Power Of Partnership

Key Scripture:  “My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given.  You received Christ Jesus, the Master, now live Him. You’re deeply rooted in Him.  You’re well constructed in Him.  You know your way around faith. Now do what you’ve been taught.  Schools out; quit studying the subject and start living it!"  Colossians 2, The Message

Power Point:

    What if you woke up in the morning and looked into the mirror and thought, “Wow!  I look different! I look younger and more vibrant. I look as though I’m in robust health.”  You may notice your eyes especially. They are incredibly clear and peaceful.  Love seems to pour from them.  You sense the compassion in their depths. 

     You know its time to go and spend your quiet time with the Father but instead oaf dragging your feet to your favorite place, you find an energetic spring in your step as though you can’t wait to get there.

The moment you settle yourself to spend your time with Him, you can also sense that He’s been waiting eagerly for you to wake up and come. As time passes, you begin to realize that you’re not fearful or anxious about talking to Him. You’re not complaining. It just seems so natural.  It’s almost as though you are in a partnership with Him and He begins to show you what He plans to do in certain situations or in the lives of certain people, including yours.You begin to feel as though you are part of His plan.  You find yourself amazed at this relationship and then you realize that it is because the Father sees Jesus in you.  He is communicating with you just as He would with His only Son, the Savior of the world.

     Did you ever imagine Jesus putting you on every day, as you put Him on?  Did you ever think that Jesus in you can bring you into such a powerfully wonderful secret place with His father?  Did you stop to remember that that is exactly why He died-to gave you SAME Spirit, the SAME relationship with the Father and the SAME Peace that He carries at all times?

Did it ever occur to you that when the Father sees Jesus in you, He sees nothing but “wonderful”-a person in whom He is well-pleased.

What would that do to your prayer time?  What would that do to your joy in being with Him?  Would it make you more aware of the SAME anointing that is on you right now?  Acts 10 says that the FATHER anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit, “ready for action”. How He “went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil.  He was able to do this because God was with Him.”

Have you realized that that is exactly what He wants to do in your life as well? The anointing of The Father, through the Presence of the Holy Spirit is upon you and in you.  Do you see it?  Do other people see it?

Are you ready for action? Are you ready to be God’s partner today? 

Did you know that God Himself is with you in every way possible?

He’s waiting for you to sign the partnership agreement and get to work.

Power Thought:

Are you ready?  Jesus is. What a glorious partnership!

Power Of Proverbs

Key Scripture:  “These are the wise sayings…written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it is going. “ Proverbs 1, The Message

Powerful Points:

     I’ve always loved reading The Message. Eugene Petersen has taken the scriptures and put them beautifully in today’s vernacular.  It seems to make them really easy to apply. 

     As I was reading through the book of Proverbs recently, I discovered that The Message, while intensely moving can also be extremely funny.  These are some of those proverbs:

-Never forget what you learned at your mother’s knee.  (I TOLD you so!)

-You don’t want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones.

-The wise accumulate wisdom; fools get stupider by the day.

-First pride, then the crash- the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

-Having a fool for a child is misery; it’s no fun being the parent of a dolt.

-Even dunces who keep quiet are thought to be wise; as long as they keep their mouths shut, they’re smart.

-The words of a fool start fights; do him a favor and gag him.

-Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you really want that junk in your belly?

-People ruin their lives by their own stupidity; so why does God always get blamed. 

-When you’re down on your luck, even your family avoids you-yes, even your best friends wish you’d get lost.

-Blockheads shouldn’t live on easy street any more than workers should give orders to their boss.

-Wine makes you mean, beer makes you quarrelsome-a staggering drunk is not much fun. 

-Valuables are safe in a wise person’s home, fools put it all out for yard sales.

-Religious performance by the wicked stinks; it’s even worse when they use it to get ahead.

-If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place.

-A proverb quoted by fools is limp as a wet noodle.

-A shiftless sluggard puts his fork in the pie, but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.

 -Don’t call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.

    And my favorite:  "If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure."

Power Thought:

Just one more:  "Don’t wander off from your mother’s teachings."  (It really does say that!)

Power Of Living On The Edge

KEY SCRIPTURE:  “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life.  It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike, “What’s next Papa?”   Romans 8, The Message

POWER POINT:

     People would probably look at me and think I must lead a pretty boring life.   I'm a senior, a grandmother. My life is pretty much not in the hustle and bustle of today's world. But they would be wrong! Boring it is not!

