This seemed to be the perfect follow up to our last Power Up! Enjoy this word from Gregory Dickow. I LOVE it when God puts a plan together!
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Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Power Of Getting Your Hopes UP!
Monday, April 27, 2015
Power of Grief
Power Point:
Recently I went
through an interesting test. A friend of mine hurt another dear friend of mine. I got mad. I got VERY
Touchy! I knew it was wrong to react
that way but the wound I saw in my friend sat on my chest like a hundred pound
boulder. My compassion was stirred to
the ultimate.
And did I mention I got very touchy?
Later that night, as I
was going to bed, I told the Lord that I knew I needed to get rid of the anger
and could He please help me. Before I had even gotten the words out of my
mouth, I heard the word "GRIEVE".
I knew immediately what He was saying and it rocked my world. He was reminding me of
Ephesians 4:30:
"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."
When I heard that word, I knew that He was telling me that He was
as grieved for my friend as I was. He was sad. His heart was broken just as mine was. It totally changed my perspective.
Sometimes we think that as good Christians, we need to just get on with
it and get over it. That can be difficult can't it? Sometimes I think I need to try to make God
realize the seriousness of the situation, as if He didn't know or didn't
care. I want to keep reminding Him! When I heard the word
"grieve" I knew that in fact He did care and that the compassion that
I was feeling was no greater than what He was feeling. Because I know how good
and how kind He is that made perfect sense to me, and it released all the
anger, and all the resentment I had allowed to pile up in my heart.
I also understood that
it is normal for me to grieve at
wounds and injustice; to seek His understanding comfort and the comfort of His understanding. I can allow Him to help
me grieve as He does, without condemnation, and then rest in His ability to deal
with the situation.
God is always grieved at those things that wound us. His compassion was the motivation for Jesus
to do all the miracles that He did. If
His heart can be broken, then certainly He understands when our hearts are
broken. He is compassionate about our compassion. In fact, He encourages it. However, Godly
compassion always has a way of sorting things out and making them right. In fact, that's one of His names, "The
One who will make things Right." He does not grieve without hope for the future. He never stays stuck in grief.
When you are wounded God is grieved.
When we see others wounded, God is grieved.
When we wound others, it breaks His
heart. And when we stay "stuck" in grief, we wound His compassionate heart full of hope for us. Aren't we blessed to have His own Holy Spirit in us to bring the comfort
and the healing we need?
Power Declaration:
I am so grateful to know that God is the
God of all comfort and that He understands my grief. I am releasing that comfort
to myself today and then to others. I
will not be easily offended and I will not add up the wrongs that other people
do. I will comfort myself with the Truth
that He is sad too but that He will make everything right. I can trust Him for that. And I will. Jesus died to give me hope, and I intend to take it.
Copyright © 2015, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Power Of Being Touchy
Key Scripture: "Love
is not touchy!" I Corinthians
13:5
Power Point;
Let's face it-sometimes
we are all touchy aren't we? Touchy
means that we're irritable or short-tempered.
In fact, Webster says that a person who "touchy" is easily
ignited. A good example of that is
when I take my fire starter and turn on the gas in my fireplace and watch the
flames spring up. If we're easily
offended, or touchy, we start burning up on the inside don't we? We may not say anything outwardly, but we're
saying a LOT on the inside.
Unfortunately that works against us.
That anger or irritability literally changes your body chemistry and
affects you negatively. If it is allowed
to continue, ultimately it will cause you to lose your spiritual strength and
illness may result. Touchiness can burn us up.
I remember reading a story years ago about a lady who was bothered by
unexplained high fevers. Her doctor, after a few weeks of treating her,
realized that she continually said, "That just burns me up!" Her body was responding to her irritability
and touchiness. Fortunately the doctor was able to point out the problem and
they dealt with it. No more fevers.
This is why Jesus
said, "I'm leaving you MY peace-take it!" (Suzanne version). He knew we were going to
need it! The truth is if we are rooted
and grounded in Him, we do not have to stay "touchy". In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that God's
love in us enables us to overcome all the opportunities we have every day to be
less than loving.
"It, (love), is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it
takes no account of the evil done to it.
It pays no attention to a suffered wrong." In some versions it says, it doesn't keep
count of the offense.
That's often where we fall apart isn't it? There have been times when I've found myself
with a mental ledger adding up the "wrongs". Haven't you?
God says we are to "add up the RIGHTS!" That's totally for our benefit. In Philippians 4, Paul says, "Think on THESE things!" He then proceeds to give us a list of
positive areas for us to "add up" in our minds-things that are "honorable and admirable, beautiful and
respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. FASTEN your thoughts on every
glorious work of God, praising Him always." (TPT) The “right”
list is supposed to be much longer than the “wrong” list!
When we
"fasten" our minds on God's perfect love we have a new focus. We have
a strong place to plant our feet. When we're rooted in His love, we don't have
to be touchy anymore.
We have the Spirit of Love and Grace in us to empower us to
choose life. When we choose to be "touchy", we're really choosing
death aren't we? The Holy Spirit will
always help us find His peace if we refuse to be touchy or resentful or
worse-if we continue to add up the wrongs someone has done to us. Loving Peace can be as easily ignited as offense.
You can start a fire of the anointing of Holy Spirit. It's always our choice.
