Power OF Extra-ordinary Hope

Key Scripture:  "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in, (have extra-ordinary) hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:13

Power Point:

     Because God loves us so much; because His presence lives in us, we are the containers of hope.  In 1 Peter 1:3, we are told that because of God's abundant (extra-ordinary) mercy, which now lives in us, we have been born again to be a container of the Living Hope because of the Resurrection of Jesus.

    Hope never dies in the believer, Beloved.  It's a LIVING hope.  It might be knocked down but it's never knocked out.  The moment you ask for Him to help, extra-ordinary hope begins to be stirred up again.

     Hope responds to the sound of His voice in you.  It responds to the sound of His voice through you.  It will never disappoint you.  It is the power of the Holy Spirit in you right now. He is ready to fill you with ALL joy and ALL peace so that you can believe Him.  His hope is there to give you hope, extra-ordinary hope; hope that abounds and bubbles up and fills you with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

     When we agree with Who God is and what He has promised us, hope will rise.  As you wait upon The Lord, in anticipation of His goodness, extra-ordinary hope will rise. Don't lose hope! If you've lost it, find it again.

Do not give up on God. He is with you.  He loves you in an extra-ordinary way. His presence always remains. He stays.  He is alive in you right now. Isn't that an extra-ordinary thought?

Power Thought:

His kindness will never leave.  His love will never leave.  His mercy never ends. 

His power toward us is extra-ordinary! Enjoy the Living Hope that is in you. His name is Jesus. 

Power Of His Extraordinary Presence

Key Scripture:  "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  2 Corinthians 4:2

Power Point:

     I know that you have probably heard the good news that God is Omnipresent.  For the Christian, that's a wonderful thing. That means that there is no place where we are that He is not.  You don't have to call Him and say, "Hey God. I've got a little problem here. Could you come over and help me?" Nope!  He's already there, in you as well as around you. He's always at least one step ahead of you, so the answer is already on the way.

     When Jesus was preparing to leave earth for the throne room, He promised that the Holy Spirit was coming. He clearly explained that because of the Cross, we would have the glorious opportunity of having the Spirit of the Father, The Spirit of Jesus Himself living IN us. In other words, everything God was, is, and ever will be, would come to make its home, live forever, in the tiny little containers of His children. Forever. And ever.  He promised that He would be everywhere, in every place where we are, in every place where we carry Him. The glory of the Gospel is that Jesus died and rose again and gave us the opportunity to become children of God.  It didn't stop there Beloved. It was only the beginning. And there is no end. Just as Jesus brought heaven to earth, so can we.   

     As I read the Psalms, as wonderful as they are, I can see David's concern that God would leave him, that the anointing would be removed from him.  It was a logical fear because he had seen it happen.  He only had to look at King Saul to see the tragedy of an anointed man, losing his anointing. In 1 Samuel you can read this sad story.  Samuel, the prophet, comes to Saul after a great disobedience and says, "You have been foolish!  You have been disobedient to what The Lord has told you.  He would have established your kingdom forever but now your kingdom cannot continue. The Lord has sought someone who will be a man after His own heart." The Lord took His presence, His anointing from King Saul and placed it on King David. You can hear David's concern about losing that anointing in Psalm 51 following his time with Bathsheba.  He says, "Please Lord, give me a clean heart again.  Renew a steadfast spirit in me.  PLEASE don't take your presence from me.  DON'T take Your Holy Spirit from me.

And He didn't. 

     Did you know that no matter what "Bathsheba" incident has occurred in your life God will never, never, never take away His Holy Spirit? That's the privilege of the New Testament believer. I guess you could say that we all have "Bathsheba" times in our lives when we do our own thing, in direct contradiction to what God has told us to do, don't we?  That's why the extra-ordinary power of His presence is so significant to us.  We never, never, never have to worry about losing God. Jesus said, "I will never, never, never leave you or forsake you."  That's really good news isn't it?        

     In the Old Testament the Presence of God was dependent on God's choice.  Today it depends on your choice. Whatever you choose, you can never, never never walk away from God's presence because He is IN you, and WITH you at all times. He is still there, working wherever you give Him the opportunity to work. You have the extra-ordinary power of all that God is, and all that God has for you in your own heart.  Your dreams are the dreams that He has for you. Your future is the future He sees for you. You just can't shake God. 

