty.

When this show started it was about a girl trying to make it in a world that she (by world standards) di not belong even her boss did not want her around because she did not fit the “type” of person suited for the job. Well low and behold he was working in the fashion magazine industry and she clearly was not “pretty”, “skinny” or wore the prada or gucci clothing. She was just an ordinary girl trying to full fill a dream or even her destiny as the show went on it became more about her bosses infedelities, money managment and being on the family dime. As seson two progressed into season 3 it became about momma dramma, family issues, divorce, re-marriage etc.. you can see where the show was headded.

I began to look at the show more and more and say to myself is this really what the Lord would want our kids to see? I thought to myself NO! then I thought well this is just talking about what is going on in soceity so I kept watching and the more I did the more the Lord spoke to me about it and then I realized one day what was really being glorified. It was not the money issues or family problems that could be fixed, it was the sex the lies and how much back stabbing was going on to get what the people in the show wanted.

I began to see that the more this show went on the more it went from making it in a world that did not belong to a world of lies and sex.. Is this really what christians should be watching? Is this what the Lord would want to have us take in.. We have to take a look at what we are watching on TV

Okay this is really sounding like a post I wrote before but the Lord was still working on this with me. At first I did not want to listen I justified it and went about recording and saving each show to my PVR but as time went on and I began to get into daily prayers I began to see alot of things that needed to be cleaned out. You see if we don’t get to the root of the issue it will always be there.

Its like a tree if you know the tree is dead but only take down the bad fruit each year you will still get rotten fruit. But if chop down that tree remove the root and plant a new one you get new Good fruit. I am learning more and more that we need to remove the root and the bad fruit will die along with it. I want only good fruit in my life. This could mean finding out why we are always so negative and it still works out or why we make friends with technology before making friends with humans/people or what ever it is your root is.

Find your root and remove it.. Chop it down! Find some people you can be accoutable to and make sure that they hold you to it.  I am so thankful for the people the Lord has sent me and I know I can get rid of my roots as well.

Filed Under: Prayer

Random Thoughts 5 of Many

Posted on February 22, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

It has been sometime since I have posted in my journal/blog/diary whatever you would like to call it.. non the less it has been sometime because I have taken some time to hear from the Holy Spirit and hear what he would have to say for my life.

My Good friend Lorna from Durham House of Prayer gave me an incredible teaching on how to meditate in God’s word and how to hear from God about his scriptures and get revolation of his word. I was so engulfed in it the other day I could not stop. You knew that this was a teaching from the Holy Spirit. I could sense him in the room like I had never sensed before. I was just amazed at what the teaching had to offer.

This is a season for me of Testing and Transformation I have never been more excited in a season then I have since the Lord brought me back to the church. I have never seen more change in me then in these last few months. Even in my family, friends and relationships things are changing all around. Getting up between 4:00 – 5:00 6 days a week to get into God’s word, pray and maybe even listen to a sermon or two has been so much fun and I look forward to it each and every day.

People have said to me that I am starting to look good, there is light in my eyes and many other things. I accept that with all Grace and Humility because I know I have the Lord inside of me and he is the one who can do all things. I am just the vessel in which the Lord is using me. Latley I have been praying for things that I have needed and not much prayer for others. I know this may sound selfish and mabey even one sided but as for this season I need to get some things in order for me to move into the next.

One important thing is to get out of my current place where I am living and into what I would call a real apartment. The second thing I have been praying for is kinda special to me. I won’t go into great detail but there is a women I really like and I have been praying for Guidence and Direction on how to go about pursuing her. There is something about her that I really like about her and really want to do this acording to God’s will. My Pastor preached a really good sermon on this topic that we posted on the embassy | this generation site that you can listen to below this post. This had to be the best sermon in the whole dating series that he taught on. (see below this entry)

But enough about that.. This week for me has been a hard one. I missed my prayers on Thursday both my morning ones and the ones before DHOP and wow the whole day felt off and the whole day felt different.. even doing sound felt off. What was so funny is that the whole DHOP team felt it was the best night of sound that I had ever done. I don’t know what it was but the Lord was working with me as I turned each knob, raised and lowered each slider but what ever We (the Lord and I) did it worked out perfectly.

I Love what I do and I love working with the team both embassy | this generation and Durham House of Prayer and there is nothing in the world that could top that.. well other then my time with the Lord. I look forward to each and every time that I can serve.

