Power of Listening

Key Scripture: “For unto you is born this day a Savior who is Christ, the Messiah, the Lord!Luke 2:11

Power Point:

I love the song, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!”  Hark means: LISTEN UP!

We need to listen better don’t you think?  The other day I was meeting two friends for brunch. The time we decided on was 10 am.  Two of us were there at 10 and the other one wasn’t.  When I called, she said, ‘No you said 10;30.” Well, two of us heard 10 and only one heard 10:30. We forgave her for not listening well. Yesterday I hosted a luncheon with a friend for some other friends. The starting time was 12 noon. I called the other hostess about 10:30 and casually mentioned that I would see her at 11:30. She said, “No, you told me 12:30!” ARGH!

Do you suppose God gets a tiny bit impatient when He has to keep repeating the same thing over and over to us and we just don’t get it? We just don’t listen! Hmm.
I love the verse that says:Join the triumph of the skies!” 

What was the triumph? The glorious plan of salvation had begun in earnest. The Messiah had finally come. The good news of a relationship of peace with our heavenly Father and the glorious truth of a merciful, unbreakable covenant relationship with a loving God who was now “with us” had touched earth.  Christ was born in Bethlehem.

Peace on earth goodwill to all men”. 

Will you sing that good news with the angels today? Will you tell everyone you know that The Savior of the World, the One who delivers, preserves, and rescues each of us: the One who brings each of us the opportunity for soundness, prosperity, happiness, and peace that destroys the chaos in our lives, has been "brought to life" for us.  God made a huge point. We need to listen better. Peace and Joy, and mercy and grace have come to earth.  They are ours for the asking.
Power Thought: 
 He lived for you and He died for you so He could live in you.  What a wonderful gift!  Will you open it?

HARK!

Power of Blessing

Key Scripture:   “The good person is generous and lends lavishly; no shuffling or stumbling around for this one, but a sterling and solid and lasting reputation. Spirit firm, unperturbed, ever blessed relaxed among enemies, they lavish gifts on the poor- a generosity that goes on, and on, and on.” Psalm 112, The Message

Power Point:

What better time of year is there for God’s children to be generous? What better way for us to celebrate the birth of Christ than to walk in His shoes and give, give, give. There are a million opportunities aren’t there?  Every time you go to a mall, you pass a Salvation Army bucket with their merry little bells encouraging you to give to help the poor. At our church we have a “Barnabas Fund” which is how we unite as the Body of Christ and give to those in need in our community. That’s a very good thing. Jesus loves it.

When you think about it God is all about generosity. Webster defines “generosity” as “kindness’. I think God wrote the book on that one! Nothing stopped Him from sending His Son to earth. He didn’t do it in a tight-fisted way either. He sent stars to guide people, angels to announce the birth and serenade them and gold, frankincense and myrrh-very generous gifts to honor the tiny King of Kings.. His love for us is generously kind. He gave us His all-lavishly.

As you walk around in God’s shoes today, He will bring someone in your path that needs a lavish dose of that generous kindness today. He still wants to give His all. Will you help Him? In Psalm 112 we have the perfect picture of generosity. The man who is blessed by His generous God is generous himself and lends lavishly. He gives lavish gifts to the poor-a generosity that goes on and on.  Just like Jesus.

Someone will need your kindness in action today. Someone will need a word of encouragement or a hug or some time shared, or maybe even a gift. Most of all what they need to see is Jesus with skin on. Everyone is talking about Him this time of year so we might as well help Him show up in person, don’t you think?

When I think of “lavish generosity” I think of how God always goes beyond our expectations. He gave us Jesus and then He gives us His Spirit so that we can be like Jesus too. He’s always “over the top” isn’t He?

So no more “shuffling or stumbling around”, give lavishly of whatever He asks you to give today with a generosity, like His, that goes on and on and on.

Power Thought:

Kindness should always overflow with blessing. It should go on and on and on.

Power of Peace

  Key Scripture: 

“I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you.  Peace.  I

don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left-feeling abandoned, bereft. So disturbed. Don't be distraught."  John 14:26, The Message       

Power Point:

I love sinking into my nice soft bed at night. I have made every effort to make it as comfortable as possible and it is! I was thinking this week about the “comfortable” things that we have because of Jesus. One of my favorites is that we have the “comfort” of His peace. He is the “Prince of Peace”. That means, that He is the Prince of Shalom. The word “shalom” means “nothing missing, nothing broken”.

In the Hebrew the word “shalom” also means, “to destroy chaos”. So when Jesus says, “I leave you my “peace”, He is saying I leave you the ability to destroy chaos in your life and I am giving you the opportunity to have nothing missing and nothing broken.

