Power of Courageous Courage

Key Scripture: "So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith-complete confidence-in God that it will be exactly as it was told me.” Acts 27:25

Power Point:

We have so many wonderful examples of courage in scripture. The Apostle Paul is definitely one of my favorites.  In this passage Paul has been placed on a ship headed for Rome. The ship encounters every disaster imaginable. Everyone is terrified but Paul, who at this point is definitely the “low man on the totem pole”.  He’s a prisoner with no authority whatever but he has a word from the Lord.  His word was: “Take courage Paul, for as you have borne faithful witness concerning Me at Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.” This word came “as the Lord stood beside him.” Whew! I guess that would give me new courage too. (But I digress.) The point is that God Himself had told Paul that he would be going to Rome. The circumstances looked anything but promising but Paul “took courage” from God’s word to him. If you think about it, he simply followed a couple of steps which we can follow too.

Lack of Confidence

First he encountered God in an intimate place and God talked to him as an intimate friend, telling him things that were going to happen. That's our privilege too because of Jesus.

Secondly: Every possible test of that word that could destroy his faith happened. Satan will always try to steal our courage by discouraging us. If Paul had walked by what he was “seeing”, he would have jumped off that ship! Instead he reminded himself of God’s word to him and he believed it. In fact he himself says, “I have faith.”  He had complete confidence in God that it would be exactly as He had said.

His faith gave him courage and his courage ‘infected” the other passengers and they were all delivered safely to Malta.

When it says that Paul “took” courage, it means that he thought about it, then made a quality decision to choose courage and apply it to his situation. It meant that circumstances could not discourage his courage.

Beloved you can be courageous too. Paul had already asked Jesus to make him bolder. It seems that He did. You can "take" courage just as Paul did

because you know that you know that you know that God is on your side, that He is able to keep you and bless you and that He really, really wants to!

That should give us all cheerful courage shouldn’t it?

Power Thought:

Take courage from Who He is and know that He is always there for you. That should make you cheerful!

Power of Stolen identity

Key Scripture: “The thief comes only to steal kill and destroy.” John 10:10

Power Point:

A very large problem in our country right now is that thieves are stealing people’s identities. Then they reshape those identities. They have access to every thing in someone's life and can totally destroy a person.  

As large a problem as this is in the natural it is also a huge problem in the supernatural.  You see, Beloved, when you became a child of God you received an incredible inheritance, complete with a new identity. You have been given the same authority and power that Jesus has.  You have been anointed with the same Spirit that anointed Jesus. You have the same assignment in the kingdom that Jesus did, to do good, to be more than a conqueror in life and to live an above and beyond kind of life. So-are you? Or has your identity been stolen?

Has Satan been able to sneak into your mind and convince you that you are not who God says you are and that what God says you have is not really yours? Has he convinced you that you are too unworthy, too bad, too “everything” so that God could not possibly have made you His heir? In other words, do you believe you just don’t deserve it?  Has he convinced that you that the whole idea is too “far out” and way over the top?

Well guess what Beloved of God. You woke up this morning loved, blessed and treasured by your heavenly Father. And very, very rich! How amazing is that? You can read about it in your Bible. Ephesians is the perfect manual for discovering what your new identity is and how to use it. Corinthians tells us that we are a new creation created for good things. Peter tells us that God has given us everything we could possibly need for this life through God’s promised inheritance. In fact, Jesus says we’ll have abundance in this life, more than we could ever need.  It’s far out and way over the top! I think that’s grace and that’s just the way God always measures things.

Identity theft is a real issue. It happens to believers who do not believe and do not receive their inheritance. The difference in the world’s view of identity theft and that of the Spirit is this. In the world, it is stolen from us but in the spiritual realm we often give it up all by ourselves. You are the only one who can stop the destruction of your role in God’s kingdom. You are the only one who can bury your inheritance in the ground. You are the only one that can restore what has been stolen from you. How? Find out who God says you are. Read the book of Ephesians until you understand what Jesus died to give you.  Ask Holy Spirit to replace the lies that steal your identity with Truth that establishes you as an heir of the King.

Power Thought:

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe."  Ephesians 1:18,19

Power of "But Me No Buts!"

Key Scripture:  “When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne.  Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.”  Matthew 25, The Message

Power Point:

A few weeks ago our pastor Tom made a comment at the end of the service about coming forward for prayer if you felt “stuck” in your Christian life.  Three weeks later people were still coming forward because they were “stuck”. It was actually easy to see why. The resurrection power of God had had no influence on their daily walking around life. They were still living that life under the old power and the old patterns which pretty much included not asking God for advice or thinking He might have a better idea. Let me rephrase that. They were asking God for help but then they weren’t listening to His answers, and then they were wondering why nothing changed.

I was reading in Matthew 25 the other day  about Jesus separating the sheep from the goats. It’s an interesting passage. A sheep hears the Shepherd’s voice and does what he says. He just trusts that the Shepherd has a plan. The goat- (in Hebrew there’s an interesting analogy here)-is one that is quick to war, to use his horns. He doesn’t usually listen to anyone. He butts anything and anyone that gets in his way. Aren’t we like that as Christians sometimes?