We just reciently had our All Night Prayer (ANP) and well let me say it was one of war both in the corporate and in the personal. That whole day nothing was going right for me. That whole day nothing felt good. I knew there was a change in the schedule, I knew that there was something going on that needed to change but I just was not feeling good about anything.

I got to the church to setup and that was fine.. until the sound person came for our first Worship Team and started to play with the sound board and learn how it works. I was not impressed I need my music on I needed to feel the bass in the room and I needed to prepare my heart for ANP and well just him screwing with the board was not working. I just needed my music and I wanted it my way. Even the recordings did not go as I needed them. Finally i picked up on an attack of the enemy and as Durham House of Prayer began to sin You won’t relent I got on my knees and and I asked the lord just to help me and give me what I needed to get the recording right.

Well I went back up to the sound board and just as I did Pastor Matt turned up the bass guitar and we got some in the recordings. I never felt more stupid in all my life. Why did I not pickup on that right away? Why did I get so upset and feel like I did not belong? Why did not I spend extra time in prayer for ANP that week? I don’t know even my mentor picked up on something was not right and he prayed through it.

I Learned something that day.. This is a season that is also a season of learning and teaching myself stuff. God has given me people around me to help guide me and keep me on the right path. I know you know who you are and I thank you for that.  but alast I am falling a sleep at the computer so enjoy the sermon and I’ll be back with another entry soon

Filed Under: Church, Prayer

My Waters

Posted on February 3, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

I cannot believe how long it has been since I wrote an entry in my blog/journal/diary or what ever you want to call it and I cannot believe the things that have happened since that time. I was able to testify of what the Lord has been doing in my life with my getting up early and doing my prayers and reading my bible and still going to Durham House of Prayer, still doing my usual Sunday stuff and who can forget my Tuesday stuff at embassy | this generation and loving every minute of it.

But… there is something that has been troubling me. Its not a big deal, or is it? I have been working on reading my bible and was working on the New Testament in order reading along with my audio bible. But the Lord took me past the book of John and into the writings of Paul and I am marveled at how each time Paul went back to a place he was more wiser and the words he received from God were more intense and with more authority then the last.  I just recently finished reading Acts and Romans.

His writings in 1st Corinthians (as of Feb 09) amazed me the most. I find that in all of the New Testament that I have read (up to now) that his most powerful words were to the city of Corinth. What amazed me is that the City of Corinth was in such disarray and in such sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-13) that even the Christians of the day could not fight it. As I was reading this is brought to me something that I had been dealing with. Let me tell you some of the back story and all of this will make since.

At the church we had a guest speaker Larry Randolph and he spoke a message called “Your Waters” (Sunday November 16, 2008 PM Service) and he spoke that your waters can be tainted or made pure just by the words spoken over your life, things you have done and even the way you feel about yourself. Well I never took this to heart but weeks later it started to hit me what he meant. The Lord started to send me people to help me though some of the deep roots that were still muddling my waters. I had never been more scared to start dealing with this in my whole life.

As the Lord started to revel to me what those waters and roots were that had to be dealt with the more I started to understand why I do some of the things that I do. I began to understand why relationships did not work out, why some of the things in ministry I want to do never work out. I began to see that some things in my root system went back all the way to elementary school. Now if any of you know me you know that I like things in a certain order.. with this I had expected God to reveal to me everything in order by date. This did not happen and so I was a little shocked but I wrote things down as he gave them to me.

I did not make since to me why they were in the order they were until in a meeting with the friends who were going to help me out with these waters that I understood why the Lord wanted me to deal with them in that order. Well there was one that I had marked down as #7 and as I was reading 1 Corinthians 5 the Lord started to move that one up to #1 of all the things I had to deal with.  If you have the New American Standard Version of the bible then the sub-title on the top will read Immorality Rebuked.

You see I gave my heart to the Lord when I was 6 years old at the most widely known play Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames and since then I struggled with living in the kingdom life and what the world had to offer. I was never that much of a rebellious kid always honored my parents, love my sister and tried to do my best. But there was always something that troubled me. I since elementary school struggled with self esteem issues, bulling, who I was and the fact that I always felt like an outsider. My mom knew that I was to work in ministry and I rebelled from that.