As we think about the
perfect Love that God has for us it's good to remember that He is never touchy
about us. He could have a really long “wrong’”
list couldn’t He? But it's not in
His DNA. The only thoughts that He thinks are honoring and admirable, beautiful
and respectful, pure and holy and merciful and kind. Isn't that a good thought?
Thank you Jesus!
Power Declaration:
Today I am going to take advantage of the Spirit of Love, joy,
peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control that lives in
me. I will love as He loves, and if I
fall short He will gently remind me to move me back into the right place. I will not add up wrongs. I will add up "rights"
Today I am going to think like Jesus. Period. I will not be touchy! I will walk in Perfect Love.
Copyright ©, 2015, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Power Of Movers and Shakers
Key Scripture: "Say
to the mountain, MOVE!" Mark 11:23
Power Point:
For
many years I prayed what some would call "widow's prayers". I believed begging God and convincing Him to
help me were the only things that would bring the answers I needed. When I
actually became a widow over twenty years ago, I was suddenly propelled into a
whole new dimension of needing to understand who God wanted to be for me. I had no one else to rely on and relying on
God alone was pretty scary at that time.
Gradually, over the years as I focused on Who He has said that He is,
His face has become clearer. I've grown
in understanding of the goodness of His heart and I have learned that, as Smith
Wigglesworth once said, "God is more eager to answer than we are to
ask." .
In the uncertain times after my husband's death He gave me three steps
to remind me of the certainty of my relationship with Him, the knowing that He
is always more than enough:
-Remember My Faithfulness
-Anticipate My Goodness
-Return to the Source of your joy.
As His children we have a covenant relationship, which is based on those
character qualities, His faithfulness, His goodness, and the strength of His
joy. When uncertain or difficult times
come, those are the three steps I take to remind myself of what I can expect
from Him. I take those steps and speak out all the promises that God has given
me. I "SAY" to the mountain,
"You need to move because I have a promise from God that says that when I
speak to you, YOU MUST MOVE!"
We are the movers and shakers in the kingdom of God. When we say what God has said, and set our
lives in agreement with what He has said, we become a powerful force for change
through mountain moving faith.
We do not declare the problem; we declare the promises of God over the
problem. We fill our hearts with His
words and His words ignite the faith that we need. He is God and God is love. If the future is uncertain, you can declare
that you have a hopeful future, because Love has said so. What He has said is
based on His faithful love for you and His loving goodness toward you. As you
begin to declare those truths, the joy of growing in knowing who He is and all
that He has promised returns you to the strengthening place of
His joy. The power that He has promised, through His own Spirit working in you
becomes effective and undefeatable.
We do not beg. We anticipate His
goodness. We do not try to convince God to help. The power of life and death is
in the power of our tongues. He's
already said it all! Our future
tomorrows are created by what we believe and say today. His Word saves us. His
words empower us and fill us with faith.
Power Declarations:
I am loved with a Perfect Love. I have no fear because Perfect Love casts out
all fear.
I know my God. He is Good.
He is kind. He is faithful. He
will always be more than enough for me. I
am a mover and a shaker! As I agree with
God, He is releasing in me everything I need to move the mountains that are
BLOCKING my way. I tell those mountains to "GET OUT OF MY WAY! Earthquakes happen wherever I walk. God is more than enough!
Copyright ©, 2015, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Power Of Focus
Making the most of time available is critical if we are to become renowned in the kingdom. Great people make time; good people find time; mediocre people waste time. Some people’s use of time borders on the criminal. It is a resource more important than money. Saying “no” so that our “yes” becomes more significant is vital to our lifestyle.
Focus determines our level of power and influence. Whatever has the capacity to keep our attention has influence over us. Focus directs our energy. When our heart is focused on God, we develop stamina as we are occupied with Him.
There is one cast-iron certainty about people that will always be true. Given the choice, they will always do exactly what they want to do. Whenever people bleat that they have no time for something, it is usually that they have no passion for it or they need to say “no” elsewhere.
Every day is a blessing from God. Our focus determines our energy level for that day. Imagine you are at home on your couch, feeling sleepy, and watching TV. Suddenly the telephone rings, and you are told that a family member has been rushed to the hospital. Do you go back to the couch and your state of malaise? Of course not! You have been instantly focused on what is important — the health of your loved one. You grab your coat, jump in the car, and speed off to the hospital. Your focus has given you energy.
Our focus gives us the power to pursue something long term. It helps us plan and strategize. I love being led by the Holy Spirit, but I do have a five-year plan. I have a compass that points me in the direction I need to travel. Not everything is set in stone, but I know the direction I am headed. I have focus.
A vision without a plan is just wishful thinking. In Philippians 3:13—14, Paul clearly states that he has a focus for his life:
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul was not a prisoner of his past; he had made it a point to be free of everything that might jeopardize his focus.
A broken focus will destroy our dreams. To stay aligned with what God is doing, we have to sometimes make tough choices. James knew how important focus was — “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind,” he wrote in James 1:6–8. “For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” Double-mindedness cannot be an option — we need a singular focus; otherwise we will waver at a critical moment.
Spiritual warriors cannot receive anything from God if we are unfocused. By aligning ourselves with God, we develop the ability to receive from Him. Remember His charge to Joshua in Joshua 1:7–8:
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Success will only come when a spiritual warrior is focused. Faith requires focus. Without faith it is impossible to please God. A vision gives us focus. A blurred vision handicaps us in life. A blurred focus handicaps our spirituality and makes us less effective in the kingdom.
-An Excerpt from Coming into Alignment
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