     Every morning when I open my eyes to unfold my day, I find myself seated in heavenly places.  I find myself deep in conversation with the God of the universe, the God of the Angel Armies-the most amazing Person you could ever meet. He is never boring!  I find myself living on the edge of miracles every day. I see God working on my behalf every single day.  I find myself growing every day.

     I've been in movies where I've found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what will happen next. Will the end be a happy one?  I've found myself on pins and needles with excitement when my grandchildren are coming for a visit, anticipating the joy ahead. I usually can't stay in my chair! I'm bustling around getting ready.

     Beloved, as God's children we should always be living on the edge of our seats, full of pins and needles, because we know that today we might be on the verge of a miracle.  We might be steps away from seeing explosions of God's powerful goodness in our lives.  When you think about the children of Israel as they waited in Egypt for God to deliver them, they were probably on the edge of their seats when the Angel of Death flew over their homes.  They were on the verge of a miracle.  They were probably full of goose bumps as they watched the Red Sea part in front of them and then saw their enemies sink into those same raging waters.  What a stunning picture of the life of the children of God.

      We can either live “just surviving” or sitting on the edge of our seats with anticipation of what God is going to do next. I love the story about the twelve spies who went into the Promised Land to scope it out.  Ten of them came back only aware of the problems, the giants, and the impossibilities. Joshua and Caleb came back on the edge of their seats full of anticipation of what God could and would do for them.

    

Beloved, we must stay on the edge of our seats.  We were never meant to "survive", or "just get by".  We were meant to live expecting miracles every single day. Doesn't the fact that today you too can be seated in heavenly places with Jesus stir up some excitement in those tired old bones?  Doesn't the fact that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, and is working tirelessly to hear your prayers and deliver the answers give you a boost?

     The word "verge" means, the edge of something.  It means that

the point at which something is going to happen is NEAR!

Are you on the verge of your miracle?

Are you right on the borders of the land of Promises fulfilled?

Are you steps away from encountering the Presence of God on a whole new level?

Are you on the edge of your seat with anticipation of what God is going to do today?

     This gray haired lady is always on the edge of her seat.  Boring?  Not a chance.  The gray hair just means that I've had more opportunities than you young whippersnappers to see God be God every day in every way.  I live amazed at Him. 

Power Thought:

God has GOOD things, GOOD thoughts, GOOD plans for your "today".  That's something to look forward to with great anticipation isn't it? So what’s next Papa?

Power Of the Best Sermon

 Key Scripture:    "Anyone who sets himself up as "religious"by talking a good game is self-deceived.  This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air... don't let the Word go in one ear and out the other." Adapted from James 1, The Message

Power Point:

     My life is my best sermon.  It's what I do after I close the computer and go about my daily life that determines what I preach to people isn't it?  I can say all sorts of wonderful things when I write devotionals, but let's face it, if you know me, and my life doesn't line up with what I've written, it just won't have any effect.  Nor should it. If I'm constantly irritable, or selfish, or easily offended, then my life won't preach what God intends it to preach.  We've all known preachers who can tell us about  the goodness of God, but they are unkind when they walk out of the pulpit.  I'm sure you've met people who talk about the love of God and then don't ever show it. You can't trust someone who doesn't live what they preach can you?

     You can usually check your own sermon by your responses to others, including your family!

     If you say one thing and do another on a regular basis. Your children, or those closest too you, are the first ones to pick up on it.  They know!  And they won't pay attention to your words if your words aren't carried out in your actions.  They won't be like Jesus if you aren't. I may be as sweet as the next person when I'm sharing the gospel but if I'm a jerk behind closed doors, my life won't preach what it's supposed to.

     Shouldn't my family life be my best sermon?

     If I declare that I am a good friend, yet I indulge in gossip about my friends that just won't preach will it?

     If I preach love and live bitterness, it just doesn't preach.

     If I am wildly ecstatic about God helping me but won't lift a finger to help someone else, it just doesn't preach.

     If I preach on the power of giving but hold on tightly to everything I have, it just doesn't preach.

     People who don't live what they preach, are full of hot air. The Word of God is going in one ear and out the other. That's why we are supposed to ACT on what God tells us and let our lives be a sermon on His goodness to every person we meet. Your life is living proof of what you really believe. It's always preaching whether you know it or not.

His Life Preached
And Still Does.

Power Thought:
"One act of obedience is better than one-hundred sermons."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer