Power Of Thankfulness

Key Scripture: "Be happy in your faith at all times.  Never stop praying. Be thankful, whatever the circumstances may be.  If you follow this advice you will be working out the will of God expressed to you in Jesus Christ." I Thessalonians 5:18, Phillips

Power Point:

     Have you ever lost your keys?  It's frustrating isn't it?   Yesterday I was at the chiropractor and when I came out to start my car, I had forgotten my keys and left them inside.  The keys were close by.  Nothing had changed about their ability to start my car but unless I had them firmly in my hand, and put them firmly in the ignition, my car and I were going nowhere.

     Being thankful is a key to unlocking the riches of the kingdom of God. When we continually look at the lack in our lives and just hope that God will show up and do something, we've lost our keys. Not using the keys leads you nowhere.

Jesus said, "Behold I give you the keys to the kingdom." You are the one with the power to unlock the kingdom of God. What a thought!

     One of those keys is learning to unlock the power of being thankful in all things. Every time we express our thankfulness to God, it changes our perspective.  It raises us up and sets our minds on things above.  Thats transformational. That's how things change in us and around us.

     Anybody can be gloomy, or grumbly, or grumpy. We all know how easy that can be.  But as a Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, we have a choice and we have the key to unlock the kingdom life in us. When we begin to express our thankfulness, the oddest thing happens-we change the atmosphere around us and we change the atmosphere IN us.  We can begin to see the possibilities of God's goodness to us and we open our minds and hearts to anticipating that goodness.

     If Jesus said He has given you a key, the only way it will work is if you put it in the ignition.  If you want to get your internal engine purring today, begin to be thankful.  

Decide to be thankful in all things.  

Decide to be thankful that God IS who He says He is and He will DO what He says He will do.

Decide to be thankful that He is always moving heaven and earth to bless you.

Decide to be thankful, Beloved.  Its one of those keys that you need not to lose.

Power Thought:

Losing your car keys can be annoying.  Losing the keys to the kingdom means you don't get to unlock all the riches of your inheritance. Remember to keep them firmly in hand. They won't work if you don't use them.    

You might be interested to know that "It's Time To Power UP!", the book, is 
available on Amazon.com.

Power Of HOPE

Key Scripture:  “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you that HOPE in the Lord.”  Psalm 31:24 Power Point: “Well, I HOPE so.”      You’ve heard people say that haven’t you?  In fact, you’ve probably said it a time or two yourself.  HOPE.  It has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?  When I think of that word, I think of a Christmas past when, as a child, I was hoping for a specific doll.  For the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, after my mom had carefully wrapped all the presents and placed them under the tree, I would “hunt” for what I was hoping for.  That particular Christmas would not have been complete without a “Tiny Tears” doll. Every Christmas Eve, we went to church, and before we went, I was allowed to open one present. Because of my weeks of scouting, I was pretty sure I knew which beautifully packaged gift contained “Tiny”.  Eagerly I reached for it and wrapping paper flew in all directions. I could barely wait to open the box but when I did I was stunned, (STUNNED!) to see a stupid black velvet hat with rhinestones and a purse to match. My mom had set me up.  She knew which one I would choose and, of course, she had planned for me to wear that stupid hat to church for my program. I did wear it, but not without a fight.      When we returned home from church wrapping paper again flew in all directions. I thought I had opened every present and I was getting sadder and sadder by the moment because “Tiny” had not shown up. Yet. Finally, my mom said, “Suzie did you not see the big present at the back?”  I hadn’t, or if I had, I hadn’t paid any attention to it because it didn’t look like it held a doll. Longer story short, I opened it.  It was a white cardboard suitcase and yes, inside was my “Tiny”.  Oh the joy!      I had had hope.  In fact, I was so certain that I would get “the answer to my prayer”, that I could hardly wait to open it. But it didn’t look quite like I thought it should. It was packaged differently so I ignored it.  The thing was, if I made a request for a specific thing for Christmas, I usually got it. My mom had a “history” with me of providing what I asked.  I was extremely confident. I had no doubt- until what I had asked for didn’t appear in the way I had asked for it.  I remember being so sad (and mad) that she had ignored me and bought me that stupid hat. My hope had taken a serious nosedive when what I THOUGHT was the answer to my prayer wasn’t- when what I had asked for didn’t appear at the  “right” time. The truth is that the answer was there all the time.  I just had to keep looking.     Beloved, HOPE in God is a certainty.  If you have a history with Him, you can be quite certain that He answers your prayers, even if those answers are delayed, or packaged differently than you expected.  Hope in God is joyful and confident expectation of GOOD. That means if you haven’t found your “Tiny” yet, you are still joyfully and confidently expecting and anticipating that it will arrive soon.      Can you imagine living in hope versus living without it?  Can you picture yourself as joyfully and confidently expecting Jesus, Who is the Author of our Hope, to answer your prayer, to supply your need, to bring you an abundance of His peace?     That is how we are to live as children of God, Beloved. Will you allow the “God of all hope to fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you might ABOUND in HOPE, by the power of His Spirit”? (Romans 15:13)  He wants to. He’s got your answer tucked under His arm waiting for the perfect time and place.  Will you trust Him for that? Will you be “hope-FULL”? I certainly hope so! Power Thought. You were once without hope, before Jesus came into your life. You don’t ever need to be without hope again do you? You might be interested to know that "It's Time To Power UP!", the book, is  available on Amazon.com.

