These are brief snippets of some of my "go into all the world" expeiriences. Please understand that my purpose in sharing these stories is to help motivate you in your work in Christ. Not everything you do has to be a miracle, but sometimes its the things that seem like small gestures to you that are mountanous to someone else. No, I am not always bold and sometimes I miss opportunities out of fear, or being in a rush...thank God I am not the standard. I'm a work in progress! In each experience we can find a lesson from the Holy Spirit. He is a hands on teacher. If you have stories email them to me and I'll post them as well. The focus is always the people not ourselves but we help each other via our testimonies.We MUST keep one another encouraged so that we can become stronger in stepping outside of ourself and learn to love like Christ loves.
Mickey D's Ministry
I was at a McDonald's ordering something I shouldn't for the kids. The young lady who had just taken our order at the register comes to clean around our table. She asks about my kids who were happily making the most noise there, and we had friendly conversation. She was a 10th grader new to America from Guatemala and she expressed some of the difficulty from having to attend an all English school.I felt in my heart the desire to encourage her. When she went back to working the cash register I took my reciept and wrote on the back of it "God Loves You. I hope you do well in school." Becuase she was working and I didn't know how much English she knew I slipped it to her and paused to see if she understood. Her face lit up with excitement. Ever since, whenever we go to McDonald's she gives us extra food and calls me her friend. If she notices me in the drive-thru she rushes to the window just to say hi.Sweet girl.
One Accord
A friend and I went on a praying spree at a local hospital. Just went in praying for different ones here and there starting in the emergency room and working our way around. On the way out, he notices a woman sitting in her hospital garments, IV in her arm, cigarette in one hand, and inhaler on her other side. He walks up and prays for her healing and the Holy Spirit touched my heart that she had a relationship with God but she's fallen off track. She wants to get back on track but doesn't feel worthy to do so. She opened up and confirmed what the Holy Spirit had said and she's also been trying to get her kids together to go to church. She allowed us to have prayer again...cigarette in hand (which didn't bother us or hinder God), nurses walking by trying to be quiet as we prayed. After prayer, my friend said the Holy Spirit put the exact same thing on his heart, I just beat'em to it! lol Awesome!
Hidden Behind a Smile
Met a young lady as I was getting off the elevator and she was getting on. When I said "hi" to her, she gave a big smile and said "hi" back. When I saw her I had every intention of praying for her. I was hoping to hear something from the Holy Spirit regarding her, but I drew a blank. I saw her sitting down and I wasn't exactly sure what to say so I complimented her on her smile and how friendly she seemed to be. I didn't ask could I have prayer with her, like I normally do, but I just figured that she looks happy so maybe she doesn't need it. I walked away to get back on the elevator to go to the 2nd floor. Maybe she was following me? But she caught up with to get on the elevator too...she was going to the 4th floor. Or she really did need prayer/encouragement? I stayed on there until the 4th floor with her and started telling her God must be present in her life...I tried to get in all I could until the ride was over. I asked if I could give her a hug and she so welcomingly said yes. I gave her a hug and briefly spoke blessings into her life. She smiled and giggled the whole way through. She even stood at the elevator as it was closing in a glad-to-meet-you-sad-to-see-you-go kind of way. We had only met less than 5 minutes prior.
A Day with a Stranger
On the bus on the way to the mall with the kids and I noticed a woman getting on the bus that the Holy Spirit wanted me to speak with. Amazingly this woman sits right next to me so I know that it was God telling me to connect with her. We start a conversation on the bus and wouldn't ya know...she's going to the mall too. I asked "Are you Filipino?" She said, "Yes, how could you tell? Most people think I am Spanish" This had to be God giving me a discernment because later on she did look like she was Hispanic and I had no way of telling the difference.We both get off of that bus and are at the transit center. She shared a lot with me about her life.She has a 4 year old daughter that she doesn't have custody of, she doesn't know much about America's System (laws etc) the list goes on. So during the bus transfer she allowed me to pray for her and tears streamed down. I don't know if she understood every word I said, but I think her heart knew. We ended up spending the entire trip together. Once we got to the mall, she sat with me while the boys played and just asked me questions about God, life, and told me more about herself all the way till we were back at the transit center to go home.
Impression of Depression
Recently had the impression in my heart that someone at a church I recently visited was dealing with depression. The woman told me she had just stopped taking anti-depressants. I asked what is it that's making you depressed and she said she's been thinking about how her mother allowed her to be molested by her boyfriend when she was a child.She says "My mother chose her boyfriend over me." The enemy had his grip on her mind dragging her into her past. The woman is now in her 40's. We talked about forgiveness and she says "I thought I forgave my mom, but I guess I didn't." The enemy wanted her to think she didn't forgive when in reality she did. She had already let that whole part of her past go, but Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Needless to say, we had prayer and some words to empower her against the enemy. We hadn't even said goodbye, but she turns away wiping tears from her eyes. Within 5 minutes her attitude seemed to have changed from despair to confidence, from losing control to "I got this!!!" and we parted ways. That was my first time meeting her.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
If I am a Friend of God
I am personally challenging myself more to adhere to the call of duty as prescribed by Christ to "go" or "do."
Christ summed up the commandments into only two:
1.Love God
2.Love people
Let's take a look at John 15:12-17:
12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
Man, I must say we have it a lot easier than those that were under the old covenant. Over 600 rules and regulations, feast days, holy days, rituals, and sacrifices. We just have the two commandments. Bless God for the two. I would have been considered a top sinner if I had to keep up with all those laws. I'd have to sacrifice three animals a day just due to forgetting.
What I noticed out of this scripture is that most people (myself included) pay attention to "Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name"
I ponder on this because the impression some of us get is to just pray and we'll have whatever we ask for. But we tend to disregard the call to duty in the surrounding scriptures. It is easy to love God, but a lot more challenging to love one another. Christ has called us friends IF we do what he has asked us to do. Well, he asked, correction, commanded us to love one another. Think about it...if someone was just wanting to be called your "friend" just so they could experience the benefits that's not true friendship. It's not a good relationship if only one of you is sacrificing, pouring out, and loving and there is no return...that's not friendship that is using, taking advantage of. There may even be traces of manipulation in there somewhere too.
If we are naming the name of Christ let's not skip over our part in this friendship with him. He did put a condition on it. We're His friends IF WE DO...
How is it our ears and eyes only see that we are his friends, but we don't take note of how can we be a good friend in return? This is not accusing everyone to have done this, but this is a challenge for us to read our bibles with the mind of doing and not just hearing. (James 1:22)
Matthew 6:33 But first be concerned about God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well. (ISV)
I just want to bring to light the action we are called to. When we are concerned about the kingdom and righteousness all our needs and requests will be met. As we go and do, our prayers will be answered.
What a privilege to be called His friend and be able to partner with heaven. Our social circle is divine! What an awesome friendship to have where you are taking care of each other's business. He can trust you to get the job done, and you can trust him with all the cares of your life. We have the greatest networking system in the world all because of who our friend is IF we do whatever he has commanded us. And that is to love God and love each other.
Christ summed up the commandments into only two:
1.Love God
2.Love people
Let's take a look at John 15:12-17:
12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
Man, I must say we have it a lot easier than those that were under the old covenant. Over 600 rules and regulations, feast days, holy days, rituals, and sacrifices. We just have the two commandments. Bless God for the two. I would have been considered a top sinner if I had to keep up with all those laws. I'd have to sacrifice three animals a day just due to forgetting.