I struggled the most  with sins of the (personal) flesh.. the world was telling me yes it is okay and my heart was telling me that this was wrong. I had no clue that sins of the (personal) flesh was a sin until I started coming to embassy | this generation and really started to get into Pastor Derek’s sermons and reading the word. Since I was 12 years of age I struggled with this and still do. I know now that I will get through this but this is a long hard road for me. This is one of the biggest roots I have to deal with. This is the major mud in my water. This is the main reason why (I believe) my relationships all fail.

I could not believe that the Lord on a Sunday morning would want me to deal with that right before Church and ministry work. Why then Lord? I asked, Why Now? as I got down on my hands and knees to pray. Why Lord? Why? I still don’t understand why and I may never now why but I will just obay and work through it.

Your waters can get muddied up by so many things.. I can be a word spoken over you, a self thought, or even something in your past that you have not dealt with. We all have to take a look once and a while and ask God to reveil things that we have to work though. Pastor Dennis Wiedrick did a teaching in his intercession called on Transitional Prayer. In it he talked about moving from one Season to Another and that if we do not get to the root of the issue we will take that un-removed root into the next and taint that season of our life.

My goal is that the next season will start off as a clean one with little to no roots to be pulled. Little to no issues from my past. I want 2009 to be a new year. I want the tree to be trimmed down all the left over roots removed and start the next season fresh. My goal is to move into a new apartment with a room devoted to sleep and prayer and would like to start dating.

There is a young lady I fancy and that I work with at the church but I don’t know how she feels about me. I also don’t want to rush this season of my life right now. I am hoping that God will help me work though my roots and release me to ask her out.

In Song of Solomon 2:8-9 there is a line that say “He is looking through the windows, He is peering though the lattice” and as I worship God and I watch her (from time to time) from my lattice (the sound booth) I am just marveled at what a women of God she is, I am marveled at how she prays, how kind she is, how beautiful on the inside she is. The outside appearance does not matter its her heart for God that draws me to her, its her love for prayer and her devotion to the ministry she is involved in. If I could only have half her devotion I could strive to be like her.

But I have to be the man of God that I am called to be. I have to do what God wants me to do for my life. As a single man I have to work though knowing God now. Being single is a gift that gives us time to be in the presence of God to know what he wants for our lives, were he wants us in His Kingdom and for us to hear from our Father in Heaven. Although in the flesh I feel alone and most days lonely I am excited to spend time with my heaenly father and just to get to know him. There will come a time when I shall leave home and become one with the women God will have as my wife (Ephesians 5:31). But until that day I am happy to just be one with God.

But I am off the beating path again and mostly because I love to write what the Lord gives me but it is 5:16 am and I want to go be one with God now.. so have a great day

Be Blessed!

Enjoy The Sermon from Larry Randolph called Your Waters Here

Filed Under: Church, Prayer

Consistant Devotional Life

Posted on January 29, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

It is 12:50 am and I am finding it hard to sleep tonight, part of that is I just wanted to spend some time with my sister and we played the ever classic Super Nintedo Entertainment System but… that did not help me get to sleep at all. Today has been an interesting day for me. I woke up at 6:00 am which is not my usual 4:00 am prayer time and sat down and got ready to do my prayers. I prayed that the Lord would help me to understand my bible and help to open it up in a better way then ever before. As I sat down, turned on my audio bible and started to follow along with my New American Standard Bible, I feel a sleep again and woke up at 10:00. I was not impressed.

I could attribute that to a long day serving my young adult’s group embassy | this generation and that I need to make Wednesdays my day of double manna and get the sleep I need to recuperate. If you don’t understand this then you should listen to a sermon series my pastor just finished on the Power of a Consistent Devotional Life (see audio below this message) in it he makes reference to the scripture from Exodus 16:4-5 where God made manna (bread) rain down from heaven and the the people of Israel were to take only what they needed for that day and on the 6th day God would give them enough to sustain them for the 6th and 7th day. Pastor Derek preached that what ever day we choose as our 6th day God will sustain us for the 7th.

Manna is in reference to God’s Word. We must be in constant prayer and the reading of God’s Word to sustain us in our life. I find that days when I miss a great time of Worship, Praise, Getting in to the Word and Prayer my day is shot. I cannot fuction, sermons don’t get edited, and nothing I want to get to really gets done. Just as one example I tried all day to get into editing two sessions of House of Prayer and Yesterdays Sermon and that did not happen, I got though one house of prayer sermon, had dinner and crashed in front of the TV. I felt lost today.

