Power of Extravagance

Key Scripture:  “ God can do anything you know-far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!  He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us.” Ephesians 3:20

Power Point:

The other day I was reading a prayer which said, “Lord, be extravagant in my heart” That’s an absolutely wonderful thing to ask God for isn’t it?  Extravagant means lavish, or over the top.  I like that definition. God will You be over the top in my life today?  Will You be extravagant with Your love and mercy, and your power and provision?

Can you ask Him for that? Is your mind set on just getting by when God is ready to spend all that He has for you today? Our world economy is running short isn’t it?  God never runs out of resources for us Beloved. Our world is governed by lack, and fear of lack isn’t it?  God thinks that’s a lousy way to live your life. He’s really into abundance-and in case you’ve forgotten, that means more than enough.

Most Extravagant Ice Cream Cone

Take a moment and envision heaven. Can you imagine the expanse of it and the rich supply of everything that is there? Can you imagine that anyone there has a need that is not met or is fearful that tomorrow there won’t be enough? Of course not!  The truth is that God is all about bringing heaven to earth right now for His kids. He wants you to live in the mindset that is in heaven, every need met, no lack, an extravagant God with lavish joy in giving whatever is needed at the moment. Do you remember the God who says that “giving is better than receiving”? Do you remember His measure for giving?  Do you remember “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over”!

He wants us to be filled with His fullness so that it can run over in our lives and so that His power can actually energetically, lavishly, and extravagantly work in us. Today. Now. Forever.

I don’t know about you but I intend to make more room in my life for the overflow of God’s extravagant presence in my heart. I want to more of Him to work in me. Don’t you?

Power Thought:

World's Largest Diamond

You have more than enough of everything you could ever need when you allow the extravagance of God to work in your life.

Power of Being Root Bound

Power of Being “Root-bound”

Key Scripture:  “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it-we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are” I John 3:1, The Message

Power Point:

Sometimes I’ve seen plants that are “root-bound”.  They’ve gotten too big for their pots and they can’t grow anymore. There’s so much life in there but its never going to be able to be what it was meant to be because the roots have no room to grow.  Aren’t we like that with the things of the kingdom?  We are rooted and grounded in so many powerful life-changing truths but we stay in the same little pot that we were in before Jesus touched our lives. All that God has for us still has life but it will never grow because the roots have no good soil and space to do what they were always intended to do.

Are you more “earth-bound” or “heaven bound”?  Do you need to get a bigger “pot” for the truths of what Jesus did for you to grow and reach up to the light of heaven?  Did you know that not only were you forgiven “enough” to make it to heaven but that Jesus always intended that the roots of His abundance would have room to grow in your life? Did you know that you are a delight to Him? Did you know that He came to uproot every single thing in your life that the devil has planted? Are you aware that He came to heal, and move you from the old pot of lack and hopelessness and “just getting by”, to the new pot of faith, hope, love, and extravagant HELP from the King of kings and the Lord of Lords?

Beloved, every thing that Jesus died to give you is for you. It is there to transplant you from old to new. He is ready, willing and able to take you out of your tiny earthbound thinking and repot you into a new container that gives heaven room to grow in your thinking. He would love to take you to wide open spaces and plant a whole new garden of seeds.

In a nursery they will plant many seeds in tiny little pots and the ones that begin to sprout will be moved to a larger pot.  Ultimately that tiny seed becomes a plant that is meant to be repotted in good soil where it can reach its full potential. That’s exactly what Jesus wants to do in your life.  The truth’s of your salvation were never meant to simply be added to the old life.  They were meant to create a new life that is, well- “new”! 

What are you doing with the seeds of the truth of healing?  What about the seeds of God’s love for you. What do you think He really thinks about you?  Did you know that in 3 John God says, “I pray for good fortune in everything you do, and for your good health-that your everyday affairs prosper, as well as your soul!”  Does that truth have room to grow in your heart?  Is it time for you to get a bigger pot?  Probably.  Heaven is all about growing and multiplying the seeds of life in you. It’s a flourishing, vibrant atmosphere that brings “new” life that continually transforms old things. You were never meant to stay where you are. You were always meant to move on to bigger and better things where heaven can multiply as you bring it to earth.

Power Thought:

Which kingdom Truth needs to have room to grow in your life today? Are you earth-bound or heaven bound? Where are your roots?

