Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16

Perhaps the most underrated and underused power that we have available is prayer. As God’s children, we are told to go to God in prayer that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. Notice how we are to come. Paul says that we are not just to come to God’s throne, but we are to come boldly to the throne of grace. Remember, God’s grace gives to us what we do not deserve. The desire of God’s heart is to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God wants us to come boldly, in faith, believing that God will do for us everything that was promised. There is no bolder step that we can take than that. We may get discouraged, but know that there is no need to be discouraged if God is in our hearts and guiding our actions.

When we go to God, we find mercy. While God’s grace is God giving to us things that we do not deserve, God’s mercy gives to us what we do deserve. In God’s mercy we find forgiveness and restoration to fellowship! Our sinful, selfish, stubborn wills are in constant conflict with God’s will for our lives. As we seek to make God’s thoughts our thoughts, God’s ways become our ways. When we look to our own devices for direction as we make our decisions, we turn from God and that is when we need God’s mercy and forgiveness. As the song “Amazing Grace” says:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

God wants to be our “first response” as opposed to our “last resort.” When we have a decision to make, God’s desire is that we come boldly to the throne for direction and guidance in that decision. Look at what Paul says, “that we may find grace to help us in time of need.” God’s guidance in our time of need is available to us if we will just avail ourselves to it!

Prayer is the key that unlocks the windows of heaven and allows God to pour out blessings into our lives! Prayer leads us from the snare of temptation to the path of righteousness. Prayer allows us to make decisions that head us in the right direction to find life that is full and abundant. Prayer moves us from where we are to the place that God would have us go. Prayer is the place where we begin to move out of our need and into the place of God’s provision.

• Maybe you’re struggling with some kind of fear. Maybe you’re waiting for a report from the doctor, and that has you worried. Or you’re afraid that you’re not going to make it financially. Or you’re afraid about something at school. For many of us who hide our sexuality from the wider world, this may constitute our greatest fear that someone may find out. I have a young friend who came to me just yesterday with worries about his sexuality and how it is perceived, even though he does not identify as gay or bisexual but as straight. My advice to him was to be open and honest with himself, not to worry about his sexuality. God tells us to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5) A simpler way to put this was seen on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi which was inscribed “Know thyself.” We must trust that God will guide us to know ourselves.
• Perhaps you are wrestling with some sort of temptation. Maybe you’ve got some kind of addiction and you can’t shake it. Or you’re thinking of doing something that you know isn’t right, but you want to do it anyway. I have a dear friend who is suffering from alcoholism. The first step to his recovery was to admit it to himself. He is going to seek treatment, and I am very proud of him.
• Or, maybe you’re in the middle of a difficult situation and you’re not quite sure what to do? You don’t know how to respond. Or you’re not sure you have what it’s going to take to deal with it. When we are in a situation like this, the only thing we can do is to turn to God for guidance.

Whatever your personal need, take it before God in prayer. There you’ll find a God who is able and willing to handle anything you’re going through. And you’ll find a God who fully identifies with you and who knows exactly how you’re feeling. And you’ll also find a God who won’t judge you, but who, instead, will give you all the grace you need. That’s God’s promise to you.

Holy Fire Ministries founder Bert Farias penned an eyebrow-raising piece about the LGBT community in Charisma magazine, arguing that homosexuality is “demonic” and will have “destructive physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences.”

In his piece, Farias asks LGBT people and advocates to “please do not get upset with me. I am for you and not against you.” In fact, he adds, he is “actually trying to help” people with same-sex attraction. How can LGBT people and advocates not get angry over these ridiculous statements. As an LGBT Christian, I am more than angry: I am furious. I have said it before and I will say it again, those who spread hate and fear and not doing the work of God, but he work of satan and all that is evil.

The piece, which is titled “The Raw, Naked Truth About Homosexuality,” continues:

[Homosexuality] is such a putrid smelling demon that other demons don’t even like to hang around it. A genuine prophet of God told me that the Lord allowed him to smell this demon spirit, and he got sick to his stomach. And yet as humans, many embrace this demon. Yes, you heard me right. Being gay is demonic.

There is an account in the Bible where Jesus casts out 2,000 demons out of a man. The demons came out screaming and begged Jesus to send them into the pigs. The pigs didn’t want them, so they ran down a steep hill and were drowned in the sea. Pigs have more sense than some humans. People embrace homosexual demons, but the pigs would rather die than be possessed with demons.

It also bothers me that he misquotes the Bible. The Bible never says that the man (in Mark it is one; in Matthew it is two men) is possessed by 2,000 demons. The demon tells Jesus in Mark 5:9 “And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”” No number is mentioned, and unless I am missing something, during this time period, a Legion would usually signify 5,400, the number of men in a Roman Legion. Furthermore, there is debate on what the demons asked Jesus to do with them. Most biblical scholars seem to believe that they were begging Jesus to allow them to possess the pigs than be returned to hell. The verses don’t say that the pigs fled from the demons, but that the demons possessed the pigs and drowned themselves in the sea. It’s a simple story that the misguided Bert Farias couldn’t even relate correctly. Why would anyone believe anything a so-called minister would say when he doesn’t even know what the Bible itself says.

Farias further argues that homosexuality is not “biologically right or natural” and a choice, he adds:

If being gay was natural, two men or two women could produce a baby, but they can’t. Their sexual reproductive organs do not complement each other therefore making it impossible for them to procreate. It can never be natural for two men or two women to get married and live together. Our culture’s acceptance and celebration of gay behavior will never make it right. Wrong is wrong no matter how many people are for it. And right is right no matter how many people are against it. Homosexuality is not new. It’s been around for thousands of years. It’s as old as the devil himself.

First of all, the Bible tells us that only the weak will have children, for they are weak of the flesh and part of the world Nd cannot exercise self-control. 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 says “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” Each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Notice that he says some have the gift of singleness and some the gift of marriage. Although it seems that nearly everyone marries, it is not necessarily God’s will for everyone. Paul, for example, did not have to worry about the extra problems and stresses that come with marriage and/or family. He devoted his entire life to spreading the Word of God. He would not have been such a useful messenger if he had been married. God gave us a gift, the gift of loving someone of the same sex. Some of us will have children; some of us will not. But God gave us all special talents and we should use them according to God’s word.