When God says, “Love one another.” Don’t we say, “BUT I don’t like them."  "BUT they’re not lovable." BUT, BUT, BUT! You fill in the blanks. If this describes your relationship with the Father, (“but, but, but”) then you might want to read the next two verses. In verse 33 he puts the sheep on His right hand. (the place of His power), and he puts the goats on the left. The ones who are on the right are blessed, and invited to inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for them, because they took His advice.

The poor goats, on the other hand  (who are actually ON the other hand) are told that they are cursed and offered eternity in hell. He seems to be really serious about this. Do you think there’s a lesson here? Do you remember the children of Israel and all their grumbling and complaining about what God required of them? They were being "old goats" weren’t they? Every time poor Moses opened his mouth to tell them what God had told him, he could pretty well anticipate a big “but”!

Beloved, God doesn’t ever mind when we ask Him questions. He loves to tell us His answers. However He does mind when we continue to “butt” our heads against His wisdom and plans and place ourselves in active rebellion against Him. The children of Israel "butted" every day for forty years in the wilderness and never even got to go in to the Promised Land.

We do NOT want to live our lives that way do we? The answer is “NO!” We don’t want to tell God to “butt out” of our lives. We need Him. We desperately need Him and His wisdom. 

Power Point:

Jesus and the Lamb
Katherine Brown

If we said “but” to "the other guy” (Satan)  as often as we say it to God we’d be a lot better off wouldn’t we? Well- wouldn't we?

Power of a Definite Maybe

Key Scripture:  “Only it must be in faith that he asks, with no wavering-no hesitating, no doubting. For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea, that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind…(For being as he is) a man of two minds-hesitating, dubious, irresolute- (he is) unstable, and unreliable and uncertain about everything he (thinks, feels, decides.)  James 1:5-8, Amplified Bible

Power Point:

Okay, I can’t get off the word “maybe”. Really good Christians can get really messed up by not understanding that when they say “maybe” to God it is the epitome of double-mindedness.

The thing is if we only look at God, we have great faith. It’s when we start to look at ourselves or our situation the power of God for us becomes “iffy”. That’s when Satan jumps in with both feet to cause you to waver, and then doubt.  Then we hesitate on moving forward in faith.

Remember Eve? His famous words to her, “Did God really say that?” led to a deep downhill plunge for all of us.

In Hebrews 11:6 the author says, “Whoever would come near to God must believe that He is and He will reward your faith.”  In James it says, “It must be in faith that you ask.” Must is not maybe.

Often when we are praying for healing for people, the first question we ask is, “What do you think God wants to do for you?”.  Very often the reply is, “Well I know He can heal me.”  Beloved that’s not faith. Of course He can. Do you believe that He will? What we are really saying is, “Well, if He wants to He can.” In other words, maybe He will and maybe He won’t.

This might be a good time to sit back and ask Holy Spirit to show you the “maybes” in your life. As I’ve done that I’ve been pretty surprised at how my thinking had slipped in some areas from “must” to “maybe”. 

You know you are stuck on “maybe” when you try to explain away the truth of what God has promised you. 

You know you are stuck on “maybe” when you don’t explore the options.  

You know you are stuck on “maybe” when you don’t look ahead with confidence and you stay “stuck” in today.

Maybe is not faith. You can’t think that “maybe” God will be good. You have to grab that truth and be determined to believe with every fiber of your being that God is good all the time.

You must believe that or your faith will never stand the test of time.

Have you thought of some promises of God that are just “maybes” for you? Is it time to eliminate that word from your vocabulary where it concerns your heavenly Father?

Maybe so. Definitely.

Power Thought:

Faith brings confidence not confusion. You never need to live on the edge of "maybe".

Power of A Name

Key Scripture:  “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” I Chronicles 4:10

Power Point:

It really is important what name you give to things isn’t it?  Poor Jabez. His name means “he causes pain.”  How AWFUL!)  His mother named him that because he caused her pain when he was born. Can you imagine living your whole life being reminded and reminding others several times a day that you cause pain?  Good grief!

Jabez had finally had enough.  Scripture tells us “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.” But the name still stuck. It was a curse placed on him by his own mother. The thing I love about Jabez is that he knew it was a curse and he knew where to go to get it reversed. He marched right up to God and said, “God please bless me, indeed. And would You please give me more territory to possess and keep Your hand of blessing on me and by the way could you keep me from evil because I do not want to cause pain.” (Suzanne translation).

Sometimes other people name us things like “unworthy” or “stupid” or “failure”. Sometimes we name ourselves that. We need to be sure that we don’t live up to our name. You see, beloved, the whole mission of Jesus was to “reverse the curse” in our lives and release the blessings, and the favor of God over us. Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with cancer or an eating disorder or have a drug addiction. Those are just “names” and God would happily reverse the curse of those words.  Like Jabez, you do not have to carry those names forever.

