PITFH Newletter Blog

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 »

These days I love to sit and ‘muse’ with my Father.  One of Webster’s definitions of ‘muse’ is: to become absorbed in thought; to turn something over in the mind meditatively and often inconclusively.  The following article is taken from my musing on the subject of idolatry of self. 

Galatians 5:19-21 NLT:  “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature (idolatry of self), the results are very clear:  sexual immorality (adultery and fornication), impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other signs like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”  (italics mine.)

The Message translation says it this way:  “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time:  repetitive, loveless, cheap sex’ a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.  I could go on.  This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s Kingdom.”

Father’s love empowers our freedom from self-idolatry.  Read the rest of this entry »

        “We can study God, and gain a historical and intellectual knowledge of Him.  But we don’t know Him until we personally experience Him,” says David Crone in his book The Power of a Life Message.” 
        I have mentioned in several of my articles that you can know the Word of God and not know the God of the Word.
        Here is what A. W. Tozer wrote in his book The Pursuit of God in 1948.  “Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the church of the Living God.  Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term.  But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever.   For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth.  The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”
        Quoting David Crone again, he says, “I am thoroughly convinced that you cannot know God unless you experience Him.  To experience means to ‘participate in personally’.  The word most often translated “to know” in Scripture (Hebrew word ‘ginosko’ ~ italics mine) is a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse and refers to knowledge by experience.  Jesus used this word when He made the statement, “You shall know (ginosko) the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  John 8:32.  Many people intellectually know truth, but it is not libertaing until they know that truth experientially.”
        If you are having difficulty truly experiencing the unconditional love of your Heavenly Father, prayer ministry at Places In The Father’s Heart is designed to help identify and remove root issues and wounding that may be hindering you from the experience I am speaking of here.  We encourage you to visit our website and click on the Prayer Ministry link to learn more.   http://www.placesinthefathersheart.org/ 
Blessings,
Roger

Greetings from the Taylor household and offices of P I T F H:
We had a great Seniors laugh today and thought we would share it with you. Recently we have moved further into the technology world.  Our computer sounds when we receive an email or a Skype telephone call (Smile, you’re on candid camera!).  We have one land line phone and two cell phones. We have a new de-humidifier which signals us when its tank is full.  We have a timer on our stove to let us know when to take something out of the oven (if we remembered to turn the oven on!), and we have a weather radio in the bedroom which signals us when threatening weather is approaching.  If we are counting correctly, that’s eight different signals, buzzers, alarms or rings that sound at varying times!
This morning we were found running to different parts of the house when one of them sounded.  We were trying desperately to determine just what we should do…answer a phone, take something out of the oven, get ready to talk to someone over the computer, empty the water from  the de-humidifier or go turn everything off because of a pending lightening strike!!  Whew!  It was a zoo of confusion for a minute or two and then we just sat down together and had a good laugh!  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine!
Blessings from our house to yours!
Roger and Gerri   

When Mary and Martha sent news to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, was about to die, Jesus didn’t respond the way his friends expected. He actually snubbed their request. The Bible says when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, “He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was” (John 11:6, NASB).

For Mary and Martha, those were two very long days.

 Doubts tormented them. What kind of friend was Jesus, anyway? Why did He ignore their urgent plea? Why didn’t He drop everything and rush to their aid? Mary was especially frustrated and distraught about Jesus’ seemingly insensitive delay. Read the rest of this entry »