In the world’s eyes, peace only comes when everything is calm and there’s no chaos. In Jesus’ world, peace itself destroys the chaos.  When we receive the “Peace” that He left us we experience the same peace He had when He walked the earth. Peace IN chaos. Peace IN the Gethsemane’s of our lives.  Peace IN knowing that He is with us, He will care for us, and He will keep us safe.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend whose life, as I glanced around it, is filled with the potential for chaos. Her father recently died, a dear friend has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and of course, Christmas is coming soon! As I prayed for her I could see Peace “raining” down from heaven and soaking into every part of her.  So I prayed that the “rain” of the Holy Spirit would release Jesus’ peace into her soul and destroy the chaos and heal the wounds.

I believe that as that happens she will “sink in” to the Peace that Jesus died to give us- that His peace will be as restful as a comfortable bed. That as she experiences that peace, she will move into rest and that times of refreshing will come from the Lord-even in the middle of the muddle. It can, you know. He said so.

I pray that for you too, my friends.

Power Thought:

God’s peace is always beyond our understanding but aways within our grasp. 

Power of Blessing

Key Scripture:  …that My joy might be in you and your joy might be full.”  John 15:11

Power Point:

At Christmas time, we always have to check the children’s presents to be sure that everything they need to be able to begin to play with them immediately is included in the package. Are there enough batteries?  Are the instructions there?  Are there any pieces missing?

You received your best present when you said ‘yes” to Jesus. God’s promise and His promises came to live inside you forever. When He came, He came fully equipped. His batteries are intact and fully charged. He’s not missing even one piece of what He has planned for your life. That’s good news isn’t it?

Whatever you need for your life is already inside you fully connected to heaven’s supply- His kingdom, His riches, His peace, His power. And Beloved, that includes JOY! As I’ve been traveling on planes, and shopping in stores, I’ve been observing people. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of JOY! If the “JOY! of the Lord is our strength-why don’t we make sure that we have more of it?

King David said, “I will JOY! in your salvation.” What a good idea The word “JOY!” means gladness of heart, and our heart is filled with joy when we remember what salvation really is.

David could rejoice in God’s salvation because it gave him hope for the future, peace and joy for the present. He knew that God’s plan was always wholeness, prosperity, peace, deliverance, safety, and lovingkindness.  In II Chronicles 20:20 we read that following a great battle where the children of Israel(who had done nothing but praise God and watch Him work),  “ returned with “JOY!”  Why?  Because God had made them rejoice over their enemies.

He hasn’t stopped doing that Beloved. Wherever and whatever your enemies are today, God has every plan to help you rejoice over them.

His job is to lead you to the victory. Your job is to praise and celebrate Him as you follow His lead, and offer Him the gift of our faith.

That’s confident expectation and that brings you great “JOY!

In Luke 2:10 the angel appears to the shepherds in the field and says, “Behold, (listen up!) I bring you good news of a great JOY! which comes to all the people. I think that includes us.

G-R-E-A-T JOY! Let it fill your life today.

Power Thought:
The “present” of His “presence” is certainly cause for great joy!

Power of Walking Around In God's Shoes

Key Scripture: “Give and it will be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together shall it be given into your bosom.”  Luke 6:38

Power Point:

Recently my good friend David got the great idea of going to Wal-Mart and paying off accounts for people who had put toys on layaway and couldn’t pay for them. David has a good heart.  Evidently a lot of people in Atlanta do too. When he told the manager what he wanted to do, the manager replied that here in Atlanta people had been doing that all week and they had no more toys on layaway. Is that incredible or what?

I decided to call my daughter-in-love, Kim, this morning and tell her about the opportunity. We agreed it would be a great experience for the children in many different ways. That precious girl with the big heart corralled those kids (within minutes) and took off for Wal-mart. The scenario there was a bit different. The manager told her that no one had ever done this before. In fact they were pretty unsure at the beginning how to proceed. In the meantime our JD was watching every detail with a big smile on his face. He knew exactly what was going on and he knew somewhere a child would get a toy because his mom making sure of it.  In fact, I told JD that this was the best birthday present they could have given Jesus.

We each have the extraordinary privilege of walking around in God’s shoes. We get to be Jesus with skin on. I couldn’t help but think how that parent will feel when they get the call from Wal-Mart that they can come and pick up a toy that they could not buy for themselves. Kim’s comment was that the manager was blessed, the lady helping her was blessed, and who knows, maybe even the grumpy old man who was next in line will be blessed as well. Of course, the most important thing for me is that my grandson got to be a part of doing kingdom work at the ripe old age of nine. He’ll never forget it.