What I noticed out of this scripture is that most people (myself included) pay attention to "Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name"
I ponder on this because the impression some of us get is to just pray and we'll have whatever we ask for. But we tend to disregard the call to duty in the surrounding scriptures. It is easy to love God, but a lot more challenging to love one another. Christ has called us friends IF we do what he has asked us to do. Well, he asked, correction, commanded us to love one another. Think about it...if someone was just wanting to be called your "friend" just so they could experience the benefits that's not true friendship. It's not a good relationship if only one of you is sacrificing, pouring out, and loving and there is no return...that's not friendship that is using, taking advantage of. There may even be traces of manipulation in there somewhere too.
If we are naming the name of Christ let's not skip over our part in this friendship with him. He did put a condition on it. We're His friends IF WE DO...
How is it our ears and eyes only see that we are his friends, but we don't take note of how can we be a good friend in return? This is not accusing everyone to have done this, but this is a challenge for us to read our bibles with the mind of doing and not just hearing. (James 1:22)
Matthew 6:33 But first be concerned about God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well. (ISV)
I just want to bring to light the action we are called to. When we are concerned about the kingdom and righteousness all our needs and requests will be met. As we go and do, our prayers will be answered.
What a privilege to be called His friend and be able to partner with heaven. Our social circle is divine! What an awesome friendship to have where you are taking care of each other's business. He can trust you to get the job done, and you can trust him with all the cares of your life. We have the greatest networking system in the world all because of who our friend is IF we do whatever he has commanded us. And that is to love God and love each other.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Earth, Wind and Fire God's Original Version
We have all had days where we are wondering in our minds, “Lord why don’ you speak to me.” Sometimes it may be with regards to a specific situation and we don’t seem to hear from him. Key word being seem.
I recall the story of Elijah (1 Kings chp. 19:4-13) When he was wanting to hear a word from the Lord and he was desperate for it. The Lord passed by in a wind, then in an earthquake, then in a fire. In all of those big motions the Lord didn’t speak, but finally He spoke as a still small voice. There is much to be said concerning Elijah’s experience because we have all had the same desperation and even awaiting expectation for God to speak/perform in a huge way. I’m not going to go into all the avenues of lessons in his story. I’ll try to stick to one theme here, but I encourage you to meditate on this further.
Now the wind that passed by Elijah was no ordinary wind. It actually broke a mountain down into pieces of rocks.(1Kings 19:11) That’s the type of wind you hide from in a bomb shelter. Think about the situation. You are all alone. You’ve asked God to speak and here comes a vicious wind that’s destroying mountains, followed by an earthquake, and a fire. If you were Elijah you may have been expecting God in that too. Although winds, earthquakes, and fire haven’t passed by us we have had our expectation of how God was going to answer. We want that prayer about our finances to be answered, but God could be speaking to you to give. You don’t hear God’s instruction due to being so focused on how you think the answer should come.
Elijah’s story teaches us:
- God speaks gently.
- Let go of your expectation
- Be obedient to the small things
- Open your boundaries for what God wants to say
Number four is especially important. Too often we just want God to tell us what we want to hear and be on our way. We aren’t open to hearing from God about anything else…only what we prayed about. Self-centeredness will keep you deaf to the unction of the Holy Spirit. John 16:26 says that “[the Holy Spirit] will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Pay close attention to the fact that he will be reminding us of things he already taught. Which means you can go back to the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and read what Christ was teaching. Whatever He taught, the Holy Spirit will come and remind. The common theme we know about God and His character is His selflessness, self-sacrifice and love for others. It is impossible to do the will of God and only focus on ourselves. We aren’t fulfilling His kingdom and therefore won’t be able to hear from Him. (1 John 4:11-12,20-21) Obviously there is more that concerns God other than making us millionaires. We have to open and surrender ourselves to hearing those things which is priority to the Father.
We shouldn’t be so self absorbed that all we want to hear is what concerns us. Of course we do pray for our selves, family, finances etc. This is not condemnation for praying for our situation (far from it). This is a challenge to open our ears to (a) how we hear God (b) His response. As we open our hearts to be like Christ we’ll hear from heaven more frequently, but we can’t put boundaries on what we’re willing to hear. Putting a limit on what you want to listen to is the same as saying I don’t want to hear anything else. For example: You may have limits on what you watch on tv. “I’ll only watch cartoons and that is my limit.” You are saying I don’t want to watch reality shows or the history channel. Or “I only listen to Christian music.” Is the same as saying I don’t listen to rap. I only want to hear from God concerning me, is the same as saying, “Don’t speak to me concerning anything/anyone else but me.” Pretty blunt but true. The Holy Spirit has so much more to speak to us about, but we’ll never hear him if we filter Him through what it is we want to hear.
Let’s open our ears and be prepared in our obedience to His response. This is a part how we live out the will of God in our lives.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Character of a Christian
Don't allow one failure to take you away from God.
Christians have yet to learn the character of a Christian. We think/hear that once you become a Christian your finances are in order, your debt magically disappears, you get the job you've always wanted, your kids behave, your marriage is perfect, or you'll find the right mate, your car doesn't brake down, perfect health, no car accidents, your never angry/frustrated, your family members live forever. When you put it all together like that it doesn’t sound realistic but yet this is the thinking of most Christians (I can speak for Americans anyway). Without words we make a statement as if to say “We believe God is here to serve us and if we claim Him as our God he should always deliver us and serve us on an as-needed basis.”
What we lack is character. We don’t understand patience, diligence, perseverance, strength, endurance, wisdom..
The Lord revealed this to me through my own little moment of self-pity. I couldn’t understand why it seemed as if I was doing what I knew but yet and still not seeing the results I wanted. Like a little brat, I started to question God’s word and not stand on it. I started to allow my questions to turn into a downward spiral of doubts. That is a slippery pit to try to climb out of on your own. I went into a mini-depression because I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why I kept failing at this.
After my tantrum of about 2 weeks, the Holy Spirit opened up scriptures to me to show me that I was lacking in character (fruit of the spirit). I lacked diligence; I lacked patience, and perseverance. The Holy Spirit took me on a study of those 3 things. I looked up definitions. And without having to search for them, my bible continued to land on scripture related to the subject without my help.
The Holy Spirit was teaching me that I can’t let failure stop me. I must continue because Hebrews 10:6 says He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So just because it hasn’t happened when I wanted it to if I am diligent the reward WILL come.
I began to look at the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11 but particularly 11:32-40. The extent that people went to for believing/trusting in God and yet and still some did not even receive the promise. (Hebrews 11:39)
As I continued reading Hebrews 12 I see the same theme of patience and endurance. And then rebukes saying “ Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Heb. 12:4 Yes, he just said we haven’t gone through anything for the gospel’s sake and here we are giving up because the job we wanted fell threw. We have to learn how to deal with disappointments even after we’ve prayed. Don’t stop there.
We have to build a character so strong in us that we will not be moved whether we see things change or not. This is the type of character that makes strong soldiers in Christ. Christ is trying to mold us to be undefeatable, unstoppable, victorious champions like him. Champions don’t give up when they see things aren’t going their way. They keep going. It’s okay to analyze the failure just enough to not make the same mistakes, but we mustn’t allow those things to paralyze our trust in God’s word. Do you know how easy it would be to defeat you if everytime something didn’t go your way you retreated! You’d be considered a punk in anybody’s book. We have to build a stamina not to be moved…stand there and fight through the emotions. Emotions lie anyway so let God’s word be true!
God isn’t causing bad things in your life to teach you a lesson, but he is using the things in your life as a lesson and there is a big difference between the two. If you believe that God is causing bad things to happen just to teach you, you will begin to accept what in reality is the enemy’s fiery dart. You won’t fight what you accept. Just as the darkness is separate from the light and cannot co-dwell, so are the roles of God and Satan. Being able to identify one from the other is imperative to your Christian journey. But I digress.