Power of Being Powered UP!

Key Scripture:  “Now to HIm who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the church in Jesus.”  Ephesians 3:20

Power Point:

Are you powered UP! for a miracle?

Are you powered UP with the presence of God?

Are you powered UP with joy?

Are you powered UP! with amazing?

Where is your power coming from today?  Is it your will power , or your “gut-strength”  or your limited understanding of what “the power is that works in you”?  Then you are probably not powered UP! for abundance today.

God gets a really bad reputation from people who never dig deeper into Who He wants to be for them and What He intends for them.  They stop at the forgiveness of the cross and refuse to realize that there was a whole incredible lifetime of abundance waiting in the wings. If you study the book of Ephesians you will hear the cry of Paul’s heart as he tries to express the glorious things that Jesus has done for us. When you think about it, Paul had a lot of strength in his own right.  He had a lot of knowledge about God and was a well-respected teacher of the law. Then one day, on a trip to Damascus He really met Jesus up close and personal. Ephesians is the result of Paul going from death to life, from knowledge to wisdom, from darkness to Light and from the natural to the supernatural.

When Christ is allowed to pour His life into our hearts, we become rooted and grounded in who He is for us. We begin to get an inkling of the love and compassion, the mercy and the extravagant goodness of God for us.  Based on that foundation we open our hearts to understand more about Him and then the power of God is able to do exceedingly, above and beyond all that we could ever ask, think or dream up on our own. Way beyond.  It’s when we seek God, and believe Him when He says that the power can “work” in us. The word “works” is one of the four words for “energy” in the New Testament. It describes active operation of the power of God or that power being allowed to work with such energy in us that the results are supernatural and God gets the glory, because, or course, when God shows up it is always amazing!

You can get powered UP! by diving into the Truth that sets you free and not ever coming up for air. You can get powered UP! by moving out the “old” thoughts and launching into “the mind of Christ”. I think you can see that He never had a problem with the “power working in Him.” He was “empowered” and “in power” every day of His life. So was Paul. They believed God would do what HE said and did not listen to everyone else who believed that He wouldn’t.

You have the same ability to choose life that they did my friends. So do I. One of the big sellers today are “energy drinks”. Everyone needs more energy to live their busy lives. Isn’t it wonderful that your “energy” for an abundant life is perfectly “free” for you today? You don’t have to stand in line and spend your hard earned money for it, it is free for the asking. You already have the power in you. Are you powered UP! for amazing?

Power Thought:

You have the strength, power, and ability to bring heaven to earth today.  How's it working for you?

Power of People Picking

Key Scripture: “Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.”  Matthew 7:1-5

Power Point:

There are a lot of good things you can pick. You can pick flowers. You can pick fruit from the fruit trees. You can pick fresh produce at the grocery store. If you don’t want to cook, you can pick up a tasty meal on your way home from work. 

There are some things that God is very specific about us NOT picking and that’s when we start picking on other people.  There are two good reasons for not being a “people picker”.  Number one is that God doesn’t like it.  He Himself does not judge and condemn us so its probably a good rule of thumb that we shouldn’t do that either, especially if we want to be more like Him. If you “pick someone to pieces” every chance you get, then you probably are going to find yourself being picked on and picked apart by other people. I was praying for someone who was going through a really rough time not long ago.  They were being “picked on” by several people in their workplace.  As I was praying one day, I clearly saw that although this person was nice to me, they frequently were critical of other people to me.  In fact, they were reaping exactly what they had sown. Ouch!

The deeper we grow in our relationship with our heavenly Father the more we begin to think like Jesus. The more we begin to love like "They" love then “picking” needs to move out of our frame of reference doesn’t it?  If we’re commanded to love one another, being critical of another person shouldn’t even enter the picture should it? 

When I find myself falling back into that very bad pattern of thinking I run to Jesus and ask Him to help me be transformed by the wonderful thoughts in His mind. I’m believing that one day, very soon, I won’t even allow those thoughts and those harsh words to even enter my mind!

You see, I really love God, and I certainly don’t want to make Him sad by picking on people that He loves. And, to be honest, I don’t want to reap those results in my own life.

Will you join me today to begin an “anti-people-picking” crusade? If you hear someone being critical of someone else then find something positive to say. Don’t allow other people to pull you down the slippery slope of picking on people and jumping on their failures. We simply must stop trying to make people jump through our hoops to get our approval.  Decide right now that judging, and criticizing and “people-picking” are just not in your vocabulary any more.