      Have you ever had someone in your life that you just wanted to be rid of?  You don't answer their phone calls, and you avoid them at every opportunity. Sometimes we treat God that way don't we?  But the Truth is, Beloved, you can't shake God.  You can't shake His commitment to you.  You can't make Him leave. You may make the choice to ignore Him but He's still there loving you, and working in you, to let you experience His presence in you.

How extra-ordinary!

     You never need to pray to ask for His Holy Spirit to return. He's been there all along and He always will be. You were born for this time.  You were not born in Old Testament times.  You were born to be a container of heaven on earth.  
     In church this morning Pastor Mark said, "Extraordinary encounters with the Holy Spirit are the gems set in an ordinary life."  

You don't want to live an ordinary life do you when extra-ordinary is fully available?

Power Thought:

Where are you now?  Isn't it wonderful to know that God is there too?  Why not ask Him to show you where He is, and Who He wants to be in your life? I bet He has some extra-ordinary plans. 

Power Of EXTRA-Ordinary Kindness

Key Scripture:  "Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?"   Romans 2:4,NIV

Power Point:

    I've mentioned many times that this is the Scripture that best describes my introduction to Jesus.  We were at a point in our lives, (age 32), when things were falling apart.  My husband, Dennis and I, had two children. He had a "decent" job but didn't make a great deal of money. He traveled a LOT!  Our daughter was six and our son was about three.  When I had become pregnant with David, out of the blue I had developed asthma.  It had been a near death experience several times.  David was continually plagued with ear infections. It was a tough time.  We loved each other but "life" as we knew it was stealing our optimism and our dreams. It was a definite wilderness. 

     Through a series of encounters with the Holy Spirit, Dennis came home and introduced me to Jesus.  I had known "about" Him, of course.  Most people did!  But I did not understand that He was the perfect representative of a heavenly Father that loved us beyond anything I could imagine. 

     It was Easter weekend in 1974 and Dennis walked through the door with such peace that it literally made me stop and look at him.  He was always a good man. That was never in question. But on this day, he had a new "something" about him.  it made me stop and take notice. It took me about two weeks to unzip the body bag of lies that I thought were truths about God and let the Real Truth set me free.  As I look back at that time, I can definitely tell you that it was the extra-ordinary Kindness of God that led us to think differently about Him. When God's Spirit came in, He soothed our troubled hearts.  Eventually He changed our circumstances.  From that day to this, I cannot imagine a kinder person, ever.

     I came from a family that was not necessarily kind. We loved each other but sarcasm was the tone of the day.  It might have sounded funny but it caused deep wounds. Sarcasm seems to be the tone of the day today as well, doesn't it? At any rate, God knew that every human being, every person He has created on the face of the earth, needs kindness and so He sought us out to demonostrate His kindness to us.  He knew we needed it.

     It has taken me a long time to understand the tone of His voice.  It is always kind.  He may be firm, but He's always kind.  He may be in the process of "training me for reigning", but He's always kind.  He may see some flaws. (He DEFINITELY can see my flaws!) but in His kindness, He causes me to think differently and change direction.

    In Ephesians 4 and 5 we are told to imitate Him, and to walk in love.  If you remember, the first description of "love" in 1 Corinthians 13 is that "Love is KIND!"   God is Love and God is Kind-"Extra-ordinarily" kind.  In His kindness, He believes the best is yet to come for us.  In fact, He knows it without a doubt.  As a child of God, as the ones He's chosen to be like Jesus and change the world, His emphasis is always on kindness. Sarcasm, and criticism are not kind.  Unforgiveness and anger are not kind. Impatience is definitely not kind.

     Hopelessness is not of God.  He has always wanted us to live filled with an anticipation of His kindness. In April of 1974 He opened the door of hope in the wilderness for us, just by showing us His kindness.

I want to be just like Him when I grow up.  Don't you?

    Today, He will show me somehow, some way, a greater measure of His kindness than He showed me yesterday.  It's my job to excel in that same kindness.  It's your job too!

