Power Of Fast Food

Key Scripture: "The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in their season."
Power Point:

We've all heard how bad "fast food" can be for us.  It's usually not nutritious or good, it's just fast, which means it's easy to get.  It doesn't have the right ingredients to make us healthy. It just fills up the space until we can get something better.

Some people are attracted to FAST food, simply because its FAST.  We want it NOW!  We want to feed our emptiness quickly, not necessarily wisely.  Of course FAST food also has negative long term results as well. You can eat an occasional "MacDonalds"   if you want, but your body will probably go "EWWW!"  I'll never forget when my husband was having a blood procedure done.  The man in the bed next to him had just come from enjoying a Big Mac.  You could see the blood siphoning through the tubes and it had big yellow clumps in it. Fat. EWWW! If we continually eat fast foods and never add the good foods, the nutritious foods, our bodies will suffer as a result. You might not notice it at first. In fact, our bodies are so beautifully made that they suffer in silence until they are desperate for the "good" not the "fast".  They fight to maintain health even when we don't offer them any help. Now that's a real miracle!

     Some of us believe that a steady diet of spiritual "Fast Food", is all that's necessary to maintain our spiritual passion and health.  We "drive through" quickly, eager to get something to satisfy that "urgent hunger" inside us without ever going in and sitting down and taking time to absorb the long term, vital effects that God's word has for us.

     When problems arise, we don't have a solid nutritional base.  There's nothing for us to stand on. We have not taken the time to build a solid foundation and when the storms come, we will not have the wisdom or the endurance we need to withstand the winds and the rain.

My Favorite!

     In the natural, eating healthy foods is a WISE thing.  It will take some thought, some planning.  You will have to study to know what is the best source of fuel for your body.  You'll have to shop for good quality, organic, carefully produced foods that will nourish you, and not fill you with pesticides.  In the spiritual kingdom, eating healthy will also require time and effort. We have the luxury of knowing the Wisest Person ever.  He knows exactly how to prepare us for all the eventualities in our lives.  He has the best word for us, the wisest wisdom, and the ability to help us stand strong. If your spiritual diet is only "fast", it won't necessarily be "good". If you're zipping through the "quiet time" drive-through each morning to get just enough to get by, you're missing a grand opportunity. The Holy Spirit is compared to "new wine". Wine needs to be savored, doesn't it? 

     In other words, a healthy spiritual life will not come without time well spent.  We will never be able to have the nutrients we need for a blessed and happy life unless we spend time with our Father.  We need to take time to make time for all the good seeds He gives us to grow deep inside us so that all the good plans He has for us can "sprout UP"!

     You can't survive on just fast food in the natural and you certainly can't survive on just "fast food"in the spiritual.

Power thought:

Fast food is not lasting food.

Power Of Helium

Key Scripture:  ..."He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises...Add your own diligence to the divine promises.  ...Employ every effort..."  2 Peter 1:4,5  Amplified.

Power Point:

      My grandchildren love to breathe in the helium from their birthday balloons.  They love how differently they speak when the helium is mixed with their breath. My friend Julie and I were praying the other day and God showed us something very profound.  He showed us a HUGE balloon filled with promises encased in the breath of God. He said that His breath might be described as being like helium.  If we inhale the breath of God, we inhale His promises for us. As HIS breath mingles with OUR breath, HIS breath transforms our voices, just as helium does for my grandchildren.  When we speak out His promises, they change the atmosphere around us and in us. 

     It's interesting that the word for "helium' is from the Greek word "sun'.  When we inhale the breath of life from the Son, He changes everything doesn't He?  He adds His power to the promises that we inhale. He mixes His faith, and His power to each and every one.  Those promises from the Son have the power to change our internal chemistry, and to transform us and how we speak. 

     Helium is one of the gasses used in hot air balloons.  It's what causes them to "rise up". When you look carefully at a picture of one of those beautiful balloons, you can see that the "fire power" is turned on.  The fire and the helium cause the balloon to fly.

    Beloved, the Fire Power of the Holy Spirit is in you, if you have breathed in Jesus.  That Fire of the Holy Spirit mixed with the promises of the Son for you have to be inhaled and mixed with your own breath to give them power.  If you don't take them in, they won't ever be released.

     If you don't "employ every effort" to ADD your own breath,  your own diligence, they'll never become all that they were intended to be for you.

    The breath of God is meant to be life changing. Imagine  the sky over your head filled with His promises floating along in beautiful balloons.  Each one has a long string.  To grab those promises all you have to do is grab one of the strings and pull the balloon down to your level.  Can you see the one filled with promises for your health?  For your relationships? For your future? Inhale those promises. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

Inhaling is breathing in the Breath of God filled with His promises; exhaling is mixing His breath with yours and transforming where you are. Every word He breathes is a promise for you.

Breathe deeply.

Power Thought:

Inhaling and exhaling area necessary to sustain life. Inhaling and exhaling the Breath of God filled with His promises, is also necessary to sustain life. 

Are you aware that "Power UP!" the book, is available on Amazon.com?