“…we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it.”

Power Thought:

When I speak, God listens. (Will it be good or that could be bad?)

Power of Being Left Behind

Key Scripture:  “I will never, no never, no never leave you or forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5, Amplified Bible

Power Point:

A few years ago Julie and I prayed for a young woman who life was being traumatized by fear.  Even though she was married and had a child of her own, she was not happy.  As we allowed the Holy Spirit to lead us back into what had caused this trauma, she remembered as a three or four year old child being forgotten by her mom.  The mother had just begun working again and she was so busy she forgot to pick up her daughter from nursery school. Fortunately, another mother realized the problem and called the mom and stayed with her daughter until she could get there.  I’m sure the mom was devastated and I’m sure she apologized profusely but in that child’s heart she never forgot the time she was left at her school. It framed her whole life for years.

Jesus knows that about us Beloved.  He knows that we hear the lie from Satan daily that God doesn’t care and He will ultimately leave us to work things out on our own. Do you think that’s why He made it crystal clear in the book of Hebrews that no matter what happens or who happens in our lives, He himself will never, no never, no never leave us behind.  In fact, I heard someone say recently that when He says He will never leave us, He is speaking about leaving us physically and when He talks about forsaking us, He is referring to an emotional abandonment. That pretty well covers everything doesn’t it?

He will never leave us behind emotionally or physically. Nothing can ever separate us from His love for us.

One of the most popular Christian books of all time is “Left Behind”.  It is a novel about the rapture of the church-that time when Jesus returns and takes His followers out of earth and –well, literally, all hell breaks loose.  But the point is that Jesus promised us He would never ever leave us alone. He has provided each of His children with His own Holy Spirit so that will never ever happen.  And emotionally, that same Holy Spirit is there to bring Jesus’ perspective in our hearts so that we think His thoughts and fell what He feels every day of our lives. You can see that when there is danger, Jesus delivers us. When there is anything coming against His kids, He has us covered and protected. And He never leaves us behind.

I don’t know what you are going through right now but I do know this. God is “in it” with you. He has not gone on to bigger and better things and left you behind. You never have to experience the pain of being forsaken or forgotten. He is with you. Maybe that’s why He wanted us to know that one of His names is “Immanuel”, God with us. It’s really important to Him that you remember that. 

Power Thought:

There is Someone who would never, no never, no never, leave you behind.

Power of Leaning Past

            

Key Scripture:  “Lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

Power Point:

I just can’t understand why I can’t understand everything God tells me.  I mean I can read the words but sometimes they are simply beyond the realm of my understanding.  For example, God says, that He has given me a promise for everything I will ever need in this life. What? I don’t understand how that’s possible.  Do you?

He says that He will give me the things I desire and dream about as well as the things I need to live.  How is that possible?

He tells me that if I trust Him, He will take me to heaven with Him when I die. Really? Could heaven be real?

I don’t know. The things that I “know” in my head sometimes keep my heart from pushing past my understanding into God’s peace. His thoughts are always higher than mine!  Sometimes I just don’t get it!

How about you? Do you have problems leaning past your understanding into believing God’s promises? Are you struggling to explain the unexplainable and accept His words on faith?   Faith? Faith! Faith requires us to lean past what we know and understand so that we  can touch, taste, feel, see past our own understanding and lean into God’s power.  Faith requires pushing past the parameters of your understanding into the fullness of God. We’re to become “believers who really believe”. We are to be a people who push past and lean into and lean on God with a vibrant anticipation of His goodness for us.

How can that happen? First of all, we have to know that He is good and that He never changes any part of that.  We have to continually develop our consciousness of his character until the goodness of His grace and mercy become real to us and we “understand” that He’s different from us.  To put it simply, He doesn’t think like us at all. He’s not as concerned with people making mistakes as much as He is about making up what they lack in their experience of Him.

Beloved, if you really thought He was good, wouldn’t you want to be with Him more? Wouldn’t you trust Him more? If you really understood grace and mercy, wouldn’t you ask Him for help more often since those words really mean that He loves to help any time and all the time? If you could push pass your limited understanding of His unconditional, unsurpassed love for you, wouldn’t you lean into everything else He has for you?