     The Greek word for "kindness" means "goodness in action, sweetness, gentleness in dealing with others.  It means the "ability to ACT for the welfare of those taxing your patience."  (NSFB) It describes the nature of the Holy Spirit in you.  Today YOU have the extra-ordinary ability to be kind; to the unkind, to the unlovely and to those who are taxing your patience.  That's the greater work that the Holy Spirit wants to do in you and through you today.

Will You take Him up on it?

Power Thought:

God is able to make extra-ordinary kindness available to you and through you today, tomorrow, and always.  Kindness is a way of life for God. Never forget that. 

Power Of Extra-ordinary Power

Key Scripture: "Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20   

Power Point:

     I was thinking this morning about Moses making the journey up the mountain to see God. He really wanted to see God!  And God really wanted Moses to see Him. There was only one problem; Moses would have died if he had seen God's face. Because this was so important to both of them, God covered Moses' face with His own hand so that He would be protected from the extraordinary power of God's goodness. Imagine that. As I thought about this, it suddenly dawned on me that the same power that could have killed Moses lives inside of every single believer today.

     We have the extraordinary power of extra-ordinary compassion, goodness, faithfulness, love, and forgiveness and peace. All of that potential came into us when we received the Holy Spirit from Jesus.

Did you think you were without power to forgive? 

Did you think you were powerless to believe God?

Did you think you had no compassion?

You would be wrong.

     Why? Because the extra-ordinary power of God to do all those things resides, lives, abides, and  dwells in you.  I guess that means that we are without excuse, doesn't it? If He tells us to forgive the unforgiveable, or to be kind to the unkind, merciful to the unmerciful, or have the faith to move mountains, then we must have the power to do that don't you think? It may not be easy but we have the extra ability to go beyond the ordinary don't we?

     Beloved, the Christian life has never been supposed to be dependent on our own strength, our own wisdom, our own insights.  In fact, He's made it very clear that it is His strength that perfects our weaknesses. In other words, we are never intended to stay where we began. Our life is not to be an ordinary life. It's supposed to be an abundant life, remember? Every day we will have the opportunity to choose to exercise His extraordinary power to put to death the things that hold us back from all that He has for us and to release that power to others.

     The key to success for that process to power-extra-ordinary power- lies in our choices.  We can live in unforgiveness, in bitterness, or anger, or we can recognize that in the power of Holy Spirit, we have the the greater power within us.

     If the Life of God in us is righteousness, joy and peace in the extra-ordinary power of the Holy Spirit, then why aren't we  seeing more of it?  I mean, honestly, why not?  If we are filled with the Spirit, and are being led by the Spirit of God, that means that we have  the power to be extraordinarily loving, joyful, peaceful, good, kind, faithful, gentle, and in control of our selves so that we can choose the more excellent way. Then what's the problem?

Let me rephrase that:

We have the extra-ordinary power of God IN us, to kill hatred, anger, bitterness, gossip, bad habits, doubt, unbelief, unkindness, meanness, and unforgiveness.

I think that means that we have the extra-ordinary power to walk arm in arm with all the "extraordinary" that God has for us. Extraordinary means beyond the ordinary. It's beyond you.  It's pure God. And that's what makes it possible.

    
 A few weeks  ago, I was part of a ministry team that was privileged to accompany the Holy Spirit on an outing.  A young woman came for prayer.  She was fearful. She was VERY fearful. As we stopped and asked Holy Spirit what He wanted to do, my partner and I just put our hands on her.  He showed us that He wanted her to actually act out removing the grave clothes that she had been wearing. The moment she did that, the Holy Spirit began about a ten minute process of casting out fear and replacing it with freedom and joy. It was an extraordinary privilege to observe extra-ordinary power. 

    We were not required to do much more than believe that God wanted what each of them wanted; to be free.  We didn't declare or command or tell God what to do. He actually figured it out on His own!  We didn't pray long prayers. We didn't go down a long to-do list. We simply came to pray with His heart of compassion. We asked the Holy Spirit what HE wanted to do, and then just watched Him do it. We just showed up, as instructed.   And He did too.

Can you understand that because of the Holy Spirit in you, YOU too are extra-ordinary?