But my prayers these days have been feeling waited down even the most simpliest of prayers have felt like there is a weight to them. I cannot put my finger on it but every time I get into prayer they seem so heavy. I don’t know if it is me or if others are feeling it, but I know this much there is somthing going on. I would love to know what the Lord is doing in my life right now. I know that I was told this is a time of Testing and a time to just work on getting to the deep roots of some things that have not been delt with.

I am officially on my 4th week of getting up early and spending time with God and just loving it. I would do anything to spend time in his word. I just wonder why the last two Wednesdays I am so tired and beat. I love to pray and I love to interceed for people more then myself. I feel really blessed with all that I have from my ODSP to Family to Volunteering in the Church I love what I do and Have. I just feel selfish asking God for things for me when I am so blessed. I would rather take care of the needs of my family, friends and ministry then for myself maybe that is wrong but that is how I feel. I would rather pray for anything else but me.

I am finding it so much easier to turn off the TV these days and spend time with God, I find it so much more easy to connect and get into the presence of God. I have days were I cannot connect with him and it bugs me alot when I cannot. I don’t have to feel him to know he is there but there are days when I just need a bit of his presence to let me know I am on the right track. I love getting a word from God to deliver to others and I love to hear what God is saying to people through me.

I am finding that Ministry and Computer is only one portion of who I am. I am finding that I am a child of the most high and that works will not get me saved. I need to focus on the “Giver and not the Gifts” and trust that all the things that we have to get done in a day will come to pass. I know that if I focus on him everything else is gravy!

Thats it for me. I hope that you get some sleep and see you all tomarrow
Be Blessed!

Filed Under: Church, Prayer

Random Thoughts 4 of Many

Posted on January 24, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

As I sit here to tired to sleep and just amazed at what has transpired this week I am very happy to say that this week is almost to a close. Monday is coming and it is the start of another fine week. This week as I posted before has been a hard week of getting in to God’s presence and getting into his word. But today as I was praying for some friends I just felt the weight of his presence all over me. That is something that I have not felt in a while. I was amazed at the weight that this prayer had carried. You see my hope is that they get saved and that they come to know who the lord is and how he loves them. But I was more amazed at where the Lord took me this morning. I cannot begin to explain it but I can say this much it was totally awesome!

I just got off the phone after a long conversation with one of my close friends and fellow Creative Arts team member. If there is anything that amazed me it was how the converstation went from church talk to just how you are doing and how well we have gotten to know each other. I truly value this brother in Christ. I trully value this person who has become a friend more then anything in the world. I really value him for who he is and not what he can offer our ministry. But I laugh as I type these words and Laugh because my mentor said these same words to me back in the summer of last year. God has taken me through a lot in the last little while and there is nothing more I want then to be the man that God has called me to be.

I want to presue God more and more. I want to know God is such a deep level that nothing can stop me. I want people to know that they have seen God when they see me.  I want to know God so deep that I will never be the same. As God moves us from Season to Season we have to be ready we have to have all the baggage from the last season cleaned up before we enter the next. I believe that as this season is a season of testing for me that I will be able to beat this and get all of my baggage cleaned up. I am thankful for the people that God has placed in my life and I am thankful for the many things he will do with me.

Most of all and I said it before I just want to know God and know who he is. No TV, Internet, Computer(s), will ever replace knowing God.. Even as I look for a new aprtment and as I look to get out of my current location I am asking God for what I need but I am making the sacrifice of NO TV! I want to spend all of my time and energy on knowing him and my ministry. TV can be the worst thing right now in my life. I want to go to bed with God speaking to me and wake up with a message from God.

Can I go without TV? Well those of you who know me will know that this is a big sacrifice I am making and this is one that I am willing to do. I will beat this I will know God is a deeper level. But don’t worry I will still have my internet and I will still have my e-mail and phone so you will still be able to contact me.

I am wipped out and ready for bed. So Be Blessed and See you all in Church Tomarrow!