I encourage you too; look up the definitions of patience, perseverance, diligence and endurance. Learn to be undefeatable. Discover the attributes of the elder patrons who gave their life having not gotten their desires. What was it that made them so strong in their faith despite the mishaps of life? We must learn the character of a Christian, learn the character of Christ, learn the character of a Champion.
Christians have yet to learn the character of a Christian. We think/hear that once you become a Christian your finances are in order, your debt magically disappears, you get the job you've always wanted, your kids behave, your marriage is perfect, or you'll find the right mate, your car doesn't brake down, perfect health, no car accidents, your never angry/frustrated, your family members live forever. When you put it all together like that it doesn’t sound realistic but yet this is the thinking of most Christians (I can speak for Americans anyway). Without words we make a statement as if to say “We believe God is here to serve us and if we claim Him as our God he should always deliver us and serve us on an as-needed basis.”
What we lack is character. We don’t understand patience, diligence, perseverance, strength, endurance, wisdom..
The Lord revealed this to me through my own little moment of self-pity. I couldn’t understand why it seemed as if I was doing what I knew but yet and still not seeing the results I wanted. Like a little brat, I started to question God’s word and not stand on it. I started to allow my questions to turn into a downward spiral of doubts. That is a slippery pit to try to climb out of on your own. I went into a mini-depression because I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why I kept failing at this.
After my tantrum of about 2 weeks, the Holy Spirit opened up scriptures to me to show me that I was lacking in character (fruit of the spirit). I lacked diligence; I lacked patience, and perseverance. The Holy Spirit took me on a study of those 3 things. I looked up definitions. And without having to search for them, my bible continued to land on scripture related to the subject without my help.
The Holy Spirit was teaching me that I can’t let failure stop me. I must continue because Hebrews 10:6 says He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So just because it hasn’t happened when I wanted it to if I am diligent the reward WILL come.
I began to look at the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11 but particularly 11:32-40. The extent that people went to for believing/trusting in God and yet and still some did not even receive the promise. (Hebrews 11:39)
As I continued reading Hebrews 12 I see the same theme of patience and endurance. And then rebukes saying “ Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Heb. 12:4 Yes, he just said we haven’t gone through anything for the gospel’s sake and here we are giving up because the job we wanted fell threw. We have to learn how to deal with disappointments even after we’ve prayed. Don’t stop there.
We have to build a character so strong in us that we will not be moved whether we see things change or not. This is the type of character that makes strong soldiers in Christ. Christ is trying to mold us to be undefeatable, unstoppable, victorious champions like him. Champions don’t give up when they see things aren’t going their way. They keep going. It’s okay to analyze the failure just enough to not make the same mistakes, but we mustn’t allow those things to paralyze our trust in God’s word. Do you know how easy it would be to defeat you if everytime something didn’t go your way you retreated! You’d be considered a punk in anybody’s book. We have to build a stamina not to be moved…stand there and fight through the emotions. Emotions lie anyway so let God’s word be true!
God isn’t causing bad things in your life to teach you a lesson, but he is using the things in your life as a lesson and there is a big difference between the two. If you believe that God is causing bad things to happen just to teach you, you will begin to accept what in reality is the enemy’s fiery dart. You won’t fight what you accept. Just as the darkness is separate from the light and cannot co-dwell, so are the roles of God and Satan. Being able to identify one from the other is imperative to your Christian journey. But I digress.
I encourage you too; look up the definitions of patience, perseverance, diligence and endurance. Learn to be undefeatable. Discover the attributes of the elder patrons who gave their life having not gotten their desires. What was it that made them so strong in their faith despite the mishaps of life? We must learn the character of a Christian, learn the character of Christ, learn the character of a Champion.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Broke-Boils-Betrayal...OH MY!
A lot of Christians have used their life's misfortune to compare themselves with Job in the Old Testament. We all know the story. Lost his finances, his family, got disturbingly ill, his friends weren't by his side and the cherry on top...his wife was faithless.
I used to use this same terminology "I guess I'm just like Job" as soon as things started turning down hill in my life. When I got sick, when I lost a child, when we didn't have work.Like others I wanted a reason...a comfortable reason as to why I was going through what I was going through and the best way for us to be comfortable is to put it all on God.
Let's look at this story of Job from a Christian perspective. The reason I say Christian is because this signifies AFTER CHRIST.
For starters we often put bad things on God. However James 1:18 says God tempts no man. In the story of Job we see that this is correct. God didn't tempt Job. This attack was directly from the Satan himself. And if you remember John 10:10 gives Satan's job description to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan was on his job which is why he came and landblasted Job. God didn't make Job sick, kill his family, or take away his finances. Satan was and will always be the source of poverty, disease, confusion, division.
Satan was doing the attack. When we accept it, we are calling Satan's work God's. Christ said I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. He came so that the quality of our living would be in abundance. Sickness and being broke doesn't sound abundant to me.
Satan is our enemy. Remember that Job's story takes place in the Old Testament BEFORE Christ come and died. This means Job had no knowledge or ability to rebuke Satan and his work. As a Christian, a New Testament believer, one who is alive AFTER Christ's death, has been given more than enough of the authority of Christ. We have been given the ability/power to rebuke, cast, cease, bind, and destroy the work of the enemy. Luke 10:19. To say that we should suffer under such attacks disannuls the Word/Work of Christ and makes it of none effect.
Christians have to get over their own traditional beliefs and read the Work of Christ to get to know their new and true Identity. If you were meant to be Job and allow Satan to have his way in your life...what point was there in Christ's death and the entire New Testament? To discover our identity in Him we must turn to those books of the bible in which he taught and look at examples of what it means to follow HIM.
So in summary here's why we shouldn't accept Job's experience as our own:
Note: I believe and know that Job's story serves a significant purpose in other aspects.This blog does not address that purpose because I didn't want it to be TOO long. :)
I used to use this same terminology "I guess I'm just like Job" as soon as things started turning down hill in my life. When I got sick, when I lost a child, when we didn't have work.Like others I wanted a reason...a comfortable reason as to why I was going through what I was going through and the best way for us to be comfortable is to put it all on God.
Let's look at this story of Job from a Christian perspective. The reason I say Christian is because this signifies AFTER CHRIST.
For starters we often put bad things on God. However James 1:18 says God tempts no man. In the story of Job we see that this is correct. God didn't tempt Job. This attack was directly from the Satan himself. And if you remember John 10:10 gives Satan's job description to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan was on his job which is why he came and landblasted Job. God didn't make Job sick, kill his family, or take away his finances. Satan was and will always be the source of poverty, disease, confusion, division.
Satan was doing the attack. When we accept it, we are calling Satan's work God's. Christ said I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. He came so that the quality of our living would be in abundance. Sickness and being broke doesn't sound abundant to me.
Satan is our enemy. Remember that Job's story takes place in the Old Testament BEFORE Christ come and died. This means Job had no knowledge or ability to rebuke Satan and his work. As a Christian, a New Testament believer, one who is alive AFTER Christ's death, has been given more than enough of the authority of Christ. We have been given the ability/power to rebuke, cast, cease, bind, and destroy the work of the enemy. Luke 10:19. To say that we should suffer under such attacks disannuls the Word/Work of Christ and makes it of none effect.
Christians have to get over their own traditional beliefs and read the Work of Christ to get to know their new and true Identity. If you were meant to be Job and allow Satan to have his way in your life...what point was there in Christ's death and the entire New Testament? To discover our identity in Him we must turn to those books of the bible in which he taught and look at examples of what it means to follow HIM.