Wouldn’t you lean into His peace? Wouldn’t you lean into His plans for your future? Wouldn’t you lean into Him because you’ve learned to understand that His goodness is way beyond understanding but its there just the same?

Will you take a chance on leaning into and on Him today just because He tells you that He’s there for you and wants you to trust Him with your life?

Power Thought:

 Proverbs says that in "all our getting, get understanding." Push past your limited understanding into the fullness of who He is for you, and rest in the peace of not knowing the "why" or the "how" but Who He is. For you.

Power of Waiting and Seeing

Key Scripture: "No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."  Psalms 84:10

Power Point:

Many times when I was a child, I could hardly wait for the surprises on my birthday or at Christmas.  If I asked my mom what I was getting she would always say, “Wait and see!” The process of expectation was great fun. My imagination would run wild with thoughts of the presents that would soon be mine.

I’ve found that my heavenly Father is very much invested in teaching me to “wait and see” just as my mother was. In fact, I have found that He fills the “waiting” with wonderful thoughts of what I can expect from Him. He LOVES the waiting and He wants us to love it too.

One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 64:4,5.  It tells us that no one has ever seen a God like our God who faithfully and steadfastly acts for the one who waits to see what He will do.

In fact,  in the Hebrew, it says that He meets us as we come to Him. He is coming toward us as we are coming toward Him in expectation of His goodness.  But here is the key: He meets the one who is waiting expectantly, confidently assured that He is coming toward them.

I love Jesus “famous last Words”, in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…then you will be My witnesses.”  He was telling them to “wait” for what was coming next. And what was coming next was the greatest flow of power from heaven to earth that had ever been seen. No one had seen a God like that before. So, what did they do?  They waited.  And waited. And waited some more.

And what happened next? “Suddenly, (after a long time of waiting), there came a sound from heaven like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. …And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” I guess you could say, it was worth the wait.

Beloved, God is on His way to meet you with powerful answers, and perfect peace, and wonderful surprises from heaven. Will He meet you on the path?  Are you the one who is confidently moving toward Him with great expectation?

Well pack your bags and start moving in the right direction. God is already acting on your behalf. Don’t you want to see what He’s doing?

Power Thought:

The God who created heaven and earth has created something wonderful for you. Just wait and see!

POWER OF HIS PRESENCE

Power of His Presence

Key Scripture: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” Psalms 139:7

Power Point:

One of the attributes of God is that He is Omnipresent.  That’s a big word that simply means that He is everywhere all the time.  King David was obviously thinking about that when He wrote Psalms 103 and 139. Can you imagine him lying out under the heavens one night, looking at the stars knowing that God had created them and placed them there for his pleasure. Imagine thinking about how incredible God was and how He filled each tiny space around him with His goodness.  Think about how the reality must have hit him that God’s goodness was with him whether he was alone in a field or in the presence of kings. God was there. Everywhere.

Omnipresence means that wherever we go today we are surrounded by grace and mercy. We are covered with love.  We are hugged by His peace. It flows over us and into us as we tap into what is all around us every moment of every single day of our lives. If He is everywhere in every place at every moment, is He not there in your circumstances with you?  Is He not able to know exactly what is going on? And is He not able to help? Is He not able to change things? Is He not able to bring heaven to earth?

Perhaps David wrote these songs of praise after his failure with Bathsheba. He understood with all his heart the forgiveness of God was everywhere for him. The fragrance of the incredible gift of forgiveness stunned him didn’t it? Everything within Him basked in the fact of being forgiven, everywhere for everything. He knew God. He never struggled with coming to Him at any time because He understood that wherever he walked, grace and mercy walked with Him.

With all our modern technology we can pretty much go anywhere can’t we? We really can dive to the depths of the sea.  We can soar to the heavens on our space shuttles. But we cannot go anywhere where we will not find Him. He fills everything. This is such a glorious truth isn’t it?

Sometimes we believe that lie that God doesn’t see us or hear us. We believe that we are insignificant, left to make our way through life alone, needing to figure it all out by ourselves. When we ask Jesus into our lives, His Holy Spirit comes to live in us and that incredible Spirit connects us to the presence of God everywhere for us. There is no place you can go where He is not, Beloved! There’s no wilderness too harsh, or no hospital that is out of His reach. There is no family where He is not available to bring His love.