Filed Under: Prayer

Random Thoughts 3 of Many

Posted on January 23, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

As I sit here with my thoughts.. I begin to wonder what is going on with me this week? If you have read my other entry I posted this week then you would know that I am strugglin’ with a few things. Getting up early and spending time with God has not worked well for me this week and it is not getting easier. I missed one day already this week and today I missed my morning alarm. Now I could attribute that to a long night at Durham House of Prayer or I could just say it was me hitting the snooze.. either way I did not do my morning prayers.

Lets just say this week has been a hard week of pressing in and talking to God. I am lost in a world of thoughts, things to do, projects and sermon editing. But as if that was not enough. I still feel bad about what happend on Thursday morning. I know that I am forgiven but still cannot get it out of my mind. Now you might be asking yourself “he is a leader inthe This Generation group, He knows is bible, He loves the Lord?” and you are right but we all need to have fresh manna or fresh oil in our lamps. Without it my ministry work is meaningless and I don’t want to be a guy that does works, I want to be the guy that is fulling filled with a good portion of spirit and works.

Now I realize that this may sound funny to you but we need to have a balance of what we do. Works cannot get us anymore into heaven then being saved. Being all spirit filled can be a good thing but to much of the spirit (in my opinion) can be a bad thing. We need the right balance of prayer, reading our bible, studing the sermons and works.

I volunteer very heavely at This Generation Embassy Worship and Durham House of Prayer and I know my calling is inside the church but… is that really enough.. no.. ministry cannot just be works. I know I stated that already but it is so important to maintain that balance. I am just having a hard time pressing in. Weather in my personal time, prayer before DHOP or Prayer before This Generation I am just not going to the level I could be.

I want to hit that level and I am just not getting there.. Is The Lord Grived With Me? Is It I Cannot turn my mind off of the other things I have to get done? What is it? I don’t have a clue anymore.. I just know for me it is hard to turn off all that has to get done. I just wish I could.

At Durham House of Prayer we prayed for the Does God Exist Debate? at Campus Church and  I just got a feeling that as a group of us who could not press in was from things, (spirits if you will) around us trying to keep us from praying into this trying to distract us. All week from Wednesday onword this has been the feeling I have been getting. Even today I just cannot find the time, or getting up early to pray. I have never felt this way before.

I have felt complacent, I have felt like not doing it, I have put it off for a bit to clear my head and get things done but never like this.  I don’t know what is going.. but I sure would like to find out. Anyway.. I cannot even wrapp my head around this anymore so I will stop here

Be Blessed!

Filed Under: Church, Prayer

God is Where You Are

Posted on January 17, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

It is 4:02 in the morning and I just woke up after spending the night at a friends house still wanting to keep up my prayer schedule and get in to the daily manna and I got to thinking to myself just because you are not in your usual place at home warm at home in your room does not mean that God is not here? I thought about it as I checked my e-mail and my Facebook and came to the conclusion that God is Where You Are?

God will meat us in any place that we are.. weather at home, at church or at a friends place.. even in the car on the way to our destination. I began to ponder to myself at how big God can be and how he can hear so many prayers at one time. My God is so Big, So Strong and So Mighty There’s Nothing My God Cannot Do comes to mind also.. its from an old Sunday School song I used to sing and now play for my neices.

Sometimes as we get older we tend to keep God is a box and want that each time we get into our prayer closet and hope  that things are the same way. But if God who created the whole universe always did things the same way we would never have the progress we have on the earth today. Each one of the mericals (sp I know) that Jesus preformed was different in there own unique way. Each person Jesus touched was touched for a different reason that was important to them. So the next time you put God in a box remember that you could be missing out on how big God can be for you and that is he wants to meat you right where you are? Ask yourself this question that my Pastor asked us last Sunday night “Are You To Religous For God?”

He will meat you at the level of knowledge that you are in him and he will take you places only as high as you want to go. Now my friends that I sayed the night at are unsaved but that still does not matter in my opinion God can still use us as a vessel to capture and win the lost.

Remember the story about the Sheppared who was counting the sheep and he noticed that one was lost? ( Luke 15:4-7)  Well he did not just say I have the 99 and went home to bed. No! He went out looking for the 1 lost sheep. We as Christians are the Sheppared and we need to in anyway we can find the lost sheep and bring them home to the kingdom of Heaven.

