PITFH Newletter Blog

          Remember the story of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar who was made to live and eat with the beasts and wild donkeys of the field because of his pride? Daniel 5:21 says, “He was given the mind of an animal. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes.”

            I have seen many clergy and leaders end up in turmoil, depression and pain for the same reason that Nebuchadnezzar was humbled—pride.

           God chooses his church’s leaders as he sees fit, and He also has the authority to remove whomever He chooses. Judging from the prominent biblical warnings against it, pride is a major reason for God to remove someone from a ministerial role. As James 4:6 says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

            John, a pastor friend of mine told me how pride resulted in the loss of his church. “I thought I had to have all the answers and that I knew better than my board of elders,” he said. “When we disagreed, I argued and became irritated and impatient with them.”

            Because pride can manifest itself subtly, its telltale signs often go under the radar until it creates a problem as in John’s case. Consider the following characteristics of hidden pride and see if God reveals any of its indicators in your life. Be brave. Ask those who know you well if they’ve seen any of these signs in your behavior. Read the rest of this entry »

           Any group or organization divided against itself cannot stand. It will never reach its goals, obligations or purpose and will eventually become irrelevant.  In-fighting compromises the integrity of the organization and it becomes self-destructive.  Sadly this is true of the Body of Christ, churches and ministries as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Chuck Pierce
Sep 1, 2010

The opposite of confidence and worth is self-pity. Self-pity occurs when we feel we are warranted to receive but get passed by. This can occur in our natural or spiritual life. Self-pity helps define our moment or, may I say, cause us to miss our moment. We feel we are deserving or entitled to a blessing, and we lose faith when we see a blessing slip past our life.

One of the best examples of self-pity is the crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda (see John 5). Jesus knew his full condition and then, through Peter, asked the man if he wished to be healed. The man began to explain why he had not and could not be healed. Jesus seemed to quit listening to his self-pity and healed him anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you away from God feeling alone and abandoned?  Perhaps you have never met Him.  In either case, we want you to know that Father is waiting for you with open arms.  It matters not where you are or what you have done.  His unconditional love awaits you.  He is a loving Father, not a harsh taskmaster.  The only question is, are you ready to come home?  Click here to begin your journey.   http://www.prodigalsonly.com/

I heard an incredible story today and I think it is as true for many of us as it is for the person who sent it to me in an email. I quote:

I feel like I’m meeting my Dad for the first time!

My wife’s best friend is a real-life Jerry Springer show. She hadn’t been talking to her dad for a few years, bad situation. He’s a pretty terrible guy. Anyway, she found out a month ago that he isn’t her actual dad, and that her real dad has been trying to find her for 22 years, ever since the one-night stand that produced her. He has prayed for her non-stop since coming to know Jesus along the way.

Once he found her, he and his family immediately came  from a long distance to meet his daughter. She has a new dad! Just like that, everything she thought to be true about her father was completely WRONG and she had a dad! And her newborn, their first, now has a grandfather! Beautiful.

What a story, and I love his take-away from it!  Many of us have been taught that the God of the Bible is a mean, demanding, angry taskmaster and that if we don’t please him horrible things will happen to us. Try as we might to please Him, we were never good enough and we end up feeling rejected and all alone. But that isn’t your Father. That’s someone masquerading as Him to abuse your love, devour your joy, and destroy your life.

The Father who is really your Father has been searching for you all your life long. He has been closer than your breath, only you may have missed Him with all the pretenders. Stop long enough to behold the Father who has always had great affection for you. That’s beautiful too!

We are pleased to announce that we have added a new link to the PITFH Website.  We will now be posting some articles in audio format.  It is our desire that this new format provide a more relational context and since PITFH is all about relationship, with Father and with each other, we felt that this might be a great way to promote that.  We hope you enjoy this new format and that you will share your feedback with us through the contact page on the website or via email.  Click here to visit the new link:  http://www.placesinthefathersheart.org/audioarticles.php

These Audio Articles are also available in written form on the website.  We encourage you to print them and use them as you wish.  We ask that you print them without edit and we are encouraged when you credit Places In The Father’s Heart as their source.

Blessings in the Father’s love,
Roger and Gerri

From the time we got saved over 30 years ago, we have been faithful tithers and faithful with our offerings.  It has always been based on the first 10% of everything we received.  We were obedient to the law.  We began to believe that if we could give 10% and live on 90% then we certainly should strive at working towards the opposite – giving 90% and living on 10%.  Surely that would make us ‘better than average Christians!’  All we gained from that religious mindset was poverty and lack!  We were trying hard to earn His approval and thought if we just gave enough, certainly He would reward us.  In other words, we had a ’giving to get mentality!’  Our motive of heart was skewed. The Lord was faithful to us even in our terribly wrong thinking.  We soon returned to the 10% mentality.  All along this part of our journey we had a lot of reinforcement not only from the organized church, but also from many other para-church ministries as well.  We watched how others were doing it (especially if it looked productive) and if it fit, we usually implemented it.  Over the years, you could say ‘we tried it all.’  Little did we know that eventually our loving Father would step in with a huge course correction!  He would not allow us to remain in this kind of idolatry.  Read the rest of this entry »

We recently read David Crone’s book The Power of a Life Message.  Here is something David had to say about encouragement.

Encouragement is the primary language of the Holy Spirit.  It has its roots in the heart of the Father, and as such, it releases a powerful anointing into the atmosphere and brings life to the hearer.  That anointing has the power to break the hold of a toxic world on individuals who are trapped in a cycle of pessimism and negativity. Encouragement comes in the opposite spirit and challenges the enemy’s favorite weapon – discouragement – giving us permission to hope.

Let’s all look for ways to encourage someone today.

Eternal Now Kingdom
By Ron McGatlin

I was taught through the church systems years ago that we could NOT experience the kingdom of God in this life. We had to wait to die and go to heaven to experience the victory and order of God. Or perhaps we could be alive when Jesus bodily returned in the air to take us up to heaven while he burned up the planet and made us a new one, and then we could come back to a new planet that would then be heaven on earth. Read the rest of this entry »