So in summary here's why we shouldn't accept Job's experience as our own:
- Anything attacking your finances, health, family, or marriage is not under the finished work of Christ but under Satan's job description given in John 10:10
- As a product of the finished work of Christ we (followers of Christ) have authority over Satan and his work Acts 10:38, Matt 12:25, 1Peter 2:24, Colossians 1:13, Isaiah 53:4 Luke 10:19, James 5:16, Acts 1:8, 1 Cor 6:17, Luke 17:21, Luke 6:10,
- Job (Old Testament Believer) accepted it because he didn't have what we have and that is Christ's sacrifice to give us power (New Testament Believer)
- We are to be renewed into the image of Christ. Colossians 3:10 He is the pattern of our living.
Note: I believe and know that Job's story serves a significant purpose in other aspects.This blog does not address that purpose because I didn't want it to be TOO long. :)
Too Sick to Be Healed or Not Sick Enough
I used to think that Christ only wanted to heal the major things. Well, I should say the things that we/man considers to be major. We have categories of severity...what is critical, what is small or minute. Because we have this scale of big and small in our minds, we tend to think that healing goes according to our degrees. If it is something small we think this is too small to be healed. As if we aren't sick enough to be healed. "It'll go away eventually" "I'll take medication for this" "I'm not going to waste God's power/ability on this"
For big sicknesses like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, we think "This is too difficult for the power of God because the doctor's don't even know what to do" "I'll take medicine for it because I'm not sure if God will heal me of it" "The doctor said it should be okay if I do... so no need for God" Either way there are thoughts of doubt based on the degrees of severity we have placed in our minds. When we are TOO sick to be healed we tend to rely on the doctors and not on God. Doctors can only give a temporary patch toward the symptoms but very seldom do you hear of someone being completley healed with out reprecussions by a doctor. In the medical field when those things do happen they refer to them as "miracles." Doctors has their place, and they do help, however God IS Life. Not just eternal life, but in the quality of Life.
So where ever there is sickness whether it be a runny nose or a tumor the Life that he provides completely wipes it out. God's power is like a cleanser...like Pine sol. (Bare with me here) All Pine sol can do is clean. It's automatic that if you use pine sol for a spot on the floor or use it for an entire bathroom where ever pine sol touches it cleans regardless of how much is used. The power of pine sol in one drop is the same for a full bucket. God's power no matter where it is applied doesn't decrease. It's not diluted and he doesn't have to portion out a certain amount of power for your situation. The strength and magnitude of His power is always the same. He doesn't have to muster up strength to heal breast cancer any more than he would for a headache. The potency of His power is consistent for everyone and everything.Where ever there is a spot of sickness, death, or disease Life (Christ) will produce health/healing.
I had a sore throat the other morning. I drank some tea to alleviate the pain, right after I said a quick prayer "in the name of Jesus, throat be healed now!" I felt a sudden sharp pain as I ended my sentence, and I went to take my next swallow and the pain/soreness was gone. This is a great testimony, but I have had times where I needed to pray several times over because I went through the bouts of thinking a sore throat is too small.
When the answer is the same the problem doesn't matter. Jesus' power is always the answer therefore your problem/family member's problem has no degrees of severity when compared to the power of God. The issue doesn't make the difference. He heals EVERY disease with no distinction. Sickness is not in His category...Life is. Therefore anything under the category of illness MUST be terminated by his Life and Peace.
For big sicknesses like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, we think "This is too difficult for the power of God because the doctor's don't even know what to do" "I'll take medicine for it because I'm not sure if God will heal me of it" "The doctor said it should be okay if I do... so no need for God" Either way there are thoughts of doubt based on the degrees of severity we have placed in our minds. When we are TOO sick to be healed we tend to rely on the doctors and not on God. Doctors can only give a temporary patch toward the symptoms but very seldom do you hear of someone being completley healed with out reprecussions by a doctor. In the medical field when those things do happen they refer to them as "miracles." Doctors has their place, and they do help, however God IS Life. Not just eternal life, but in the quality of Life.
So where ever there is sickness whether it be a runny nose or a tumor the Life that he provides completely wipes it out. God's power is like a cleanser...like Pine sol. (Bare with me here) All Pine sol can do is clean. It's automatic that if you use pine sol for a spot on the floor or use it for an entire bathroom where ever pine sol touches it cleans regardless of how much is used. The power of pine sol in one drop is the same for a full bucket. God's power no matter where it is applied doesn't decrease. It's not diluted and he doesn't have to portion out a certain amount of power for your situation. The strength and magnitude of His power is always the same. He doesn't have to muster up strength to heal breast cancer any more than he would for a headache. The potency of His power is consistent for everyone and everything.Where ever there is a spot of sickness, death, or disease Life (Christ) will produce health/healing.
I had a sore throat the other morning. I drank some tea to alleviate the pain, right after I said a quick prayer "in the name of Jesus, throat be healed now!" I felt a sudden sharp pain as I ended my sentence, and I went to take my next swallow and the pain/soreness was gone. This is a great testimony, but I have had times where I needed to pray several times over because I went through the bouts of thinking a sore throat is too small.
When the answer is the same the problem doesn't matter. Jesus' power is always the answer therefore your problem/family member's problem has no degrees of severity when compared to the power of God. The issue doesn't make the difference. He heals EVERY disease with no distinction. Sickness is not in His category...Life is. Therefore anything under the category of illness MUST be terminated by his Life and Peace.
Stiff Neck
Last week my husband came home with a stiff neck. He strained his neck either from his work out or from sleeping wrong. Either way he couldn't turn his neck to the right and it was painful to even touch. My first remedy? You guessed it! PRAYER!
As soon as he came home, he waisted no time in asking me to pray for him. I gently placed my hand where it was hurting, because he said it hurt to touch, and here we go...prayer #1. After the first prayer he said he didn't really feel a difference. Okay cool then I'll do it again...prayer #2 he was able to touch his neck without it hurting something he couldn't do before without it throbbing. Well that's good but let's get it better...prayer#3 he moved his neck back and forth but with a little hesitation, but that was improvement from the previous state of turning his whole body just to look over his shoulder. We've got this far...let's pray again...prayer#4 after this prayer there was no hesitation he was moving his neck back and forth no strain, no hesitation, no medicine, no tension.
Glory to God He heals the stiff necked! :) :)
As soon as he came home, he waisted no time in asking me to pray for him. I gently placed my hand where it was hurting, because he said it hurt to touch, and here we go...prayer #1. After the first prayer he said he didn't really feel a difference. Okay cool then I'll do it again...prayer #2 he was able to touch his neck without it hurting something he couldn't do before without it throbbing. Well that's good but let's get it better...prayer#3 he moved his neck back and forth but with a little hesitation, but that was improvement from the previous state of turning his whole body just to look over his shoulder. We've got this far...let's pray again...prayer#4 after this prayer there was no hesitation he was moving his neck back and forth no strain, no hesitation, no medicine, no tension.
Glory to God He heals the stiff necked! :) :)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Soul Fuel...
Obedience. It's a word that can carry a lot of baggage in our freedom-loving, self-absorbed culture. It's a word that often makes us squirm.
But Jesus calls us to obedience.
Wouldn't it be a beautiful thing if every Christian gave 100% when called to obey the clear and simple commands of Christ: love God, love others, go and make disciples…
But frankly, most of us aren't there.
Christlike Obedience
Still, we're on a journey toward Jesus, hopefully growing step-by-step in learning to obey Him—growing in Christlikeness. It starts at the moment we trust in Jesus and continues for a lifetime.