Now you ask yourself how do you do that? Well number one stay focused on getting the daily manna, two make sure that you pray for the people that you want to see saved (friend, family, teacher etc..). 3 listen to your father in heaven and ask him for guidence and direction as to what you are to do. and remember what Matthew 10:19-20 says

“But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.  ”For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

So I believe that when your unsaved ___________ hour has come for you to speak the Holy Spirit will give you the right words to speak. But I am off on a sub tangent again just remember this much no matter where you are, no matter where you pray God is Where You Are

If you would like more answers about being to religious I recommend you listing to a sermon by Pastor Derek Schneider entitled “Are You To Religious for God?” over at www.theembassyofgod.com

Be Blessed!

Filed Under: Life, Prayer

Worship is A Choice You Make

Posted on January 13, 2009 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Worship is a Choice You Make, this was a statement made famous in my church by our worship leader of Embassy Worship and this is a statement that rings so true to me. I never realized it till today how profound such a statement can be.

We as Christians can choose to worship the God of the Heavens and The Earth, we can choose to tell him how much we love him.. But how much do we really mean what we say? Some of us and I included sometimes just say it out of religious habit. But if you stop and think about it how much do you really love him? Our head Pastor Doug Schneider is doing a series right now on the book of “Song of Solomon” or Song of Songs here was a man who knew what the love of God really was here was a man who knew what love really was. He knew what is was to worship the God of the Universe.. when he said Lord I love you it was with all the passion that his heart could give.

When was the last time you even just sat in our quite place that you love to pray and read your bible in and said to God with even half the Passion of Solomon “Lord I Love You, Lord take over my life” I know that in this last week of getting up early and making purposeful time to meet with the Lord that my passion, the fire that I have in my life has been renewed. When I now say Lord I Love you it comes from a place in my heart I never knew existed.

I remember when I got baptized in September of 2006 and I sat in that tank as my mentor asked me some questions and introduced me there was a joy unspeakable for I had finally taken a step in my life that God calls each and everyone of us to take. My mom and dad who were both so very tired from the weeks events made a special trip to come out and see me take the first step in what has been a long road. For days, even the next week there was something about getting in the presence of God that was so fresh and renewed. But two plus years later here I am.

An from time to time the flame as grown dim and has to have fresh oil put on it and I have had to change the way I do things (my personal prayer time) to keep that flame going. But I will tell you this never grow complacent, never grow tired of being in the presence of God.. If that day happens then you need to sit down and reevaluate your life, priories and that you are on the path God wants you to be.

I just recently made a commitment to get up early and spend time with God. I made a commitment to change some of the strong holds in my life, look at the roots of my past and finally deal with things. We are all human, we are all not perfect but the Grace of God and his love can redeem us from anything.

So the next time you are alone in your quite place of rest just try this.. put on some soft music, and just let the Holy Spirit wash over you. Invite him in to your special place, tell him how much you love him, and just begin to thank him for anything you can think of and you will be amazed at the passion, and the deep down love you will find for your Heavenly Father.

Should you need some answers or want to know more I encourage you to listen to Part 1 of a message by Pastor Derek Schneider called The Power of A Consistent Devotional Life download it here.

Happy Prayers!

Filed Under: Prayer

Trusting God

Posted on August 6, 2008 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

It has been some time since I posted on my website(s) and that is because I am in transition. What I am doing is being lead by the Holy Spirit. You might be asking what do you mean?

Let me start off by saying I used to have many sites at mjsd.ca (close to 20 different sites, about 8 different versions of the root domain and about 10 sub-domains), and I for the last little while had been struggling on what to do with the domain and how I should re-design it. Then in June when the domain came up for renewal nothing was coming together, nothing what so ever was coming together, the money, the way to get the cheque over etc.. I was totally upset about it.. by the time I could get some help the domain was on hold and waiting to be released. This meant I could not renew it.

Well as it turned out one night I got ready to do my prayers and just listen to what the holy spirit wanted for my life. So then what was going to be only a few hours turned into an all niter and in the last few hours of the time with the Lord he began to speak to me about letting go of my past and pressing a head in the greater things of him and to let him guide and direct his path.

The first thing I felt led to do was to let go of mjsd.ca and so I asked him what letting go of my past looked like and I immediately heard from the Lord that mjsd.ca was the first thing that had to go.. I herd him say you are trying to put a new wine into an old wine skin. I asked him but I really want to run a website.. what should I do.. well the Lord gave me two domains that I am to order, and soon enough the sites will be ready to go and be released.