Power Of Disagreements

Key Scripture:  " Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor." James 2:17,18

Power Point:

I don't know about you but I have become more and more conscious of how we speak to each other. Holy Spirit has been tweaking my consciousness about how I agree to disagree.

I find that we are very disagreeable "disagreers". I have friends who don't worship the same way I do, but they're good people.  I'm one of those Word people who believes that God will do what He says He will do. That doesn't mean that I separate myself from someone who doesn't agree with my opinions. I am always asking Holy Spirit to let His loving wisdom shine through what I say.  

    Satan can use our disagreements and the way we disagree to destroy unity among Christians. He will use it among families. I'm right! You're wrong! I don't have to listen to you because I can justify my position,  Because I can prove it.  

    In fact, I CAN prove I'm right on this one.  Throughout the entire New Testament we hear things like "pursue peace with all men"-not just with Christians; not just your family; not just the people you like.   ALL men.  ALL men includes all men (and of course, women).  It means that you take the initiative to pursue peace. Period. Peace with your boss.  Peace with your neighbor.  Peace with those of a different faith. Peace with those of a different political persuasion. Peace with people of a different color or attitude or- WHATEVER!
      Have we forgotten to "speak the Truth in love"?

    The thing is that when we allow ourselves to be divided and disagreeable in any way, we are not ambassadors for Christ are we?  When Jesus said that He had shown them the Father's heart- He was modeling that for us.

    It challenges God's credibility when we refuse to act from a heart of love, joy, peace, and everything else that He is.

     One thing I have learned about my Lord is that He is always courteous to me. He is always honoring to me.  He never puts me down. He never says "You're wrong!" (comma, dummy). He never tells me I'm stupid. He says, "Hmm. you may want to think about this differently", gives me a hug, and then sends me off to discover that He was right all along.

   Honor and respect are key ingredients of God's personality.  I can be as right as right can be and still not get a blessing from my right opinions if I am not gentle, kind, gracious, reasonable and wise. Rest assured that I had to learn the right way by going a lot of wrong ways!

   Okay, I have a personal God lesson.   I was just talking to my daughter and out of my mouth came these words, "Well that was kind but she just wasn't thinking." And she replied, "Well, she wasn't thinking what YOU were thinking." Busted.

    Ah well, remember these hard learned lessons have to be filtered down through me first.

     Personally I like what someone has said, "Reason is my ability to convince them in the power and demeanor of the Holy Spirit who then convicts them."  My ultimate assignment is to speak the truth in love.  The pursuit of peace is my ultimate assignment, and yours. It is clear in Amos 3:3  "two people cannot walk together unless they be agreed."  And God wants to walk together with everyone.

    Has anyone but me noticed that we've forgotten to turn the other cheek, and to bless our enemy? The television, our government, is filled with hateful, disrespectful rhetoric that slices away at any cords of unity.  The "enemy" "( the one you disagree with) is vilified and torn to shreds. The media continually shows only one side of the controversy without respectfully representing the other side.

     Beloved, whoever compels you to walk with them one mile, offer to go with him two.

     Is our nation too far gone in the wrong way of disunity and disrespect and no peace? Can you and I make a difference in how we address "testy" issues. Could it be as simple as Christ's body acting with less pride and more humility and each of us offering up the sacrifice of pursuing peace?  He did.

I don't have to agree with someone's theology or whether or not they are Democrats or Republicans, but I am to honor and respect each individual.

    When God's wisdom is sent from above, it's first of all pure; then it is peace loving, courteous, (considerate, gentle) It is willing to yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits (God fruits).  Could we be declared guilty of that?

Author/singer Judy Jacobs wrote "God is always looking for someone who will be the change agent to bring the change!" That should be every one of us, shouldn't it?

  Is anybody ready to agree with God and jump in and start changing things? It begins with love doesn't it? Perfect love. I was thinking about that recently. God loves Mormons. He loves Jews.  God loves Charismatics.  God loves Baptists. God loves Democrats.  God loves Republicans and Tea Party members.  He loves Americans and He loves Germans and Swedes and Iranians, and Malaysians.  God loves everybody, It's just His way.  He spreads His message through Love. All you have to do is take a look at Jesus.  It began that way and it will always be that way. He persuades people to His perspective through peaceful, loving, courteous, considerate, and gentle wisdom, which He also offers to us freely-so that we can offer it to someone else in exactly the same way!

Power Thought:

Will you be the change agent to bring change?

Did you know that "Power UP!", the book, is available on Amazon.com?

Power Of Learning and Growing

Key Scripture: "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think"  Ephesians 3:20

Power Point:

     I love my grandchildren.  They are a constant source of delight to me.  Of course I also have to have a strong sense of who I am in Jesus when I am around them. I usually go home more humble than when I came.  This time Hannah was looking me over.  She never misses a thing and this time it was the brown spots on my face.  "What are THOSE Gami?"  Oh well.

     On the other hand, they often say the most profound things that I tuck away in my heart and will remember forever.  On this visit, Reagan Grace was reading the biography of Helen Keller.