Everywhere you go today, tomorrow and forever are filled with all the goodness of God. You’d have to work really hard not to trip over it!  Yes there’s His mercy for you in that situation. Yes, there is His favor upon you and there is the touch of His hand for healing. There is the Savior who saves, the Redeemer who redeems and the Lover of your soul. Yes, even there His hand will lead you and even there He will hold you. Even in that place He forgives you and in that place His grace and mercy walk with you.

Everywhere. In every place you are.  Forever and ever Amen! Thank You Jesus.

Power Thought:

You are enclosed in the presence of understanding, wisdom, power and the One who walks every step with you. And He's very very good. It’s a lot to take in isn’t it?

Power of a Liability

Key Scripture: "If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father.  He loves to help."  James 1:5

Power Point:

A liability is something that puts you at a disadvantage. For example if you want to buy a new house and you have a bad credit rating-that's a liability.

Or if you want to take an ocean voyage but you are subject to seasickness-thats a definite liability.

If we try to live the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit we are at a definite disadvantage, sort of like trying to drive a car with no gas in the tank. We can have the best of intentions but we won't be going anywhere until we get filled up. I can sit in my car in the garage all day long and not be able to move an inch until I put gas in my tank. The only other way I could get anywhere is by getting out and pushing- but I don't get very far because I'm not strong enough on my own. Doing things in my own power is a liability.

For many years I tried to live the Christian life without the proper fuel in my tank. I simply didn't understand that the Holy Spirit was there to help. I would screw up my courage or talk my will into having the power it needed and it might work for a period of time but "pushing" was hard! When  I learned the value of keeping my tank full of Spirit power what had been hard work before became much easier. When I learned that the Christian life was a partnership with Holy Spirit and that He intended to enjoy the journey it changed my whole outlook. 

Remember when Jesus said, "I only do the things I see My Father do and I only say the things I hear Him say"?  Jesus was never at a disadvantage was He?  That's because He knew the value of partnership with Holy Spirit. He never "pushed".  A tandem bike is a great picture of this.  Jesus knew that He, (yes, the Savior of the World) needed to sit on the back seat and let Holy Spirit take the lead. Do you remember when He would walk through the villages and hundreds of people would be holding out their hands for His touch? He knew exactly who to touch didn't He? He waited until He "saw" in His spirit what He was supposed to do next.

That really is the key to the successful Christian life Beloved.  It works best when you wait on Him each day to fill your tank. You listen to His instructions and then you go forward.  I know in my own life I spent many years marching off and then asking Holy Spirit to bless what I was doing instead of quietly waiting for His direction. I could have saved myself a whole lot of trouble if only I had taken advantage of the power that was in me.

If you do not want to be at a disadvantage in living the kingdom life, perhaps you would be better off learning to partner with the Power within you before you make a move anywhere. That's God's original intention so that you never need to "PUSH!" on your own.

Power Thought:

The Christian life was always meant to be an intimate partnership that goes somewhere!

Power of Trickle Down Love

Key Scripture:  “Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends.”  John 15:13

Power Point:

When was the last time you really sat back and thought about how much God loves you?

As I as just “being” with Him this morning I began to think about that. In Ephesians 3:19 it says that if we begin to understand that Love, it becomes our vehicle for being filled with the fullness of God.  Maybe we should think about it more often.

In Jeremiah 31:3 God says He has loved us with a love that lasts forever. That means that no matter what happened today- tomorrow you will wake up loved by God. It means that whatever happened in your past cannot separate you from the love that led Jesus to the cross. God demonstrated His love there for the whole world to see but until we understand that truth we won’t ever be able to be full of knowing the love He has for us. 

Love is who God is. Loving, generous and kind acts are what He does. I remember years ago, driving with my family through southern cities where there were big billboards along the way declaring that you needed to “Repent!” or go to hell. Those signs did not make me want to know God. I’ve known people who try to get people ”saved” by scaring the socks off them talking about their future in hell. I think God has had about enough of that kind of thinking,  don't you?

God demonstrated His love for us in Jesus. He showed us the ultimate picture of what real love is like didn’t He? Jesus walked this earth in order to destroy every plan that Satan had for us, and He went about doing ONLY good and healing those who were hurting because that’s what His Father has always wanted to do.