Let me just say that since that all niter and letting go off some of the things in my past my prayer life has taken off. I can not tell you the things that have been going on in my life. I have an idea where the Lord wants to take me and what my purpose is.

I have to admit in the last little while I have been struggling with weather or not what I am doing is really making a difference in the lives of the people I touch though my technical ministry, through the music and through my prayers. Yesterday at embassy | this generation as good friend of mine mentioned that I am making a difference and its the unseen things that are going on in peoples lives. Its the little things like giving out a cd of worship music, a sermon that someone needs to hear, a prayer late at night. I am amazed at how things happen and how God can touch someone.

Even in my late night prayer I make decelerations and it is amazing how a deceleration of no rain will come over our event today and having faith that is has all ready been given unto you can really make what you are declaring come to pass. It is such a simple thing and then there are prayers and decelerations that make take time to happen/come to pass.

I know I had been praying for a financial break though for 3 years. I got down on my knees and prayed and fasted for the Lord to come through. My Pastor from embassy | this generation once said that until your prayer is answered you are not done praying. I just kept coming before the Lord and asking him to grant my request. Well during our prayer and fasting called “Three Days in His Presence” it came to be that my financial break though happened. I was called in to sign the papers and today I am in little to no debt and I am in a place of peace in my financial life.

I pray that as you are reading this that you would be touched by what I am saying. Anything you bring before the Father in Heaven will be granted unto you in his timing.In Matthew 21:22 it says “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” I found out that during those 3 years I had to learn to manage the money that he had given me and in the last year he really put me to the test.

I ask that you would contact me and just let me know what it is that you need prayer for and just trust God that your prayers would be answered.I always like to get down in my prayer life and start off with some worship and just thank the Lord for all that he has given me and then when I know that it is time I being to ask God for all my requests. I find that starting off with the requests of others and then moving on to my own is the best way to go about my prayers. I most days feel that my requests are secondary to what I need. I always learned that if you take care of others God will take are of you. That is my prayer tonight is that God would take care of your needs.

Be Blessed!

Filed Under: Church, Prayer

He Who Began A Good Work

Posted on May 21, 2008 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

Its 12:29 am as I wait for my site to load so I can start to right this post and as I being to type this I have no clue were this is about to go. This week has been very interesting for me, first off as of right now I am caring for my Grandmother (Oma) as my mother is on a well deserved and needed holiday.. She did not go far but she is in her glory, a new trailer, my dad by her side and just taking some needed time for her.

I did finally recovered from 3 Days in his Presence, well who would not after sleeping almost 36 hours strait, but that is nothing compared to what happened this week.

Let Start with Sunday night. It was incredible.. well it always is I am in the sound booth doing Media Shout (Power Point on Steroids) and well the service ended early and I was not concentrating on the task at hand. I was working on getting the next recording/sermon for the website (we did not end up posting) and missed all of the song cues so I gave up and shut things down.

I decided to take the long walk down for prayer at the alter hoping that Faytene Kryskow would minister over me.. She Did!!! WOW! can you ever feel the presence of God all over her I had not felt the presence of God like that since I met Pastor Derek Schneider in May of 2006 She began to talk about healing and that she felt healing on my body. Keep in mind Faytene had no clue that I have a disability and it’s related issues. I began to say I receive, Yes Lord I receive it. I then began to shake and tremble all over.

I then began to ask God to take our ministry that I feel lead to call “Geek 4 God” (more on that l8tr) beyond the four walls of the church and to use me in a way that I cannot imagine. I then got a word “He Who Began a Good Work in You will finish it” You see lately I have wanted more then just to be a ministry leader in the church. I felt that it is not enough for me anymore (more on that in a bit)

My Week would only get better from there

Tuesday I had a chance to treat a friend for lunch and well it started off as a lunch and as we chatted over things at the church and what has been going on it became so much more then that. I had never been more blessed then ever having lunch with my good friend and spiritual father. He began to speak things to me that he had no clue why he was saying it. I just sat and took it all in. I was never more in tune with what he was say then ever before.