Power of Seeing

God sees us transformed

Key Scripture:  “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.”  Proverbs 29:18, The Message

Power Point:

     I’ve been reading a book called, “The Circle Maker”, by Mark Batterson.

If you haven’t read it, run and do not walk to your nearest bookstore.  It’s life changing.  And that’s the truth!

     One of the things that Mark talks about is that we need to take action after we have prayed.  He calls it “praying through”.  If you remember the story of Elijah when he confronted the prophets of Baal in I Kings 18, he prayed for rain and then he took action.  He didn’t just pray for, he anticipated God’s answer to his prayer.  He built an altar.  He wet the wood and then he wet the wood again. Not surprisingly God showed up with a whole lot of firepower!  Elijah could have just sat around in his recliner with his remote switching channels on his TV, waiting for God to do something, but he didn’t.  He took action.  God saw his faith and rewarded it. Then Elijah prays for rain.  There’s been a long dry spell because three years before he had prayed that there would be NO rain. And there wasn't! Almost from the first moment that the words come out of his mouth, Elijah sends his servant to look for the signs of rain. Seven times. SEVEN! Finally the servant returns with the “sort of” good news that there is one tiny cloud in the sky.  Does Elijah start worrying? Nope. He gives the word to the King that rain is on the way.  And it was.

We are His children.

     Beloved, Mark makes the point that sometimes we give up “one prayer short of a miracle”.  What if the children of Israel had stopped short of the seventh day?  What if Jesus had given up right before the Last Supper? What if I had not “pushed” those babies out at the right time?  I’d still be carrying the seeds of promise inside me, wondering why God hasn’t answered my prayers.

     Faith comes from hearing God’s promises on your situation. It also comes from seeing what God sees and agreeing with Him. I’ve always loved prophetic acts. I love having a visual of what God has promised.  In my prayer group we are praying for a lady who has macular degeneration. We’re asking God to give her sight.  On my prayer page for her, I’ve found a picture of a book she can read when she’s healed. That’s putting feet to our prayers.

    Maybe you’re praying for someone that you know God loves but you just don’t see them as He does.  I’ve found these wonderful pictures from Ann Geddes and added them to my prayer sheet for them. Now I can see them the way their Father sees them. Innocent.  Childlike. Little angels.

     My friend Donna has created a prayer journal that helps you do exactly that. She was the one who gave me the idea of adding pictures to my prayers, which, when you think about it, is the fulfillment of Proverbs 29:18: seeing what God sees.

I just love the creativity of Holy Spirit, don’t you?

     What will you SEE today as God sees?  What will you do to ACT on the ANTICIPATION of His answers to you today?  Faith always requires action on our part.  It’s how we walk without stumbling over the disappointments and delays.

     

Power Thought:

Calling out what God sees!

"We give up too easily.  We give up too soon. Sometimes we quit praying right before the miracle happens."