That’s the message we need to remember. Love has poured down from heaven and the windows of heaven are wide open for His love to fill the earth. That’s His plan. That’s what He wants us to know. God is not concerned about your sin. He’s already dealt with that in His love.  He wants us to focus on His love for us so that we can be filled to overflowing with love that spreads the word about Who He really is. He does not want a "trickle" of His love in us and through us. He wants a free flowing gusher!

It is your joy today to release God’s love for the person next door or any other person He puts in your path today. If you really want to make him smile then take the restrictions off the love of God that is flowing to you and in you and release it to the world. 
As God has demonstrated that to us it looks like this:

You can lay down your life for someone else; you can be kind, you can expect the best of someone, intercede for them, speak grace-filled words to them.You can magnify the goodness of God to them. Isn’t it time we stopped thinking about ourselves so much and begin to think about Him and His love for us and how we can bless and thank Him for that?

Picture a fire hydrant and how sometimes in the hot summer days the firemen will turn on the hydrant and let the children play in the cool water. That's what God's love does for us. It refreshes our hearts and helps us to stand the heat.

Heaven isn’t thinking about hell Beloved. It’s waiting to release peace on earth and joy to the world. It’s waiting to release a gusher of love in your little corner of the world today. That’s your assignment, should you choose to accept it.Take off the restrictions and turn on the flow!

Power Thought:

Just look at the way in which God has demonstrated His love for us. Let it really sink in that there will never be another moment in your life when you are not totally and completely and sacrificially loved by Him. Don't trickle that truth Beloved-shout it loud and clear.

Power of Loyalty

Key Scripture: “God is faithful…” I Corinthians 1:9

Power Point:

I was thinking about the word “loyalty” this morning. As the years have passed I have come to realize that this one attribute is really important to me. I was reading somewhere that a family pulled up to a nursing home and dropped off their grandfather at the front door and sped off, never to see him again.

Unbelievable. Yet it seems to be a thread in the fabric of our society that people and things are easily discarded. The Humane Society is full of pets whose owners were not loyal to them. How sad.

It has made me realize how grateful I am for my family and friends who show themselves loyal to me. They put up with my little idiosyncrasies and my shortcomings and are still “there” for me. (Thank you!) The quality of  “loyalty” is a legacy I want to leave in my own life. I want those who follow me to know that “disloyalty” is not an option if you have the Spirit of God in you.

As I looked up the word “loyalty” today I was struck by how it describes God Himself. It means: devotion, allegiance, trustworthiness, constancy, reliability, fidelity, dependability, and steadfastness.

Could you apply that to your perception of Him today? If you could just memorize these qualities and apply them to your view of Him it could change your life. God is "proudest” of His goodness and part of the reason that He is so good is that every attribute that He has is based on His loyalty to us. God is devoted, committed, worthy of our trust, constantly faithful, reliable, dependable, and steadfastly loving and helpful to us. Nothing can make Him change His mind about that because it is Who He is. And He never changes.

If you’ve been thinking that God is like that then it might be a good idea to print this definition out and put it somewhere where you can see it every day. We need to remind ourselves of God’s faithful loyalty to us don’t we? And then we need to apply it to our own lives. Loyalty is extremely important to God. It should be important to us as well shouldn’t it? Can the people in our lives depend on our devotion, allegiance, trustworthiness, constancy, reliability, fidelity, dependability and steadfastness? I’m working on it.  How about you?

One of the key things that God has cautioned me about in critical situations over the years is to “Remember His Faithfulness”. It has been a key to my victories. I sit myself down and begin to recount God’s loyalty to me. It usually ends up with me in tears and full of faith for the future with a totally grateful heart and an anticipation of His goodness in this next thing.

Whatever your situation is you can rest in the fact that God is and will always be loyal to you.

He will always be devoted to you. He is trustworthy. He is constant in His love and care for you. He is reliable, dependable and steadfast. Remember that Beloved. It could change your life. 

Power Thought:

He is the Lord, your God. He never changes. You can count on it.

Power of Trickle Down Kindness

Power of Trickle Down Kindness

Key Scripture:  “So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.”  Ephesians 2:7, NLT

Power Point:

When children are born, it seems that everyone is eager to decide which parent they look like. When my daughter Stefanie was born with very little hair, it was determined that she looked like her Grandpa Luke who was bald. The thing is, she didn’t stay that way. She is now blessed with a beautiful head of thick strawberry blonde hair. I am so thankful.

