Prayer365 with Enrique Brooks

" ...for the first time, I began to pray for them. I went into our bedroom closet, went to the floor, and began to intercede on their behalf for God’s best for them. Similar to Joseph I prayed that instead of remorse that they would experience the restorative power of God’s grace. I prayed for their success. I prayed for their families. I prayed for their healing. I want you to know that this was...

"Forgive... even if they don't repent." This may be the most challenging thing I've said all week long. For some of us, it's already a stretch to forgive people when they apologize. Now to forgive them even when they don't repent? This is not easy, nor is it pretty. It's challenging but it's possible with love and faith. We find an example through our Savior, Jesus, who forgave from the cross, say...

We must forgive deeply, meaning we cannot just forgive with our mouths, but we must forgive with our hearts. If I were to tell you I forgive you and then two days later you make another mistake and I bitterly bring up what you did two days ago, that means I didn’t forgive deeply, it didn’t make it to my heart. I said it in my words but it didn’t manifest in my actions. Forgiveness must happen deep...

When we don’t fully receive the gift of grace we will try to earn what was given freely and force others to do it as well. I used to live this way, holding unrealistic expectations on myself and on those around me. However my life changed dramatically when I embraced grace. There are three things that I learned about grace that I want to share with you. We must: 1. Receive grace from God, 2. Give...

Just a week ago we talked about forgiving daily and, for some of us, forgiving is a hard thing to do. Forgiveness can seem difficult if you don't have a heart of repentance. It's through the regular practice of repentance and receiving the forgiveness of God that we are better positioned to be able to offer forgiveness to others. For the person who says they have trouble forgiving, I would questio...

"This week’s theme for our devotion is The Rhythm of Repentance. So far we’ve talked about repentance being the secret sauce to our success, more than an apology and leads to a heart change. Now that we’ve talked about our part, I want to take time to express to you God’s part. Today we’re going to focus on God’s response. What is God’s response to repentance? We find this in 1 John 1:9 (NLT) wher...

"Much of the time, we are busy trying to uphold an appearance or reputation that we’ve created for ourselves so we settle for the look of repentance rather than the essence of repentance. We settle for what looks like repentance rather than the true meat of repentance. In other words, I believe we’ve developed an affinity for appearance and have lost a value for authenticity. God is letting us kno...

"Repentance is more than an apology, it’s the turning of the heart back to God. We must understand this isn't just an occasional turn or casual motion, but it should be a permanent (perpetual) posture of the heart. In James 4:7 it says “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The mistake I made was I worked hard on my efforts to resist the devil but gave litt...

" ...so many of us can’t forgive because we feel that people need to pay for our forgiveness, we want them to feel remorse, we want their repentance to sound right but none of that is what Jesus said... He said “if they repent, forgive them.” But He didn’t stop there, but made it a point to say "Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ y...

Today I want to encourage you to worship daily. You see, if prayer is the air we breathe and the word is the food we eat then worship is the water we drink. Last night, in Bible Study, we discovered that God is ready and waiting on our prayers. Today, I want you to know that He’s looking for your worship. Find today's devotional here: https://thryve.church/blog/2020/10/22/worship-daily

We are spiritual beings housed in fleshly bodies. Therefore, we need the spiritual more than the physical. God's word is food to our spirits, it sustains us. It's where we find our identity, our healing, our peace, our comfort, our direction, our hope - yes, all of this and more is found in the word of God. Studying the word of God is the second spiritual fundamental that produces fruit in our liv...

"Prayer, at its core, is how communicate with God. It is the official communication method for reaching heaven from earth. There’s no pressure to be perfect in language, but an invitation to be honest in heart. Prayer is essential to the life of the believer; it’s as vital to our spirit as oxygen is to our bodies." Find the rest of the devotional: https://thryve.church/blog/2020/10/20/pray-daily

"In today’s text we’ve highlighted two instances where Apostle Paul mentions this mystery we call regeneration or renewal. It’s the process of spiritual renewal that Jesus refers to as being born again during his late night conversation with with Nicodemus in John 3. Here’s the truth, once you’ve accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior, you’ve been given a new life, a new song and a new rhythm. All...

"Friend, we have a mighty God that gives us the ability to bounce back. How do you know that you have a bounce back in your spirit? Because the same Spirit in you is the same Spirit that is in Jesus Christ and Jesus is the epitome of a bounce back. He came into a twisted world, rejected by His own creation, placed on a cross, beaten until He was unrecognizable, yet there was nothing that could kee...

"For many of us by the time we realize that something has become twisted (internally or externally), it’s already done extensive damage to its environment. It could be years, even decades before you realize that something is terribly wrong. The reason why is that perversion, or the twisting of a thing, is not always obvious in the beginning. Instead it begins and is comprised of a series subtle sh...

"Who’s king in your life? The reason why this is so significant is because Paul expressed in Romans 5:21 “So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead...” The word “rule” is not one we should glaze over or ignore. This word (rule) distinguishes the difference between between lordship and kingship. Follow me as we go deeper. We understand t...

"What the devil desires to do is to take what is good and twist it. At it’s core, that’s what perversion is - twisting something, twisting the interpretation, twisting the meaning, twisting the purpose - that’s what the devil desires to do. Understanding this, you can see that sin, at its core, is the perversion of God’s command. We saw this originally in the Garden of Eden where God instructed Ad...

God is not powerful without love, nor is He wise without power. We don't experience God in one characteristic without experiencing Him in others. God doesn't uncover our sins with His wisdom without love, he doesn't demonstrate his power without wisdom. There's never a moment where He's limitless in love and not limitless in power and wisdom. He's all three all the time... And in all of His limitl...

One day we were leaving the home of Chanell’s parents and as we approached the car, Elisha looked up to the sky and pointed, saying “Daddy, I can see the Big Dipper.” I paused and glanced up and quickly located the collection of stars that form the Big Dipper and said “Yes, sweetie, I see it.” I thought to myself, “When was the last time I looked at the stars?” At that moment I was reminded of the...

Have you ever seen a snowball on a cartoon where it starts at the top of the hill and as it rolls down it gradually gets bigger and bigger until it’s larger than the person or thing it crashes into? Sin has been a lot like that snowball; over the course of time it has become more wicked, wiser, greater and stronger. But in the midst of this, God responded. It was one man that brought sin into the...

If God is limitless in nature, this means that everything about Him is limitless and this includes His love. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God breathed these passionate, poetic words: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” I want you to understand that there is no limit to the love of God. His love is everlasting. His love is limitless. And wit...

By telling the young man to sell his possessions, give to the poor and follow Him, Jesus was making Him aware of his limitations. This turned out to be hard for him but what the young man didn’t know is that He who is limitless was standing before Him. His heart was tied to his wealth but he wanted to be perfect, he wanted to be mature. I want you to know that becoming mature is not easy, but the...