If we're serious about encouraging this same growing process in our students, I'm convinced that we must learn to make evangelism a priority in our youth ministries. Sharing Jesus' message with others is a clear directive from Him. There's no disputing that John 20:21 and Matthew 28:19 lay it out there plainly enough for all of us. That's why it's so important to challenge your teenagers to take seriously Jesus' command in this area. It's a fundamental necessity for building life-long patterns and choices into teenagers' lives so they will learn to put Jesus first. If we fail to motivate and mobilize our students for deliberate, purposeful evangelism, they will begin to wonder whether they should take obedience to Jesus in any area of life seriously.
After all, teenagers are experts at picking up on hypocrisy.
Letting Simple Obedience Drive Outreach
I've actually found that teenagers are often better than many adults at taking Jesus' command to “go” seriously. For many adults, Jesus' words related to outreach have become so familiar that they've lost their potency and punch.
But teenagers, particularly those who are new in their faith, can be truly stirred by THE Cause of Christ and unleashed with a mission and message that can put adults to shame. Help them see their schools as a mission field. Train them how to explain the gospel clearly. And tap into the enthusiasm of new teen believers and help them reach out urgently to their lost friends.
If we take a long, hard look at Jesus' command to “go and make disciples,” simple obedience should actually be all the motivation any of us needs. But as we've been exploring in this energize Passion Fuels series, God graciously provides us with other motivational fuels that can help stir us to action if there are times when simple obedience isn't enough to hold our focus.
Step Up and Ignite the Passion
So unleash your teenagers for evangelism with this powerfully motivating passion fuel and challenge them to reach their friends with the Good News of the gospel. Here are a few ideas to help you:
But Jesus calls us to obedience.
Wouldn't it be a beautiful thing if every Christian gave 100% when called to obey the clear and simple commands of Christ: love God, love others, go and make disciples…
But frankly, most of us aren't there.
Christlike Obedience
Still, we're on a journey toward Jesus, hopefully growing step-by-step in learning to obey Him—growing in Christlikeness. It starts at the moment we trust in Jesus and continues for a lifetime.
If we're serious about encouraging this same growing process in our students, I'm convinced that we must learn to make evangelism a priority in our youth ministries. Sharing Jesus' message with others is a clear directive from Him. There's no disputing that John 20:21 and Matthew 28:19 lay it out there plainly enough for all of us. That's why it's so important to challenge your teenagers to take seriously Jesus' command in this area. It's a fundamental necessity for building life-long patterns and choices into teenagers' lives so they will learn to put Jesus first. If we fail to motivate and mobilize our students for deliberate, purposeful evangelism, they will begin to wonder whether they should take obedience to Jesus in any area of life seriously.
After all, teenagers are experts at picking up on hypocrisy.
Letting Simple Obedience Drive Outreach
I've actually found that teenagers are often better than many adults at taking Jesus' command to “go” seriously. For many adults, Jesus' words related to outreach have become so familiar that they've lost their potency and punch.
But teenagers, particularly those who are new in their faith, can be truly stirred by THE Cause of Christ and unleashed with a mission and message that can put adults to shame. Help them see their schools as a mission field. Train them how to explain the gospel clearly. And tap into the enthusiasm of new teen believers and help them reach out urgently to their lost friends.
If we take a long, hard look at Jesus' command to “go and make disciples,” simple obedience should actually be all the motivation any of us needs. But as we've been exploring in this energize Passion Fuels series, God graciously provides us with other motivational fuels that can help stir us to action if there are times when simple obedience isn't enough to hold our focus.
Step Up and Ignite the Passion
So unleash your teenagers for evangelism with this powerfully motivating passion fuel and challenge them to reach their friends with the Good News of the gospel. Here are a few ideas to help you:
- Study and pray through Jesus' commands to spread His message and process through what obedience to that call should look like in your own life. Then take at least one concrete step personally that will push you toward forward progress in following Jesus on this. For help with this, sign up for “evangephobia”—a free webcast on May 17th where we'll dive into how to make evangelism your friend. And invite another youth leader to attend, as well. There's strength in numbers.
- Share what you've learned with your students about obeying Jesus' call to share His message. Make sure they understand that obeying God in this area isn't about earning your way to heaven.
- Build a weekly “Take 5 for THE Cause” time into your youth group meeting time. Set aside a few minutes for teens to share specifically about their own efforts to share their faith with others. By making this a regular feature of your weekly routine, you'll build awareness and students can learn from each other's experiences. To get this ball rolling initially, you may need to provide an advance invitation to a few teenagers to share about spiritual conversations they've had with others.
Dare2share.org
What is Church?
This is a question that can have several answers depending on perspective. For most Americans church is a building, an organization that resembles a business. Church means pews, choir robes, instruments/band, attire, and lots of people. I went to church for 7 years at home as a child and even I had the idea that church was a building with lots of people. When I was asked what church I went to I was embarrassed to say I went to church at home. Funny how even as a child I had an artificial and, quite honestly, a superficial definition of church.
I was too young to see through my mom's eyes, that church is not in equipment, number, building, or any measurement by man's standards. When we look at the original meaning for church we see the simplicity in which this term was implied in scripture. Church is said to derive from the Latin word circus, circulus, or the Greek kuklos (kuklos) because the congregations were gathered in circles. Ecclesia (ekklesia) which is the Greek word for church, originally meant an assembly called out by the magistrate, or by legitimate authority.
This simple definition shows that there can be 2 or 3 (Matthew 18:20). Church is discipleship, fellowship, teaching, worship, and evangelism. Whether or not you have a piano, a drum, guitar, microphone or matching uniforms you can always come together to have church in Starbucks, Borders, in the basement, at the park, a nursing home, or anywhere. Christ did not restrict us to a location. How would anything get done if locations and things dictated the work of God? Let's be mindful of what we consider to be church, because those underlying definitions can keep us from realizing the true message and purpose. When you see Christ for who he is and understand your own identity the materialistic idea of church fades quickly. The world exalts music...but let's not forget Christ didn't have a band following him in ministry. Can you do without the church glamour and still present yourself to God?
I encourage you to have church and enjoy it for it's simplicity. Any family or friends that can come together to study the Word of God is having church regardless of music or location. Making God complex only makes it more difficult for us to serve Him according to His word.
NOTE: The purpose of church can be found in Ephesians 4.
I was too young to see through my mom's eyes, that church is not in equipment, number, building, or any measurement by man's standards. When we look at the original meaning for church we see the simplicity in which this term was implied in scripture. Church is said to derive from the Latin word circus, circulus, or the Greek kuklos (kuklos) because the congregations were gathered in circles. Ecclesia (ekklesia) which is the Greek word for church, originally meant an assembly called out by the magistrate, or by legitimate authority.
This simple definition shows that there can be 2 or 3 (Matthew 18:20). Church is discipleship, fellowship, teaching, worship, and evangelism. Whether or not you have a piano, a drum, guitar, microphone or matching uniforms you can always come together to have church in Starbucks, Borders, in the basement, at the park, a nursing home, or anywhere. Christ did not restrict us to a location. How would anything get done if locations and things dictated the work of God? Let's be mindful of what we consider to be church, because those underlying definitions can keep us from realizing the true message and purpose. When you see Christ for who he is and understand your own identity the materialistic idea of church fades quickly. The world exalts music...but let's not forget Christ didn't have a band following him in ministry. Can you do without the church glamour and still present yourself to God?
I encourage you to have church and enjoy it for it's simplicity. Any family or friends that can come together to study the Word of God is having church regardless of music or location. Making God complex only makes it more difficult for us to serve Him according to His word.
NOTE: The purpose of church can be found in Ephesians 4.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Don't Tell Me I'm Wrong!