Jesus has the “Name above all names”.  When He died the curse was reversed. He gave us all power and authority to change our name. His favor and blessing are ready to be poured out on His children in every place.
 “Blessing” means "to cause to prosper, to make happy, to bestow blessings on and favored of God." That’s how God wants us to live isn't it? That’s abundance. That’s what Jesus died to give us. That was the plan all along-to give the people that He loved the ability to live blessed and not cursed.

I don’t know what your situation is. You may have named it “impossible”. I don’t know what people have named you but I do know you don’t have to live up to that name, unless of course it's a good one and then you'll be too blessed to be stressed!

Power Thought:

Is it time for a “name” change?

Power of Offenses

Key Scripture:  “It is impossible that no offenses should come.”  Luke 17:1

Power Point:

If you are human, you can understand that can’t you? I find that I have many opportunities weekly, perhaps daily-(make that hourly), that someone or something will offend me. The Word for “offense” means something that “snares” you. It’s like a piece of bait that lures an animal into a trap. Once you take the bait, the trap swings shut and you’re trapped. It’s easy to take offense-it can be very tempting-but it’s a lot harder to live in offense.

When you are offended, you are hurt, and you are angry, and if you allow the offense to remain, you become bitter. When bitterness takes root in you, you become totally deceived. When you are deceived, you can’t hear God’s voice. In fact, in Hebrews 12:14, 15 God puts it as plain as the nose on your face.  He says, “Pursue peace with all people.” Ouch. Peace with everyone? Surely He didn’t mean every one. Darn.

When we refuse peace bitterness has a chance to grow and blocks out the light of Truth.

I know you’ve never done this but you probably know people who get mad, get offended and then get bitter. When you listen to their version of the events that led up to the offense, they have done nothing wrong and the other person is totally at fault. You can stay in that place or you can “move on”.  You can forgive and then pursue peace and reap the rewards of peace in your life or the rewards of bitterness. Can you remember even one time when Jesus was bitter about something that happened to Him or something that someone said about Him? I know He had plenty of opportunities but He never “took” the bait. Some of His last words were, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.” It never occurred to Him to take up an offense. It shouldn’t occur to us either should it?  Because Jesus chose to live life “unoffended” we can too. Because He died without ever allowing bitterness to grow inside His heart, we can too. The same Spirit that gave Him the ability to live an “unoffendable” life lives in us. And He never takes offense.

Peaceful relationships are one of the biggest blessings we can have in our lives aren’t they?

Imagine what your life would be like if every single relationship was at peace. Imagine what your life would be like if every member of your family pursued peace with each other. What about your church?  Your office? Hmm.

Think of how peaceful WE would be if every other person we knew was pursuing peace with US?

Beloved, we could change the world and I think that’s exactly what our Father had in mind, don’t you? Do you think that’s why He told us that we would be known by our love for one another? What does it do for the Father’s heart when we walk in love, and peace? It honor’s Him doesn’t it? It blesses Him and it brings Him the greatest joy.

Let’s do it! Let’s refuse to take the bait that Satan offers us and choose to let Holy Spirit do in us what He did in Jesus-forgive, bless, lay down our lives and pursue peace. It only seems impossible Beloved. Remember, with Him absolutely every single thing is a distinct possibility.

Power Thought: If you don't take the bait, you won't gain the weight of bitterness.

Parable of the Talent of Faith

Key Scripture:  “And the disciples said to the Lord, “Increase our faith”. Luke 17:5

Power Point:

Over the years the Lord keeps taking me back to Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents.

Each time I find a huge nugget of truth. Recently He told me to exchange the word “talents” for the word “faith”. It was a real eye opener. You see, Beloved, every good gift He has given us is a “talent’ that we are to use and to increase. I decided to write out the parable and personalize it. I hope you will add your own name and make this a personal message for yourself.

And He gave Suzanne the talent of faith knowing that He had given her the Holy Spirit to equip her to use that “talent”.  It was a key she would need to bring heaven to earth for Him. Suzanne set out to use her talent for faith and each time she did- it increased!  When the Master returned He saw that she had been faithful to use the talent He had given her. “Well Done! You have increased what I gave you-that makes me very happy. I am going to give you more opportunities to increase your faith. Good job!”

In Luke 17 the disciples ask for more faith and Jesus responds “You don’t need more faith.  There is no “more or less” in faith. “ (The Message).  Sometimes we are afraid to step out in faith just like the third servant in the parable of the talents who went and hid what the Master had given him in the ground.  When we received Jesus and He filled us with Holy Spirit, we received “more than enough” of anything and everything we would need to do what He has asked us to do. Each of those stewards had the opportunity to increase what they had been given, enabling them to complete their assignments. So do we! Everything God has given us is for a purpose.  Every gift, every talent is in us to complete His good plans for us and in us. What are you doing with your “talent”? Are you using it and increasing your confidence and ability to use it or have you buried it because you do not believe that God has given you a good gift as a means of blessing you in whatever you do.

We look at the “faith” superstars around us and wish we had what they had don’t we? The truth is, they have been faithful to use their talent of faith and as they did it increased. We each have the same opportunity Beloved. Use it or lose it!

Power Thought:

“When the Son of Man returns will He really find faith on the earth?” Or in me?