And blessings have a way of multiplying don’t they? When Kim got home she called her best friend, Jana, and told her what had happened. Jana LOVED the idea and asked if Kim minded if she did it too. Kim did not. We may be starting a trend. I hope so.

If you see someone who needs Jesus with skin on today, I hope you’ll be that person.

Power Thought:

Walking in God’s shoes is fun. Following in Jesus footsteps is amazing. He loves it when we do that. So does everyone else. Even at Wal-Mart

Power of Potential

Key Scripture:  “When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath-your exasperation, your fury or indignation-last until the sun goes down.  Leave no such foothold for the devil-give no opportunity to him.”  Ephesians 4:26,27, The Amplified Bible

Power Point:

When I wrote the “Power Up!” yesterday I was making the point that we have to change our thinking in order to think like Jesus. A dear friend reminded me that Jesus did at times become irritated, angry or upset. He did! But He always did something that sometimes we fail to do.  He connected His emotions to the emotions of Holy Spirit and He connected His thoughts to God thoughts. The foundation of His thinking was love for His Father and love for the people. That's why His anger never led Him to sin.

Emotions are good.  God has them too!  But I’m learning in my vast old age that when I add the power of Holy Spirit to my emotions, I am choosing to act like Jesus. He was angry and sinned not. In fact, recently in my own “walking around life” as I’ve been concentrating on doing just that, I have had some opportunities to be up close and personal with this truth. When a recent incident happened I was irritated. Then I sat down and asked Holy Spirit to calm me down and I asked Jesus to help me think His thoughts. I began to think of how He would handle the situation.  His road to success was paved with grace, mercy and the desire to bring peace and unity of the Spirit. I acted on what I saw and heard and a potentially difficult situation was averted and my soul got in line. I love that! And I love knowing that it’s okay if I experience a negative emotion as long as I put my soul in the “washing machine” of God’s Spirit in me, add some soap and let my soul’s agitation become agitated by the Holy Spirit. The harmful thoughts are rinsed out until my emotions are clean and fresh again. If it’s a really difficult situation, I just add the “soak” cycle and an extra rinse.

Every day you will have the potential to be angry or irritated or upset. That means that it’s possible but not yet a reality. That’s life where we live. Jesus died to give you the potential to rise above old patterns of your thoughts in those times and to think His thoughts that will bring transformation, and calm and balance.

The scriptures don’t stop at, “Be angry!” (Thank goodness!) Holy Spirit knows the potential for anger in your life so He wisely adds: “And sin not!” I can only do that when He Himself is soaking into my thoughts and emotions so that the potential for “life” is there for me in every situation. Thank You Jesus.

It is lovely to know that no irritation, anger or upset has to throw me off my course. I will be changing my thinking, my mind will be renewed and refreshed and I will see Jesus in my situation and embrace the potential of Jesus in me, my hope of glory.

Power Thought:

Is it laundry day at your house? Scrub-a-dub-dub.

Power of Good News/Bad News

Key Scripture:  “Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.”  Romans 12:2, The Message

Power Point:

I was just thinking-what would Jesus be thinking if He were me?  How would His thoughts respond to what happens in my life?

What would it be like to never be irritated, angry or upset? How would my life be different if I truly had the mind of Christ in all things? 

My responses would be based on Perfect Love wouldn’t they? I would come from an established foundation of Love. What would that look like?

I would never fear again. I would see Jesus in every part of my future.

I would not see people where they are but ask Holy Spirit to help me see where they’re headed and give me His heart for them.

I would not “establish” them as “the enemy” in my mind but as a much-loved child of God that I have been asked to honor, bless, and encourage.

I would forgive them.

I would offer them grace and mercy.

Why?  I guess that’s just what real “love” does-at least it’s what Jesus would do.

So is the “good news” of Jesus IN me changing the way I think? Are His thoughts sweeping out all the old cobwebs of the past and bringing a fresh outlook on life?

Well, the good news is that it can.  The bad news is that sometimes we don’t choose to accept His thoughts and we stay in the same place expecting different results in our lives.

The good news is that we have a fresh start every day-the opportunity to choose God’s thoughts in the way that we think.

The bad news is that we stay in the same place expecting different results in our lives.

The good news is that every relationship, every circumstance, and every problem has the opportunity to be touched by the power of God.

The bad news is that we stay in the same place expecting different results in our lives.

The Good News is that Jesus came to fill our lives with the peace of God, the love of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, and the joy of the Lord.

The bad news is that we stay in the same place expecting different results in our lives.

What’s your plan for today? Will you “change” your mind and your mindsets so that you can begin to experience exactly what Jesus died to give you?

Why not?

Power Thought:

Staying in the same place produces the same results.