It is was more then a conversation it was things I had been praying about, thing that were on my heart and things that I had no clue were happing in my life. The one thing that stood out to me was “Pastoral Gifting” and some thing to the effect like “your ministry will not be mostly people who are already in the church but people who are not currently saved and that you (me) will lead to the Lord”

So I finished off the day with my jobs to be done and I went home.. all the while feeling a tug on my heart, but being tired from the day and my chronic pain I went to bed early and went on when the next day.

Wednesday Night (tonight) I am working on the computer and listing to a CD of soaking music from a Flute player in our church and all of a sudden something hit me in my spirit and for the next hour I began to cry out to God and just began to pray for things that me and my Spiritual Father talked about. I never felt so close to God, I never felt him more in my apartment then I ever did. Something was starting to stir in my spirit.

I began to cry out more and more as the hour progressed. I began to get revelations things started to come to me I began to understand what God would have me do in this next season. My life is changing, Financial doors have been opened, my ministry (as I see it) is expanding and is starting to have an Identity.

As I stated above “Geek 4 God” is what I feel lead to call my ministry. That has been something that my Pastor said as a joke in a meeting back in June of 2007 and I have run with it ever since. I am the “Geek 4 God” and will continue to be. God as blessed me with and incredible knowledge of Technology and how things work and how to make it work along side ministry.

I have been helping with Embassy | This Generation (formerly Embassy Student Ministries) since 2006 and I have been instrumental in starting our live streaming services which lead to me working one day a week with Pastor Matt Robinson as his assistant (side kick if you will) doing all the technical things (as well as others) that need to be done.

I then began to take control of the Family Centre Sanctuary (formerly the main church before the rebuild in 2002 – 2003) and started to maintain the cables, wires, and equipment needed to run it each week. I spent 4 Tuesdays going over all the new sound board setup and what was needed for each of the 4 ministries that use the Family Centre each week. I began to setup all the cables and then labeled them according to what position they had on the sound board. I then labeled all of the Keyboards, Mics, DI-Boxes etc.. and I can now tell you each week what is missing and what is placed in the wrong spot. This was a missing link for a long time. Now as you read this you can tell why I ran with “Geek 4 God”

But I cannot take all the credit for how this ministry evolved. I give all the glory to God. As I look back on how worked in my life and how each step he brought the right people at the right time which lead to the person you see before you. If it was not for the people he set before me I would not be here today.. but we will save that for another time. It is now 1:32 am Thursday Morning and I would like to get some sleep

Till Next Entry
Be Blessed

Filed Under: Church, Prayer

The Power of Prayer

Posted on April 17, 2008 by MJSiebolt • 0 Comments

Hello,

It amazes me how the power of prayer really works.. in the last few years of my life I have really seen how this can work.. and its not the big prayers that after 3 years finally granted me to win my disability fight or the small ones that get me to and from my drs in pickering safe and sound but it is all my prayers.

Weather small prayers or big ones God has the ability to work on our behalf and help us no matter weather we think it is small or not. God takes each and every prayer seriously and grants us our needs or the desires of our heart.

What amazes me is that no matter how much time we spend in prayer each and every day (or not) God still hears us. I often wonder if God heard me or if (like my life in general) I am being herd but not paid much attention too. But then I stop and think about it and realize that God hears me just as well has he hears Benny Hinn and the great Billy Graham.

In Gods eyes we are all equally special and don’t think for one second that you are not being heard. Oh the things I could tell you about prayer requests being answer and how the Lord has worked in my life but most of them are too personal to place on a blog, or will tell you things that sometimes I am ashamed about.

But I can tell you this Prayer works keep on praying. A Wise man by the name of Pastor Derek Schneider said once in a sermon “that if your prayer has not been answered you are not done praying yet.” I went home and thought about this and realized 2 yrs into my disability fight that I have to keep knocking on Gods door and keep asking for him to grant me my disability and after God testing me I won the fight but I had to pray and fast for 3 years before I won.

God can do great things. Have you spent time talking to your Heavenly Father today? If not try it and keep talking to him about your needs, wants and the desires of your heart and you will see how the power of prayer actually works for you.

I would recommend that you download the following sermons on types prayer from Pastor Derek Schneider and be blessed as I was blessed and learned from them

March 30 2008: The Power of Concentrated Prayer
January 11, 2008: My House Shall Be Called A House of Prayer
September 2, 2007: Speaking in Tounges The Kingdoms Best Kept Secret

Filed Under: Church, Prayer