Monthly Archives: November 2008

What You Fear –You Will Worship!

That came from a speaker at something I attended recently.  What does that mean?  Well, I had to think about it for awhile.  We tend to think ‘worship’ is singing, adoration or devotion to God.  Looking a little deeper, what we think and meditate on, especially in fear can become a form of worship. 

We hear all kinds of things like:

  • What you fear will find you….
  • Everything I feared came upon me….
  • When we fear the problem becomes bigger and the solution less possible, or
  • The more we fear the greater the situation becomes and the smaller God seems.

That becomes rather ‘scary’.  Instead we need to think the beginning of wisdom is a fear (or reverence and devotion) of God.  I ask the Holy Spirit all the time, “What do you think about this?”  I rarely get an immediate answer but my point is, I want Him to know I want His version (or wisdom) on my situation.

I like to think about what I know about God and what His Word says…..I need to make a decision of my will, to have faith not fear because His Word does say, “What is not of faith, is sin.”  And the reward of sin, any sin, is not good.

In thinking about this after listening to world and local news….the Holy Spirit did answer me with some Godly wisdom, “Repent of accepting the spirit of recession.  And break the assignment of recession upon you, your family and your business.”  

WOW!  I got so excited, who would have ‘thunk’ there is a ‘spirit of recession’?  Well, not me without help from the Holy Spirit who teaches us all things.  So I share this so everyone will not accept the invitation of the world to go into depression about a recession.  But will pray,  rebuking that spirit to rid ourselves individually of the fear that comes with ‘bad news’.

Bad things happen to good people because there is a devil and his demons who come to kill , rob and destroy; there is evil in the world; and men and women have free will to use for or against each other.  But, ultimately we have refuse and comfort in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit was not relieving me of the necessity of prayer, quite the opposite.  Prayer is heard in the supernatural realm and directs either Angels or demons.  Overing coming evil with good is overcoming fear with faith.  Agreement with God sends Angels on assignment–negative thinking and fear equips the demons on assignment.  Which team will we be on?

I talk like this is a ‘piece of cake’ for me.  No, quite the opposite, I am really good at seeing all the bad and evil things for myself and others…so if have to think quite often….”Better pray, better seize the moment….if not, why not…..what is the alternative?”   Then it is easy to choose the right team!    

‘Deluged with bad news, but not forsaken….it is faith not fear that moves mountains!’

 

Blessing People–Why Me?

Why me?  WOW….there is such a good reason you will love it. 

Every-time we bless someone else, three things happen:

1.  We have the thought of the blessing!  (Good for your mind and soul. Phil 4:8)

2.  We speak blessing through our mouth!  (Words can bring life! John 6:63)

3.  As we bless, we are blessed! (In words we are justified; declared righteous! Matt 12:37)

To bless means to:

  •  To consecrate or sanctify, or pronounce holy.
  •  To request of God, divine favor.
  •  To impart good of any kind.
  •  To commend as holy; glorify.  (To bless God.)
  •  To protect or guard from evil. 

Those are some of the definitions of the word bless.  How wonderful that we can impart such awesome things in just ‘blessing’ a person or situation!

As we work in partnership with the Holy Spirit (He is the senior partner and we are junior partner), we use our mind, our mouth to speak, we are blessed, and the Holy Spirit does the rest, and He is soooo good at what He does!  As it goes forth those who receive the blessing will be blessed, those who do not, the blessing will return to us!  (Luke 10:6)

Whee…!!!  What a blessing to give a blessing and be blessed!  All because of Jesus, for Jesus and in His Name, we can rise up each day to over come evil with good!  (Rom 12:21)

Blessing makes the heart sing!

Why God Uses Imperfect People!

The simple answer is:  “Because that is all He has!”

Jesus was without sin; Jesus said, “Only God is good.”; so where does that leave the rest of us?

The Lord spoke to my heart not long ago, that unless we realize we are imperfect and God loves us–we will not have the love we need to love others who are imperfect!

Why is it so easy to be critical?  Be suspicious?  Be full of fear?  Blame others?  Whoops! That would be the ‘fallen nature’ of man, right? 

Why is joy so illusive and happiness take so much effort?  Because they require good thoughts, a good attitude and if we don’t have them we can make a decision of our will (free will that is) to change our attitude, and let go of the pain.  It may take some work on our part!

When we face our own imperfection we are able to be kinder, and more compassionate to others who annoy, offend or deceive us.  Sometimes it takes effort, but sometimes it is just a change of attitude.

God really does love us, so much so, He gave His Son, to demonstrate that love!  So know that you don’t have to be perfect.  Don’t expect others to be perfect before you love them.  It  isn’t always easy….I am here to say….just very, very rewarding!

If the ‘fallen nature’ and some of what I said is a ‘mystery’ to you, I invite you to take advantage of our ‘Weekly Book Offer–Free to All’ listed on this page.  We will share what we have learned and hopefully others will share with us. 

Signed,

Carol                                                                                                                                                            Definitely imperfect,  but mightily Loved of God!   

Election, America And King David….

The United States of America had an election yesterday, where one side won by a good sized vote.  Although it seems to be over….maybe it isn’t.

As I watched the acceptance speech I was amazed at the 200,000+ people, (many had been waiting in Chicago for ten hours or more) the happiness, excitement and joy in their actions and on their faces.  And, I was smitten once again with the results of the power of agreement.

King David, of Bible fame, faced the loss of a son because of his own actions prior to his son’s birth.  Here is what the Bible says, (when David was told the baby was dead), “So David arose from the ground and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped.  Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.”  There is a very interesting and profound principle here.

 The word ‘anoint’ according to the dictionary means:  to consecrate or make sacred in a ceremony that includes the token applying of oil; to dedicate to the service of God.  Usually we see this from the stance of the Holy Spirit doing the anointing.  In this case David rose up and anointed himself.  We could talk all day about his sins that brought this about, but that would not serve us well, nor is it my purpose.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE….we know the sins we have committed, we know how the enemy is working to kill, rob and destroy in America….well, the whole world.  So let’s get on with the solution.  It is not a program, idea, or a ‘president’.  It is the Kingdom of God on earth with Jesus as King. 

Let’s anoint ourselves–worship our King–both literally with words and song–but especially with our ability to serve.  Let us clothe ourselves in right actions, let’s work in the market place, the business place, the schools, the media, the government (where ever we have a place) with integrity, kindness, blessing those who are against us, and using forgiveness always  to take the power from the enemy and give it to God.

Let’s pray for our Government Leaders–the ones we have now and the ones we will have. Not with judgment about how bad they are, but with forgiveness, blessings and faith in God to change hearts, reaffirm freedom, and move mountains of hostility, violence and arrogance from the minds and hearts of those who know not what they do. 

And, as Charlie Brown–cartoon character– said, “I have seen the enemy and it is us.”

We need to anoint, refresh our minds, our faith in God, not man. We are not American’ts, we are Americans.  We are, as David said when he faced Goliath, the giant, “Who is this that should defy the armies of the living God?”  The war is not against men, but is spiritual.  Regret, remorse, self-pity–the negative emotions do not serve us well.  We must be part of the armies of the living God.  Who ever won a war believing it was lost?

What a challenge, what a great opportunity to be an influence on the world, for the goodness of God, for the abundant life Jesus paid for–not just in a church building–but in the world.  Believers in God, unite in loving agreement and prayer, to change the world for Jesus!  Condemnation and judgment will not work!  Lord let your light shine through us, give us direction, vision and purpose; Lord let Your Kingdom come!