I remembered the movie "The Miracle Worker" and downloaded it onto my IPad so we could watch it together.  It was really rich with opportunities to explain how Annie Sullivan really loved Helen and wanted the best for her no matter how bad she may have seemed in the beginning.

She saw the end from the beginning and she kept on keeping on until Helen "got it". Her passion to help Helen "see" changed both their lives forever.

     Reagan, (who is only 7) "got it".  Later, as we were discussing it, she said, "Gami, whenever I think of Helen Keller, I will think of you."  Why?  "Because she was always learning something new and she wanted to keep exploring things. You do that too!"  I love these visits. That made up for the "brown spots".

Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan

     As Christians, we never quite arrive do we?  The whole premise of the New Testament is to GROW! We're to grow in grace, and in faith, and in power, and in authority.  We're never expected to stay where we are.  Once we're on the mountaintop we make the trip to the next valley. Then it's back to the mountaintop again. It's always forward motion, exploring new things and leaving old things behind.  I sometimes amuse myself by looking back at my salvation experience with Jesus.  It was so life-changing that I thought I surely had everything heaven had to offer.  I'm sure that made the Heavenly Trio laugh.  A lot. Sometimes I still look at my progress and say, "Whew, I'm glad I know that now!"  At least I used to.  I think I understand more richly that in the kingdom of God there is always so much more to explore and to learn.  Being a Teacher Extraordinaire, the Holy Spirit will never run out of things to teach us.  He never retires.

     This morning I was looking at Matthew 25 about the parable of the Ten Virgins.  God has probably highlighted that chapter in my life thousands of times over the last 40 years.  Each time I think that surely I must know everything there is to know about it.  Wrong.  Again.

    Beloved, God loves challenges and He loves to challenge you. It's fun for Him. He wants to get you out of your comfortable "I now know everything there is to know about God" box and propel you into further exploration.  I remember my grandson Ben, always loved the Toy Story movie and he really loved the character of "Bud Lightyear". Bud's motto was "To infinity and BEYOND!"  That, my friend, is exactly where God wants to take you; above and beyond.

Above and beyond where you are now.

Above and beyond what you think you know.

Above and beyond your wildest dreams and imaginations.

Are you up for the trip?

Power Thought:

Are you ready to go where no man has gone before?  He's waiting.

      

Power Of Knowing God's Will

Key Scripture:  “We do not cease to pray for you.That you may be filled with the knowledge of HIS will in ALL things.”  Colossians 1:9

Power Point:

     The point I’m trying to make here is…. Um…. Oh dear, I forgot.  Let me see-Oh yes.  God says that it’s HIS will for us to KNOW His will. WHAT? 

I thought His will was a big mystery.  I thought we were supposed to muddle around in the dark until there was this huge flash of light from heaven telling us what we’re supposed to do. No?  Then, how do we know what God wants us to do?

     A lot of us live our lives, stumbling around as I did in that first sentence.  We forget the point.  We forget where we’re going and whom we’re going with.  We walk through life, forgetting that God intended us to have an abundant life right from the first moment that we begin to follow Jesus. That was the whole point for Jesus.  He wanted us to have abundance in our lives; abundant grace, abundant love, abundant provision, abundance of everything God has for us. He wanted us to KNOW His Father.  The only way we can live in that place of abundance is to know what His will for us is, and to know Who He longs to be for us. Its learning to allow the Holy Spirit to so connect you to the Father, that every plan and purpose He has for you will be EASY for you to find.

     So what is the will of God for you?  Peace, prosperity, happiness,

deliverance, rescue, general well being. That’s the definition of “salvation”. That’s what Jesus thinks is abundant life and that’s what He died to give you. That's why they call him "Savior".

     Can you see that if what is happening in your life doesn’t line up with those things than its time to take action and begin to resist the devil and draw near to that perfect will of God?

     I’ve heard people say many times that when a traumatic illness or issue comes in their lives it must be God just teaching them to do better. According to everything I read about God’s nature, and about His will, having our health stolen from us does not begin to line up with His will.  If the only thing you understood about God was the definition of “salvation”, you should be able to see when it is NOT God’s will. Then you can fight back against the enemy with one arm behind your back and one hand firmly in God’s hand.  

You can be quite sure that God is on your side. 

You can be quite sure that His plans are full of goodness and hope.

You can be quite sure that He wants you to be filled to the brim with wisdom, power, and the knowledge of His will.

You can be quite sure that He loves you, that He always desires to be kind to you and that His will is always good, acceptable and perfect.

     Are you getting the picture?  If, like me, in the opening sentence, you've become a little confused and you’ve forgotten the whole point of salvation, maybe its time to reconnect and resurrect your benefit package and move into the knowledge of His will in every place; because you know Him, you can know that all you need to do is look for the good, acceptable, and perfect thing, right in front of your nose. And then fight for it.  That’s the whole point.

Power Thought:

The whole point is that God knows the point and He’ll point you in the right direction so you can know it too.

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