  Mark Batterson
Pray on Beloved, and pray THROUGH!

    

You might be interested to know that "It's Time To Power UP!", the book is available on Amazon.com.

Power Of Breaking God's Heart

 Key Scripture: “Never hurt the Holy Spirit.  He is, remember, the personal pledge of your eventual full redemption.”  Ephesians 4:30, Phillips

Power Point:

I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some bad news. The GOOD news is that if you are a Christian, you have God’s own Holy Spirit in residence in you.  Jesus said, “He’ll teach you, comfort you, empower you, and be everything I was and have promised you will be. He’ll never give up on your development into a child of God, until I am formed in you.”

    The bad news is that there will always be an out and out war between your flesh and His Spirit. Would you like to know how you can tell who’s winning?  Paul said in Galatians 5:19 that its obvious. I think he's saying that if you're walking in the flesh, your actions will "stick out like a sore thumb"! If we've chosen the flesh, it is probably obvious to everyone around us.  Ouch!

     On the other hand, if we’re choosing to walk in line with His Spirit in us, it should also be obvious shouldn’t it?  Praise the Lord!

      If you choose to be impatient, people are probably taking note that you are walking in the flesh.  It will be obvious to them that you do not have self-control, or love, or peace, or joy, or kindness, or…you get the picture.

When we choose to be bitter and resentful and violently unhappy, we're allowing the "flesh" to win the battle. When we do that we sadden the Holy Spirit. Why? Because God’s Spirit is not any of those things.

     In Ephesians 4:30 Paul says that we should not hurt the Holy Spirit. I’ve heard many people over the years asking what on earth they could do to make Him sad. Beloved, if He is in you, then you have the ability to push past impatience into the patience of God.  If He is in you, and you allow Him to, He will help you push past anger into peace.  If He is in you and you choose Him, He will help you to love and not hate.

     Is it possible that when all the fullness of God in us is not allowed to make one tiny difference in our emotions, He is saddened? How does God always treat us? He treats us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Always.  It’s who He is. And its who He is calling us to be. It’s the future perfect person He has planned for you right now.  When we refuse Him, when we choose the fleshly responses, we grieve Him. We slow down the progress of Christ being formed in us. We limit the power of God to teach us to experience what knowing Him is really all about.

     My mom used to say, “You can go hard, or you can go easy.” It was hard for Jesus to lay down His life for us, but He did it.  He gave up His flesh that we might be just like Him, nestled in the arms of His father, and empowered to bring heaven to earth, just as He did. We have the same choice today. Beloved, you can go hard or you can go easy.

     Have you ever found yourself sprinting down the road of life and suddenly you realize that Holy Spirit isn’t with you?  You know that He’s there, but you can’t see Him or hear Him.  Years ago that happened to me, and the Lord gave me a perfect picture of it.  I was just strolling along doing my own thing, and suddenly I realized I was by myself.   I stopped and looked around and couldn’t see or hear Holy Spirit. Eventually I turned my head and saw Him several feet behind, sitting on a stonewall.  He was patiently waiting for me to realize that I was on my own.  Of course, the moment I called to Him, He was right there again, but it really made me understand the importance of making sure He and I were walking together united in that wonderful divine partnership.

     Ephesians 4:30 in The Message puts it this way.  “Don’t grieve God.  Don’t break His heart.  His Holy Spirit moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for Himself?  Don’t take such a gift for granted.”

      Is it possible that you’re asking Holy Spirit to bless what YOU think, and what YOU want to do, without asking Him for His wisdom?  Could it be that you’ve made your decisions and things aren’t working out so well and you’re wondering why? Are you missing some pieces of His peace?   Is that anger drowning out His voice?  Is bitterness stealing His joy in you?  Do you think that breaks His heart?

     Is it time to stop making progress on the road to nowhere? Should you turn around and go back to the place where you last saw Him? He’s waiting. He’s eager to fill up what you’ve been missing in your experience of Him.  That makes Him happy. It will make you happy too.

Power Thought:

The thought of breaking God’s heart breaks mine.  I think it breaks yours too. Isn’t it wonderful that we have options?
So who's winning?