by admin | Apr 23, 2011 | Jesus Talk, Personal
THE HAPPIEST THOUGHT I HAD LAST YEAR!
One morning as I talked with the Lord, I was thinking how I belong to Jesus, because I am 'born again,' I am in Him and He is in me. Then suddenly,
I realized not only do I belong to Jesus forever but Jesus belongs to me forever too!
Jesus, Lord, Friend, Husband–belongs to me, little me, for eternity. I was so excited, I just walked around all day, saying, "Jesus belongs to me, Jesus belongs to me." It gave me such joy!
This may not be new to you, but I wanted to share it, with the hope that we might be one in thanking Jesus for His sacrifice on the cross, and the joy of knowing our Jesus pesonally, being one with Him in our heart, mind and spirit!
Love and blessings of the Season,
Carol
by admin | Apr 19, 2011 | Jesus Talk, Personal
As I sought the Lord on this whole issue of 'positive thinking' this is what He put on my heart:
"Your thoughts do not attract or direct destiny, your prayers do There is a great push now, from the enemy, to think, talk and speak 'positive' as you have realized….putting the emphasis back on man, not on God" (That would requires me to be righteous…..the original sin of dependency on man rather than dependency upon God.) "Thoughts and actions empower the enemy or connect with Me (God). Then it is MY power not yours that directs energy, establishes the Kingdom, to rule the world. As long as man can direct his own path, he will not see or feel any need for ME. The devil thrives on it. The 'law of attraction' has just enough truth to be delicious."
Here some wonderful verses to consider:
"…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" and "For by thy words thou shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned." All from Matthew 12:31-37 Please read the whole section for greater insight.
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." Proverbs 18:21
We quote these scriptures often, putting great emphasis on what we say, what we quote. When Jesus was confronted by the Devil in the wilderness, Jesus said, "It is written…." Jesus knew there is 'spirit and life' in the words of God (John 6;63). Jesus had the Holy Spirit and knew 'what He spoke' had the power of God behind the spoken word.
When we quote scripture verses, we are acknowledging the power of God, resident in us because when we are part of Jesus, He is in us and we are in Him.
THE DANGER, THE EVIL LIES IN, THE PERVERSION OF WHERE THE POWER COMES FROM.
Some times it is difficult to connect the dots, so to speak. The quotes of Jesus I have listed make us think we should always speak good, positive things, especially quoting Him. However, Jesus did not do that. Jesus was frustrated at His followers and said, "Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?" (Luke 9:41) And that was to His disciples. Several times Jesus uses the term, "Oh you of little faith." Then angered at the Pharisees (Matthew 23) tells them off royally. Didn't Jesus remember what He, Himself has said?
Speaking the 'truth' of a situation is not always negative. If you tell people you are fine and inside you are hurting and full of pain, is that faith or causing us to be double minded. The more we talk about something the bigger the problem gets, so we need to be careful who we tell and ask them for prayer.
David complained in the Psalms about all his troubles and his enemies; and always turned to God for the victory. Paul says in his writ tings, "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:" (2 Cor 1:8) Yet Paul declared often of victory, overcoming in Christ and that nothing could every separate us from the love of God.
I have found this last year when my body screamed with inflammation or pain, my spirit was at rest. My relationship with Jesus has been wonderful and blessed, even though I am still standing in faith for complete healing. It was a first for me in 31 years with the Lord where my spirit and body were not in agreement. What a joy to know, as Paul, nothing can separate us from the love of God.
When we are discouraged, sick, or feeling lost….we need more of Jesus, more of Him in loving worship and yes, standing on Scripture verses that 'speak' to our situation. As we draw close to Him in thought and prayer, He draws close to us, as we remember….
OUR WORDS ARE EITHER IN AGREEMENT WITH GOD, HIS POWER, HIS ENERGY OR WE GIVE THE DEVIL AND HIS DEMONS POWER WITH OUR WORDS. THAT IS WHAT ADAM AND EVE DID WITH THEIR 'AGREEMENT' AND THINGS HAVE NOT CHANGED MUCH….THE ENEMY IS STILL THE DECEIVER!
Faith is the supernatural manifestation of what we choose to believe….our circumstance or the power of God!
"Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world; I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me; In Him I live, move and have my being." (I John 4:4; Phil 4:13; Acts 17:28)
"for without me (Jesus) you can do nothing." (John 15:5c)
Finally, I understand what Jesus meant in that verse, He gives us the power (Matt 28; Mark 16; Luke 10:19; John 20:23) but without Him there is no power!
As we thank Him for all things, we get the blessings and He gets the Glory!
Pressing in and pressing on….
by admin | Apr 15, 2011 | Jesus Talk
God does work in mysterious ways! It is just like Him to use a situation that seemed to be 'social' and comfortable to teach me about one of the greatest deceptions of our day. We have so much to pray about…..personal needs, our economy, earthquakes and war…..that it so easy to be distracted and enticed into the beautiful side of evil.
I ask several friends about their view or how would they explain 'original sin'? You know, the begriming of our history! The act that caused mankind to have a 'fallen nature' and brought evil into the world. The consensus was disobedience to God's rules and separation from God. I would like to share my heart on this because as I thought and prayed about it I was so convicted about the danger of deception that people face today.