      Isn't it time that you began to think like it and act like it?   Isn't it time for there to be more of Him and less of you in your day to day life?  God has written a wonderful chapter in His book called, "The ACTS Of The Apostles"  It's all about ordinary men and women who were filled with the Holy Spirit and ACTED in power.  Extraordinary!  Isn't it time to realize that GOD is SO extra-ordinary, and that His "extra-ordinariness" is in the very center of your own heart?

Could He have made it any easier than that?

I don't think so.

Will you begin to live out what He's put in?

Will you at least think about it?

Power Thought:

Trust the extra-ordinary power of God within you. What will you allow Him to do in you and through you today that will be above and beyond all that you can ask or think? How will He make your "ordinary", extra-extra-extra-ordinary?

Were you aware that "It's Time To Power UP!", the book is available on Amazon.com?

Power Of Negatives

Key Scripture: "But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work,so that you may be (people) perfectly and fully developed (with no defects), lacking in nothing."  James 1:5

Power Point:

     The results of endurance and steadfastness and patience are perfectly wonderful aren't they?  We become a people perfectly and fully developed-how awesome is that?!  But to get to verse 5, it is necessary to live out verses 2-4.  We only need endurance and steadfastness and patience when we are enveloped in trials.  We need those qualities to be able to look at a trial with joy, and perfect faith in our hearts, and on our minds.

     When I was in the eighth grade, I was part of a 4H club.  Our principal was the leader and our project for the year was photography. I had a little brownie camera and I knew that when i took a picture all I had to do was take the film to the drugstore to be developed.  Imagine my surprise when my fearless leader decided that my project would be a self-portrait.  He had taken pity on my ineptness and took a photo of me and then we went to his home and developed the negatives.  I remember being surprised at placing the negative in the developing solution and watching as it turned into a picture. Mr. Nixon carefully moved the photo paper back and forth and bit by bit I saw myself looking back at me. At the perfect time, he took the photo out and hung it up to dry.

     Beloved, we all have dark places at times and the thing we need to remember is that Jesus is in that dark room with us. He has the negative of the print that He is developing in our life.  He knows just how long to keep it in the developing solution and He is very intent on that negative because He knows exactly what is supposed to develop from it. If He removes it too early, He will spoil the picture. During the time the process is going on, there is a red light alert outside the door that tells people to STAY OUT!  If someone opens that door too early, the final product will be ruined.  At the perfect time, and not a moment before, He will remove it and then and only then can you see what HE saw when He took the picture. He always turns the negative into a positive.

    Jesus has an image, a plan and a purpose for you.  He sees you differently and He sees your situation differently than you do or anyone else does.  That's why it is so important to ask Him to show You what He sees so that you can agree with Him and capture that picture on the inside of you.

     I was talking to my daughter yesterday about a difficult situation we are facing.  What came out of my mouth was, "It is what it is, but it's not what it WILL be!" That's exactly what God says to us continually.  The facts (the negatives) are what "is" but they are not what they will be after the Truth develops them.

      The image that God has of you is the image He wants you to have too.  That's why He is busy in the darkroom, the dark places, developing that image. Soon, He will decide that it's perfect and He will lift the image from the developing solution and hang it up. Then you will be able to see clearly what He saw at the beginning and carefully created.

     Beloved, we can look at ourselves and we can look at others and only see negatives.  That only means that Jesus is not finished with us yet.  We are still developing, as are they.  We haven't spent quite enough time in the darkroom with the Master Photographer who is quite intent on developing His perfect image in us. As we endure through the developing phase; as we stand fast on His promises of a flourishing finish, and as we patiently wait for the Perfect Image to develop, we become strong in areas where we were weak.  We have faith where before we had doubt.  We grow up in all things in Jesus.            Ultimately the negatives lead us to wholeness if we trust Jesus to develop them into a good thing-which He promises us in Romans 8:28:

"We are assured and KNOW that all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good for those who love God and are called according to His design and purpose."

Is that you?  Well, no worries then! He's the Master Developer, and He knows just how long to leave you in the developing solution. You're on your way to seeing what He's seen in you all along.
    By the way, I got a blue ribbon for my portrait-mostly because I let the one who knew what he was doing-do the work!

Power Thought:

"One always looking for flaws leaves too little time for construction."

Lewis F. Korns