Power Of Peace That Passes The Test

Key Scripture:   “And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

Power Point:

     I’m BA-ACK!  I hope you noticed I was gone.  I know you’ve probably heard the phrase, “It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.” (Charles Dickens, “Tale Of Two Cities”.) The last two weeks have been a little of both for me.

     Two weeks ago, my friend Julie and her husband David and I made our way to Anaheim, California to attend a Graham Cooke conference.  We were all very excited. The title of the conference was “Mind Of A Saint, combining the heart of the Father with the mind of Jesus.”  The conference began on Thursday and it was fulfilling every promise. Then on Friday night, following dinner, my stomach began to hurt really badly.  I had to leave the conference and go to my hotel room where I took every antacid known to man, with little success.  It was definitely the worst of times.  During the night my chest was tight, my shoulders were painful and I even began to think I might be having a heart attack.  During the weeks leading up to the conference, the Lord had really had me focusing on worship. As I look back over those weeks, I realize that He was giving me plenty of “food for thought”.  I don’t think I have ever sensed the presence and peace of the Lord so strongly. Ah, those were the best of times!

     I decided I would do what I knew to do.  I began declaring God’s promises to me and I began playing my worship songs. I have to admit that fear was having a party in my head. I decided that if the devil was going to try to take me out, I was going to make him sorry! He was going to have to listen to me

thanking God for His faithfulness and praising Him with everything I had.  So I did. Surviving the night was a blessing and the next morning when I saw David, I told him what had been going on.  He immediately prayed for me and I immediately felt better.  Until that night.  Same story. Same song. Except that the next day was Sunday and we were going to have to head home. About 2 in the morning I put on my worship music and told the Lord that I simply could not get back to Atlanta without His help.  Would He?  Please? He did!  From that moment until Monday morning, I had no pain. Ah. The best of times.

     I’ll make the final part of the story a bit briefer!  After following up with doctors it was decided that I had a very bad gall bladder -which didn’t like me anymore.  I had lost my fondness for it as well and on that Thursday was glad to say good-bye to it. Today marks the one-week mark and I am so blessed to be able to say that God’s peace protected me every step of the way.  I had done my homework and God was faithful to help me. One thing He had told me in those preceding weeks was that I needed to learn to push past the obstacles in my path and push into peace.  I needed to learn to push past anger and push into peace.  I needed to learn to push past fear, straight into the peace of God, which passes all understanding.

I have had plenty of time to practice that in these last two weeks, and I am grateful to say, it is definitely not only possible but it is a glorious option.

     I hope your last two weeks have been “the best of times”, but in case you’re going through a few of “the worst of times”, let me encourage you to keep pushing past your problem and push into all that God wants to be for you in your situation. When you push into the mind of Christ, you will also encounter the mind and the heart of your heavenly Father. When you know what Jesus knows about Him, and how important you are to Him, it will change everything. Pushing past, and pushing through, and pushing in to peace are what Jesus did. He passed the tests. And He reaped the reward. We can too!

Power Thought:

If there is anything praiseworthy-think about it! And think about it, and think about it and…

Power Of Giving Birth

Key Scripture:  “Shall I bring to the point of delivery and not give birth?”, says the Lord.”  Isaiah 66:9 Power Point:      You’ve probably heard the term “push” when it applies to a woman giving birth. When I awoke this morning, I heard the word “push”.  I was reminded of the day when my son David was born.  I didn’t know the first thing about Lamaze.  I didn’t have a plan, I just planned to have a baby.      And you know what?  I never needed to “Push”.  When I got to the hospital, the doctor was really disgusted because it looked like this was going to be a long night.  He went downstairs to get a sandwich.  Within 45 minutes he and his staff were running beside my gurney, pushing me down the hall to the delivery room, because my son, David, had decided he wanted to come NOW. As he made his somewhat speedy way into the world, the clock said ll:59:59. The doctor said, "Do you want his birthday to be the 9th or the 10th?" I even got the choose the day!     In  Isaiah the Lord says, “Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?  …Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?”      Beloved, is there a promise deep inside you that hasn’t been birthed yet? Has everyone around you looked at your situation and thought, “It’s never going to be born!”  Beloved, God has promised that the promise He has given you is profitable.  He has promised that it is never going to be ineffective.  He has promised to bring it to pass. He has promised to help you to give birth.       The thing I loved about giving birth to my son was that he did the whole thing.  I never had to “push”. In fact, I was just holding on for dear life as he made his entrance.  The doctors didn’t help. The nurses didn’t help. In fact, David orchestrated the whole thing!    I’ll never forget the nurse coming in and looking and saying, “Oh, my God this woman is having a baby!” Finally someone believed me! God had evidently decided that David’s time was NOW and He whispered in David’s ear, and encouraged him on his way. Nothing could stop him.      Your promises are much the same way Beloved.   God knows the exact time and date that it needs to be born.  He chooses the date. He initiates the process of birth and one day soon, you will find that you have given birth. Your job is to nourish that promise, to keep it well watered and give it room to grow.      Your heavenly Father will not bring you to the time of birth and not deliver what He promised.  It’s just not His nature.  During all this time of expectant waiting, He’s been creating exactly what you’ve asked Him for.  He’s been delighting in forming the answer to the desires of your heart. And you won’t even need to “Push”. That promise will be right on its due date. Power Thought: Giving birth is the most amazing thing in the world.  Is today your day?

Power of Seeing

Key Scripture:  “We walk by faith and not by sight.”  2 Corinthians 5:7

Power Point:

   My friend Julie just got some new glasses.  She was so excited because she thought that they were going to help her see things better.  The unfortunate thing is though, that when she put them on, things were a little blurry.  She was having difficulty negotiating her way through words on a page.

Finally she returned to the store where she had bought them and met with the Doctor again. He retested her and reset the prescription. 

       Sometimes I need to let God reset my prescription. I need to let Him show me how I’m seeing things. He can help me to see things more clearly.  When I look at people or situations in my life I want to be able to “see” them through God’s lenses.  I want to “see” everything in my life as He sees it.  Don't you?

    Imagine your day today if you consciously determined to see everything as God sees it. What if, instead of focusing on your problem, you focused on the Promises of God for that problem?  What if, instead of focusing on the mountain, you focused on that mountain skipping its way into the sea?  What if, instead of focusing on what “could” happen, you set your sights on what God says can happen?
This is a thought from Joel Osteen's book, "I Declare":

"Fear and faith have something in common. They both ask us to believe something will happen that we cannot see.

Fear believes the negative.

Faith only occupies itself with hope.

Fear says, “Business in slow. You’re going under.”

Faith says, “God will supply all of your needs.”

 What we meditate on takes root. If we go around all day thinking about our fears, playing them over and over again in our minds, they become a reality.”

      What we believe becomes what we SEE.  

     Do you need some new lenses?  Probably.  We need to adjust our eyes every day so that we are continually seeing “more” like Jesus sees; continually focusing on the unseen until it becomes “seen”. Spending time with Your Father and asking Him if you can borrow His glasses might be a good start.

Seeing is believing after all.

Power Thought:

Seeing what God sees in the way He sees it, will give you 20/20 vision.

Power Of Love

Key Scripture:  “Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope, it can outlast anything.  It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands  when all else falls.”   I Corinthians 13:7,8  Phillips

Power Point:

I was reading a devotional from Joel Osteen’s book, I Declare” yesterday. On page 121 he says this:

"Do you know how many people have never been told: "You are a WINNER!”

…family members-who are starving for your approval. They are CRAVING for you to speak blessing over their life.

Are you believing in anyone?

 ...everyone should be someone else’s number one fan. We should be encouraging them, lifting them when they’ve fallen, celebrating when they succeed, praying when they’re struggling, urging them forward. That’s what it means to be a people builder."

Yes. Well then. 

If you have read ANY of the Words of Jesus you have probably stumbled over something about “love”.  If there was ever anyone qualified to speak on that subject it would be Jesus wouldn’t it? Or maybe the Apostle Paul.  He certainly had plunged deeply into that love. It changed his life and it still changes ours today.

     What I understand is that relationships can be difficult.  I get that. What I ALSO understand is that there’s never “a last straw”, or an “I’m THROUGH!” in the Kingdom of God.  So what is our job as little Jesus’s?  Loving even more than He did. Sacrificing our own opinions on the altar of love.

    Beloved, there is not one person now or ever, who does not need love.

I think the saddest thing about our country today is that since the door has been closed on God’s love, people are struggling to meet that basic need in all the wrong ways. They’re hurting.  They’re in pain. And they’re trying anything that world suggests just to make the pain go away.

 It hurts to watch doesn’t it?

     That’s where we come in. We get to be Jesus today. We get to be Jesus in our families and at work or play.  In fact, we are His representatives wherever we go and whatever we do.

     But what about “them” you ask?  Ask your heavenly Father to help you see ""them with HIS eyes.  And then ask Him what HE would like to say to them that will ease the pain and help them find the Truth that will set them free.  That’s why I love the gift of prophecy so much.  People put aside their own ideas and judgments and ask Holy Spirit to give them a “brighter idea”.

     When I first began to speak to people prophetically, I thought they needed to hear what I had to say, what I thought, (and I could pretend it was God). It didn’t take long, (relatively speaking), for me to understand that when I finally asked God His opinion it was never condemning or judgmental.  God never points out the failures. He always leads us to that glorious future full of good plans and good things. That's His promise to us.

     When we’re commanded to LOVE ONE ANOTHER, without exception, then we are going to speak those same things that the Father speaks.  We are going to point them to the right path that always leads to His open arms.

     I remember praying for a person who had had an abortion.  She was so overwhelmed with guilt and sorrow over it all. The OLD Suzanne, probably would have said, “Well what were you thinking?!!!!!!” The new Suzanne (and Julie), invited Holy Spirit to see that baby in heaven with Jesus.  The thought that her perfectly formed little one was being cared for in that perfectly loving place made all the difference. The thought that God loved her "mistake" changed her life. When she realized the great loving heart of the Father, she could begin to forgive herself and leave the past behind and be free to embrace all that God still had for her.

     I love His loving heart, don’t you?  If God is love, then He only speaks love.  He only thinks love. And His love never fails, never gives up or never gives out. He loves YOU after all! And even me!
How can you help someone else discover that in spite of everything, there’s no “last straw” with God; that He is waiting to welcome them with open arms and so are you.

Power Thought:

Love is a verb. It requires action.

Who will you tell that they are a "winner" today?  Who knows that you're their #1 fan?  Who will you encourage, build up, pick up when they've fallen, and

celebrate?