As baby Christians its not always obvious if we look like our big brother or our Dad. As we mature though there are some definite things to look for that reminds people of them. The other day I was talking to the Lord about His kindness.  He said, “Suzanne do you expect to see My kindness in your life every day? Next week? Next year? Do you think I will ever stop being kind?”  Then He stopped and quietly said, “Suzanne, do people expect to see My kindness in you every day?  Do they expect you to always be the image of My kindness?”

Okay, so I had to really stop and think about that one. You see, Beloved if we are His, we will begin to be conformed to the image of who He is. We will become progressively more loving, kind, and full of grace and mercy. We will live from compassion. That’s just the way it works. Do you think that the check-out person in the grocery store would describe you as kind? How about your children?  Your spouse? Your parents? If kindness is the ultimate expression of God’s goodness to us, shouldn’t we be the ultimate expression of His kindness to everyone we meet?

What possible excuse do we have to not be kind? What gives us the right to ever be rude or thoughtless to anyone? Would God ever do that? Are we spreading the Good News about God through our words and actions? If kindness were a crime, could you be convicted?

Every good thing from God flows down to us from above doesn’t it?  At least it flows in the beginning. Sometimes we slow the flood to a trickle. That's not a good thing! 

We are ambassadors for Jesus Beloved. We represent Him to the world that He loves. People will judge Him by the way we act and especially by our kindess and love. Jesus said,  “This is what I want you to do, to love one another as I have loved you.”

Because kindness is an expression of the love that comes from above, we are to express His love through being kind every day, in every way, according to the His power working in us. Which means it needs to be more than a trickle!

Power Thought: 

Do people expect to see God's kindness in you today? Is it time to turn the trickle into a flood? 

Power of The Wilderness

Door of Hope

Key Scripture:  “And I will draw her into the wilderness where I will speak comfort to her there. I will make the Valley of Trouble a door of Hope. She will sing there the song I have put in her heart.”  Hosea 2:14, 15

Power Point:

I love the wilderness. Really, I do. I used to think that the wilderness was just a bleak, desolate place where things were hard and nothing good ever happened. Then I began to understand that it was a private place where I could meet with Holy Spirit and discover truth that would set me free. It is a place of hope, and we need hope when things are “troubled” don't we?

The best example of this is in Jesus’ life.  Immediately after He was baptized the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness. What happened there? He spent forty days in intimate contact with the One who would show Him, teach Him and guide Him into His destiny. He spent time "One on One" with someone who knew where He was going and how He could get there. He learned obedience and He received revelation and He learned to rely on Holy Spirit and submit to His guidance and wisdom. He was in intimate contact with Him for forty days and during that time He learned how to win over everything that Satan threw at Him. Oh yes, Satan was there too.  He managed to “stir up trouble” the entire time. But it seems that Jesus paid more attention to Holy Spirit than He did to the enemy of His soul. The Spirit won and Satan left promising to wait for a better opportunity.

We really can’t expect to live a “trouble-free” life can we?  We can expect the same sort of journey into the Valley of Trouble, that Jesus experienced. That’s where we learn that “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.” The Spirit in us has greater power, greater authority, greater wisdom and influence than the devil. And we need to learn how to use all that don't we?

Let Him out, Beloved.  He wants to teach you how to transform your Valley of Trouble into a door of Hope. You have the same Holy Spirit that led Jesus to a life that transformed everything He touched. He will lead you out of the wilderness and into your own transformed life with power. Just like Jesus. The same loving and kind Holy Spirit that led Him into the wilderness where He was tested, tried, and ultimately triumphant is available to you. It's pretty obvious that Jesus didn’t lose power in the wilderness.  In fact, He came out so full of that power that the first thing He did was go to the temple and say to the people assembled there, “I’m here. It's time. I’ve come to do good and defeat the works of the devil.” (Suzanne translation.) He could say that in part, because He already had, in the wilderness. 

You can too, Beloved.  If you’re in a “wilderness situation” where trouble is being stirred up all around you, ask Holy Spirit to help you release all that Jesus had and died to give you.             

It will be an experience greater than you can imagine.

Power Thought:

Blooming in the Wilderness

Greater is He that lives on the inside of you than anything this world can throw at you.
Let Him out.