Society has trained us to think that everything about ourselves is okay. I agree that physically we need to be comfortable with who we are, but there is a limit to this "everything is okay" statement. That limit is when we begin to look at our actions. Instead of pointing out wrongs, the world today teaches us that we aren't wrong about anything, and that all of our deeds are acceptable, that there are some deep rooted psychological reasons for what we did/do. This way of thinking allows us to shift the responsibility of our actions on our past, the way we were raised, an accident/incident, being too poor, being too rich, parents, siblings, extended family, the school we went to, the lack of a mentor, the neighborhood etc.
I do understand that the things that we do can be a result of one of the above mentioned factors, but this does not negate right from wrong regardless of thousands of reasons why. I am not belittling any ones reasons, but the reasons don't erase moral standards (right from wrong).
Recently I was about to send a message to a friend saying "live life without regrets" now in my mind that meant make the right choices so you don't have to regret it later. In the time that we live in now, that usually means, you do wrong and just be okay with it. Don't care what people think, be rude, mean, make mistakes, get abortions, hurt those around you and be cool with everything you do. In essence, people are making themselves a little "g" god. They make their own rules and everyone must adhere to the rules in their world. When we only love ourselves and not each other we are bound for a world full of conflict and hate.
The standards for right and wrong are quickly diminishing, because society is too busy being "politically correct". In order to be considered a good friend these days you can't disagree but you must go along with every decision they make, even if morally wrong. I watched a movie where a woman wanted to be inseminated because she so desperately wanted a baby. Her friend told her it was a bad idea. Once he didn't side with her on this decision she was infuriated and claimed him not to be a true friend. Friendship no longer has the endurance it once had. Apparently the rules have changed. You must agree with every action and thought of a friend even if you clearly see where they are wrong. People don't like their conscience being challenged to discern their actions. It's almost painful for someone to consider what their conscience is telling them to do because they so eagerly want to fulfill the lust of their flesh.
People find it easier and easier in their minds to cross boundaries. They blindly follow the trends of media. Little do they know that media (flyers, newspapers, radio, cassette tapes) was used in times past for war. Instead of using a fire arm, torment, or other tactics of violence, governments would use media to change the minds of the people to side with a particular political party.This method proved to be effective...and is still in use today.
Take into consideration where you are inwardly. Have you been padding down the wrong actions and in your heart you know something's wrong? Have you been justifying wrong actions and evaluating yourself based on your own standards, making yourself your own god? Fulfilling our lusts has temporary pleasure but a lasting effect. Don't follow the path of the majority. Christ has a path that is TRUE. He doesn't trick, decieve, or falsely allure us. We must align ourselves with God's standards not with the world's.
I do understand that the things that we do can be a result of one of the above mentioned factors, but this does not negate right from wrong regardless of thousands of reasons why. I am not belittling any ones reasons, but the reasons don't erase moral standards (right from wrong).
Recently I was about to send a message to a friend saying "live life without regrets" now in my mind that meant make the right choices so you don't have to regret it later. In the time that we live in now, that usually means, you do wrong and just be okay with it. Don't care what people think, be rude, mean, make mistakes, get abortions, hurt those around you and be cool with everything you do. In essence, people are making themselves a little "g" god. They make their own rules and everyone must adhere to the rules in their world. When we only love ourselves and not each other we are bound for a world full of conflict and hate.
The standards for right and wrong are quickly diminishing, because society is too busy being "politically correct". In order to be considered a good friend these days you can't disagree but you must go along with every decision they make, even if morally wrong. I watched a movie where a woman wanted to be inseminated because she so desperately wanted a baby. Her friend told her it was a bad idea. Once he didn't side with her on this decision she was infuriated and claimed him not to be a true friend. Friendship no longer has the endurance it once had. Apparently the rules have changed. You must agree with every action and thought of a friend even if you clearly see where they are wrong. People don't like their conscience being challenged to discern their actions. It's almost painful for someone to consider what their conscience is telling them to do because they so eagerly want to fulfill the lust of their flesh.
People find it easier and easier in their minds to cross boundaries. They blindly follow the trends of media. Little do they know that media (flyers, newspapers, radio, cassette tapes) was used in times past for war. Instead of using a fire arm, torment, or other tactics of violence, governments would use media to change the minds of the people to side with a particular political party.This method proved to be effective...and is still in use today.
Take into consideration where you are inwardly. Have you been padding down the wrong actions and in your heart you know something's wrong? Have you been justifying wrong actions and evaluating yourself based on your own standards, making yourself your own god? Fulfilling our lusts has temporary pleasure but a lasting effect. Don't follow the path of the majority. Christ has a path that is TRUE. He doesn't trick, decieve, or falsely allure us. We must align ourselves with God's standards not with the world's.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
How to Spiritually Capture a City
We are all looking to share the message of the Gospel of Christ as we should be, but sometimes we get stumped on how to spread it to the masses...
Curry Blake has a very effective strategic message on "How to Spiritually Capture a City" if you are an individual,group, or congregation seeking to find ways to share the gospel I'll be delighted to send you this 2 disc message. Inbox me your address or your churches address.
You can discuss this with other friends who share the passion of Christ and plan on spiritually taking over your city!
Facebook Name: Jazzmine Magloire
Curry Blake has a very effective strategic message on "How to Spiritually Capture a City" if you are an individual,group, or congregation seeking to find ways to share the gospel I'll be delighted to send you this 2 disc message. Inbox me your address or your churches address.
You can discuss this with other friends who share the passion of Christ and plan on spiritually taking over your city!
Facebook Name: Jazzmine Magloire
Friday, March 25, 2011
Christian vs Follower of Christ
Looking at this title you'd think "...but a Christian is a follower of Christ." That is what a Christian should be, yet if you were on the street and asked someone are you a Christian? They'd probably quickly answer yes. BUT if you asked are you a follower of Christ? They'd hesitate and ask "what do you mean?" Funny how a Christian is a follower of Christ yet many people don't govern their lives according to His teachings. Isn't that the very definition of a Christian?
I haven't been to many other countries ,but from missionaries I know personally and other testimonials, Americans seem to take on the term Christian easily without the actual FOLLOWING CHRIST attribute that it's name implies. How is it we've gotten into the habit (and teach others) to profess an identity without performing ANY of the characteristics of that identity? Okay that may sound a bit confusing so I'll put it like this. You say I am a Christian. However, your words, the things you watch, your attitude, and lifestyle don't even remotely resemble Christ. You profess Christ as Lord however you haven't submitted your life to him proving He is Lord. The majority of Christians want to see how much they can get away with and still be considered saved by their own definitions. There is only one way to accept Christ into your life. It's not by words, but by submitting your life.
Don't you find it strange that someone can admit to being a Christian yet take a pause if you ask them if they Follow Christ. Please don't be deceived there aren't degrees of Christianity. There's only black or white, no gray. You are either a follower or you're not. When you look at the life of Christ can you say "Yes, I do that!" Or " The next time this happens I'll react like Christ?" Do you read about His life and see how you are growing more and more into his image? I hope the answer is yes, because you're on the right track. If not, don't be upset or try to justify your actions. Dig into the word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truths. More important than revelation is your obedience to what you are learning.
Christ gave an example of two people. One person heard his words and did them. He said that person is wise because they have built their house on a strong foundation when the storm came. The second person also heard the word but did not do them. He called this person a fool because they've built their house on sand. When the same storm came their house was destroyed. (Matthew 7:24-26)
The difference? DOING what you hear. You only deceive yourself if you think you are taking on the name of Christ without walking/living by His words.
"Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" Luke 4:4
Grab your highlighters and highlight this section:
You only live by the word that you obey. If you don't obey it then you're not living by it.
If you are observing Christ's life and implementing the same principles in your life as He did you should be able to strongly answer "Yes!" regardless of how the question regarding your faith is posed.
I haven't been to many other countries ,but from missionaries I know personally and other testimonials, Americans seem to take on the term Christian easily without the actual FOLLOWING CHRIST attribute that it's name implies. How is it we've gotten into the habit (and teach others) to profess an identity without performing ANY of the characteristics of that identity? Okay that may sound a bit confusing so I'll put it like this. You say I am a Christian. However, your words, the things you watch, your attitude, and lifestyle don't even remotely resemble Christ. You profess Christ as Lord however you haven't submitted your life to him proving He is Lord. The majority of Christians want to see how much they can get away with and still be considered saved by their own definitions. There is only one way to accept Christ into your life. It's not by words, but by submitting your life.
Don't you find it strange that someone can admit to being a Christian yet take a pause if you ask them if they Follow Christ. Please don't be deceived there aren't degrees of Christianity. There's only black or white, no gray. You are either a follower or you're not. When you look at the life of Christ can you say "Yes, I do that!" Or " The next time this happens I'll react like Christ?" Do you read about His life and see how you are growing more and more into his image? I hope the answer is yes, because you're on the right track. If not, don't be upset or try to justify your actions. Dig into the word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truths. More important than revelation is your obedience to what you are learning.
Christ gave an example of two people. One person heard his words and did them. He said that person is wise because they have built their house on a strong foundation when the storm came. The second person also heard the word but did not do them. He called this person a fool because they've built their house on sand. When the same storm came their house was destroyed. (Matthew 7:24-26)
The difference? DOING what you hear. You only deceive yourself if you think you are taking on the name of Christ without walking/living by His words.
"Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" Luke 4:4
Grab your highlighters and highlight this section:
You only live by the word that you obey. If you don't obey it then you're not living by it.
If you are observing Christ's life and implementing the same principles in your life as He did you should be able to strongly answer "Yes!" regardless of how the question regarding your faith is posed.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Don't Let Your Sword Grow Dull
Out of the 10 knives I have one good knife that I use for chopping and cutting through thick/tough foods. It has a nice grip and handle on it. You wouldn't want this knife to come near a finger because it cuts through meat like cutting through butter. Well, that was the knife when I first got it. As I was washing my "favorite" knife today I noticed that through so much use it's growing a bit dull.
If I don't sharpen the knife it won't chop,cut, slice like I know it could. The effectiveness of the knife solely depends on my up keep of it. If I sharpen it, it can continue to do its job effectively.
This makes me think about our weapon of warfare...the SWORD also referred to as the Word of God.
We can't let the word of God grow dull in our hearts. The Word of God is effective but if you don't sharpen yourself in it, it cannot work on your behalf. It can't pierce the enemy when he attacks.
We have an awesome shield of faith that will quench the enemy's every fiery dart. So imagine an arrow that's on fire coming towards you, but once it makes contact with your shield, instead of melting into the material of the shield, or instead of having to drop the shield and run, your shield puts the fire out and the arrow is ineffective. You are left unharmed. Bless God for such as unique shield.
Not only do we want to be protected to withstand against the enemies darts, we want to be able to throw some punches too, right? We want to get a few wounds in on him for trying to affect our health, our finances, families, community, city, state, etc. He wants us to fall back into the ways of our "old man." So be on the look out for temptations too. Satan shouldn't get away scott-free without a scar on him. Hence, our Swords need to be sharpened daily in the Word of God so we can slice and dice him out of our lives. Learn and understand the word of God so when Satan makes his attack you can say "You are a LIAR. The Word of God has said...." We take this lesson from Luke 4 when Jesus was being tempted Jesus always told Satan what God said. Let's follow suit. The Word of God has many purposes, but let's not forget that it is a WEAPON OF OUR WARFARE!
SHARPEN YOUR SWORD AND GO TO WAR UNAFRAID!
If I don't sharpen the knife it won't chop,cut, slice like I know it could. The effectiveness of the knife solely depends on my up keep of it. If I sharpen it, it can continue to do its job effectively.
This makes me think about our weapon of warfare...the SWORD also referred to as the Word of God.
We can't let the word of God grow dull in our hearts. The Word of God is effective but if you don't sharpen yourself in it, it cannot work on your behalf. It can't pierce the enemy when he attacks.
We have an awesome shield of faith that will quench the enemy's every fiery dart. So imagine an arrow that's on fire coming towards you, but once it makes contact with your shield, instead of melting into the material of the shield, or instead of having to drop the shield and run, your shield puts the fire out and the arrow is ineffective. You are left unharmed. Bless God for such as unique shield.
Not only do we want to be protected to withstand against the enemies darts, we want to be able to throw some punches too, right? We want to get a few wounds in on him for trying to affect our health, our finances, families, community, city, state, etc. He wants us to fall back into the ways of our "old man." So be on the look out for temptations too. Satan shouldn't get away scott-free without a scar on him. Hence, our Swords need to be sharpened daily in the Word of God so we can slice and dice him out of our lives. Learn and understand the word of God so when Satan makes his attack you can say "You are a LIAR. The Word of God has said...." We take this lesson from Luke 4 when Jesus was being tempted Jesus always told Satan what God said. Let's follow suit. The Word of God has many purposes, but let's not forget that it is a WEAPON OF OUR WARFARE!
SHARPEN YOUR SWORD AND GO TO WAR UNAFRAID!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Revisit and Resist
John 13:2
The devil entered Judas Iscariot to carry out a mission to betray Jesus. Judas didn’t reject or question this thought/idea to destroy the works of Jesus.
We have thoughts/ideas in us that tell us to do something that would stop a production. Jesus came to carry out the greatest mission ever and there was a thought in Judas to cease the work of Christ. Although this was prophesied and necessary to happen, I thought of this in a different way.
Satan enters into our thoughts/ideas to stop or cease a work in us...
Whether it be to give money, time or some other form of sacrifice we are not willing to do we are ceasing the work of Jesus in us. We know that what Jesus brings Satan brings in the exact opposite. The Holy Spirit creates, brings Life, and gives birth, productivity, victory, bears fruit and so on. Satan is a stopper, he ceases works, and he postpones/hinders, blocks, brings death, decreases motivation, and operates solely out of defeat. Satan is the master of defeat. He knows how to be defeated because he IS defeated and that is all he wants to bring into our lives. If there is a thought or idea that you have that brings forth life, fruit, productivity, or is a new creation that idea was given by God. If, however, there are thoughts that follow that thought (especially once you become active in developing that idea) that tells you, you can’t it is the enemy putting a block and trying to cease the life of that idea. He comes to destroy the work! If there is a passion in you for ministry, a business, but all you hear is “I can’t because of…” whether your past, a title, another person, money, family, time, lack of knowledge etc. the idea that Satan has placed in you is "not me" or "not now."
If you get a little resistance when you are trying to “birth” something don’t be shocked or surprised. Every woman when she gives birth is in travail. You may have obstacles but obstacles don’t mean stop…it means PUSH. The worst thing you can do is stop because once you do you have joined the enemy in his way of thinking…DEFEATED. Most if not all business have obstacles initially because it is a learning experience for you. If this is your first time starting your own band, restaurant, designing firm, investing company, you will have obstacles so just expect that. Christ came and brought forth the ultimate LIFE yet the Pharisees followed him giving him a hard time all the way till the end. What if Christ stopped as soon as there was a challenge?