Disobedience was and is the act, the energy (the world uses that term now) that led to the sin. Sin was and is to be independent, from God, to do it our way. We have books, DVDs, TV shows, by the thousands about the merits of thinking positive, the law of attraction (what you think will bring what you want), the fulfillment of 'opening our hearts to all things'….i.e. doing it our way. And, of course Frank Sinatra made the song I DID IT MY WAY, very popular, years ago.
All those things sound good…..speaking, acting positive does feel good. Because the brain functions better as there is a great deal of truth in those teachings. There is always good mixed with evil or we wouldn't be tempted or enticed. It is not the 'use' but the 'abuse' of truth we need to be aware of.
In working with a talented, gifted person, recently I became aware of this person's views on reincarnation, higher power, inner presence of self, spiritual enlighenment. I wasn't concerned about that, as I work and play with people who have different views than mine all the time. We are to be 'in the world' not of the world.' Right! Associating with people, accepting them the way they are, not the way we want them, is one of the hardest things to do, but necessary to influence the world for Jesus and the Kingdom of God.
However, because of this one friend I was convicted (by the Holy Spirit) of where all that 'free thinking' was leading. WOW! My mind was spinning as my friend talked. It is not just 'off the mark'…..this form of 'New Age' philosophy leads to the greatest of all sins, dependancy upon self–original sin–separation from God. That man can make his own destiny or 'karma' without God. Or they might say 'each person's spiritual presence in the Universe' will bring a new earth.
They quote teachings of Jesus–and all the other religious leaders–but deny who Jesus really is. Shirley McClain was on the Oprah show this last week and it was 'chilling' to me to hear these two successful, talented women shares these views with millions of viewers. Practicing what I preach, I forgive their sins, (John 20:23), ask the Holy Spirit to draw them, command the veil be lifted off their mind that they can receive the Truth of God, (Luke 23:L45) and release the prophecy of Jesus in their lives. (Rev 19:10) But, the damage they have done grieves me so much…..I can only imagine how it hurts the heart of God…..as the audience claps and cheers in agreement.
God is much too personal to be called the "Universe." The universe is His realm, under His domain, but hardly His name. We can be confused about social issues, about doctrines, about laws but we never want to reject relationship and dependency upon God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is really hard for the world to see because they use their head, their intellect, science, etc. for 'enlightenment' and direction, not their heart. Not to mention the devil and his demons and their influence. Have you noticed when people don't believe in Jesus, they don't believe in the devil either. Whoops, need to read the whole Bible.
The only way to God is through the heart, not the head. Accepting the invitation to Jesus, from the Holy Spirit, happens through the heart. Some know the Bible, study, read from cover to cover and do not 'know' Jesus because it is all academic, intellect and knowledge, not love, life and spirit. Once we accept Jesus as Lord of our life (and that is offensive to some, that anyone be 'Lord' over them) we will have unbelievable blessings here and eternal life when this time is over. The trade off is awesome. To give up our short, maybe even exciting and successful (world standards) life for relationship with the Creator of the Universe is a no brainer, moving out of a heart action.
So we need to remember who we are in the Kingdom of God here on earth. That we live, move and have our being in Jesus. (Acts 17:28) I live by the faith of the Son of God who love me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2:20) Without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5) Those are just a few verses that remind us we are spiritually connected to our Jesus. It is not our power, our energy, our presence, our enlightenment, not me, mine, or my way….I think God says, "It's My way or the Highway!" That is fair–He created us–relationship with Him is available to everyone! More tomorrow on the Truth–and the beautiful side of evil, that slips into, even the church.
Pressing in and pressing on….
by admin | Apr 3, 2011 | Personal
I was so surprised that my son Greg sent this out, and yes it was pretty humbling to see that 'sexy hospital picture'–that's pretty funny! But, I am so terribly grateful as I am overwhelmed with all the love and caring I have received.
PRAYER TRULY WORKS MIRACLES….I am 100% better and the good news is that everything they checked was A-OK–heart, lungs, etc. Jesus did work through the Doctors and Nurses and they were great. They found nothing wrong, but suggest I continue with my personal physician, and I will. But all the symptoms that looked like a heart attack are gone and that good report is due to YOUR PRAYERS.
I am so blessed to have God in my life, all of you, friends, family and 'miracle family' around the world. It is so great because I love what I do and I just want more and more miracles for all of you. So thank you again for helping me to have more days and years to keep on keeping on. And, Jesus has just proven He is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow! Amen!
Pressing in and pressing on…..
by admin | Apr 3, 2011 | Personal, Prayer Requests
Hi I am Carol Purcell's son and I wanted to ask for YOUR prayers.
At about 9am today mom called and was very out of breath and feeling terrible with very tight closed restricted feeling in her chest and asked me to come get her and take her to the emergency room at the hospital.
So within 20 min I had her at the emergency room at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido Ca. They did all kinds of tests and praise Jesus all tests came back showing no signs of a stroke or a heart attack and everything looks ok.
The decided to keep her overnight in the hospital just to be safe.
I know that thousands of people have been blessed with my moms ministry and I wanted to share this news with you and ask for your prayer.
PLEASE post your prayers below as a comment and I will share them with mom when she is feeling well enough to get back on the computer.
Thanks & blessings to you!
Greg
PS She's probably going to be really upset I posted this picture 🙂