You have to prepare yourself to face challenges, but challenges does not mean defeat it means a greater Victory!!! You can look back and see what you overcame instead of stopping right there.
Revisit the things you want to see produced in your life. The things you have a desire to do but keep stopping every time you get to a certain point. Look back over those things and say “why can’t I?” Most of us think that hindrances are from God. Satan uses our belief and love for God as a means to keep us from giving life, producing, planning out the God given ideas in our hearts.
Too many versus in the bible assure God’s people that we have the green light to produce whatever we want and it will be successful. Where did we get “we can’t?” or “I am not.” When the Great “I AM” lives in us there is not a thing we aren’t capable of doing or being. We have to get out of the box the devil put us in. The only person that should be in a box is the devil and any one that doesn’t believe. Believers resemble their Heavenly Father…limitless, no boundaries. We don’t see boundaries as unbelievers do because we are the son’s and daughters of the Father of the UNIVERSE. If there is a business idea that you thought you couldn’t do because of lack of funds, start believing out of the box for the start-up capital. Why can’t you? Ask God to help you develop a savings plan with your current finances that will put you in a position not to have to borrow to get the business started. Ask the Father to put you in the company of others who have done/are doing what you seek after and partner with them. There is no need to be like the lepers who sat on the outside of the camp. (Hopefully you know this story.) 2 Kings 7:3 They went down into the camp…while on their way, the camp heard thousands of chariots and they feared and left everything they owned…low and behold it was only the lepers. The lepers received food, silver, gold and much more!
Don’t stay on the outside of the camp when God will prepare miraculous ways for you to prosper. Get busy doing something for your business. Don’t let Satan cease the life that is in you. There are businesses in you, ministries in you, and Satan say’s “no” but God says “You’ve Already Got It!”
This is not to get you all hyped up about what God can do only. This is also to reveal the works of Satan. There are strip clubs, bars, liquor stores, and all manner of evil businesses floating around America
We drop our hands and say it must not have been God’s will. Why? Because the business didn’t appear out of the ground? The world seems to be better fighters than us, they seem to handle obstacles better than us and challenges better than we do. Yet we claim an all powerful God but we’re never willing to fight/stand up for what we believe in. This says a lot about our faith in God…
I urge you to go over those things your heart desired. Don’t let Satan plant anymore of his ideas into your mind. Revisit the creative ideas and resist the ideas of Satan that it's not going to work.
Let the Holy Spirit (producer of Life) order your steps. He’ll tell you who to do business with and who not to, what to spend your money on and is it worth it, etc.
God wants us to take over with our businesses. Business is another form of creating life and ministry is Life.
Scriptures:
James 1:17 Romans 8:32 1 Peter 1:3 3 John 2
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Frozen Finger Conviction
Lately I have been experiencing immediate results when "laying hands on the sick." It's become fun, however, I still have those moments when I see someone and thoughts come NOT to pray for them. How could I walk away knowing I have the ability/authority to change the way someone feels in their body? Dreadful thought. Not to mention the guilt in walking away.
Well, I was in Wal-Mart this morning. Mind you, it was FREEZING outside and I thought I could get away with a jacket. My ring finger on my left hand has the tendency to go numb yet hurt pretty painfully when it gets cold. I don't know when this started or why it happens, all I know is the pain. I kept trying to warm that finger up to take the pain away but nothing was helping. So something says "pray for it."
Duhhhhh, you'd think I autmotically think this by now.
So under my breath there in Wal-Mart I commanded the pain to leave...guess what...I felt it tingle as if the pain was disintegrating and it left immediately. Of course, I'm just totally hyped after that. Less than 5 minutes later as I continue shopping, I walk down the pamper aisle and see a mother, a child in an electronic wheelchair, the father and another baby in the cart.
Here we go with the battle:
Ask if I can pray with them.
Don't ask.
What if they get offended.
You have the power in you to heal...DO IT.
But they might get offended....
Your finger just got healed instantly, you can change this boys life and his family's life!
What if he doesn't get healed.
What if he does.
You can imagine the back and forth in my mind.
I had to walk passed them twice to get what I needed. All the while pondering these thoughts. I left that section and so did they. While in the toy section, searching for toys my kids don't need, I remember the last opportunity I missed and how that made me feel. All I could think about was how my frozen finger was just instantly healed proving that the power is dwelling in me and when released miracles are possible. My frozen finger convicted me to march through Wal-Mart and let healing be released into their son's life. Why was I convicted? Because my little finger was cold, power was released to heal something as small as a pain in a finger. Here I am withholding that same power to heal and change the life of a parapalegic. His power is sooooo great and that GREAT power healed my itty bitty finger, what would make me think this GREAT power wouldn't heal this little boy. It is the magnitude of the power that matters not the size/difficulty of the issue.
I started my search around Wal-mart for this family hoping they hadn't left. They were in the frozen food aisle with other shoppers. YAAAY! A year ago it would have mattered to me that there were so many people in the aisle, but today it was like everyone disappeared and all I could see was the mission. I thought of a good introduction to try my best not to offend them. The father so welcomingly said, "We get this all the time, go right ahead! We'll be right here." I didn't ask what the issue was all I needed to know is God is Jehovah-Rapha/Healer. The boy is 6 years old and can't move anything but a finger to get around in the chair. I laid my hand on him and prayed. I walked away in confidence of their son recovering!
Well, I was in Wal-Mart this morning. Mind you, it was FREEZING outside and I thought I could get away with a jacket. My ring finger on my left hand has the tendency to go numb yet hurt pretty painfully when it gets cold. I don't know when this started or why it happens, all I know is the pain. I kept trying to warm that finger up to take the pain away but nothing was helping. So something says "pray for it."
Duhhhhh, you'd think I autmotically think this by now.
So under my breath there in Wal-Mart I commanded the pain to leave...guess what...I felt it tingle as if the pain was disintegrating and it left immediately. Of course, I'm just totally hyped after that. Less than 5 minutes later as I continue shopping, I walk down the pamper aisle and see a mother, a child in an electronic wheelchair, the father and another baby in the cart.
Here we go with the battle:
Ask if I can pray with them.
Don't ask.
What if they get offended.
You have the power in you to heal...DO IT.
But they might get offended....
Your finger just got healed instantly, you can change this boys life and his family's life!
What if he doesn't get healed.
What if he does.
You can imagine the back and forth in my mind.
I had to walk passed them twice to get what I needed. All the while pondering these thoughts. I left that section and so did they. While in the toy section, searching for toys my kids don't need, I remember the last opportunity I missed and how that made me feel. All I could think about was how my frozen finger was just instantly healed proving that the power is dwelling in me and when released miracles are possible. My frozen finger convicted me to march through Wal-Mart and let healing be released into their son's life. Why was I convicted? Because my little finger was cold, power was released to heal something as small as a pain in a finger. Here I am withholding that same power to heal and change the life of a parapalegic. His power is sooooo great and that GREAT power healed my itty bitty finger, what would make me think this GREAT power wouldn't heal this little boy. It is the magnitude of the power that matters not the size/difficulty of the issue.
I started my search around Wal-mart for this family hoping they hadn't left. They were in the frozen food aisle with other shoppers. YAAAY! A year ago it would have mattered to me that there were so many people in the aisle, but today it was like everyone disappeared and all I could see was the mission. I thought of a good introduction to try my best not to offend them. The father so welcomingly said, "We get this all the time, go right ahead! We'll be right here." I didn't ask what the issue was all I needed to know is God is Jehovah-Rapha/Healer. The boy is 6 years old and can't move anything but a finger to get around in the chair. I laid my hand on him and prayed. I walked away in confidence of their son recovering!
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