STOP the BUSY-NESS...Follow HIS Lead

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16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. – Romans 8:16 NIV

Since we believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord and Christ, we have His Spirit abiding in us. In Christ Jesus, we are already fully accepted by God, we have been made His very righteousness following Christ’s perfect sacrifice.

We are now led inwardly by the Spirit of God who not only knows the mind of Christ, but also imparts it to us as well. As we walk in fellowship with the Spirit and follow His leading, we will not have to worry about “making” ourselves into anything, He will “make” us what He created us to be seemingly effortlessly. We will avoid the “pressure to perform” and/or the “trying too hard” syndrome with its ensuing frustrations.

Beloved, I’m not advocating a life of complacency or apathy, far from it. One cannot truly follow the Lord’s leading and remain apathetic, ineffective or indifferent in how they live and love on others. I must also hasten to add that being constantly active and involved in everything we consider ministry is not necessarily proof that one is following the Lord’s leading. If anything...I mean anything... other than the love of God is driving us to do what we do, then we most likely aren't following the Spirit’s leading. I humbly propose that we take an honest look at our motives and then be bold enough to do the needful.  

In this family of God that we now belong to, He is the Potter and we are the clay. As sons and daughters have chores and responsibilities in natural family settings, with God’s family it’s no different. He is the one who “makes” us into different vessels fit for His use – as He pleases, of course. If we fail to follow Him, we frustrate His grace that’s at work in our lives and miss out on what He could’ve and would’ve made us. Let it not be so! 

The thing is, Christ has graced each one of us uniquely and it is He who knows how and where we fit best in His Body – the Church. And once we find our place and purpose in Him, we will be fruitful and at peace regardless of what the circumstances may be screaming at us.

Jesus called out to the disciples of old “FOLLOW ME and I WILL MAKE YOU fishers of men”

He is calling us today!

My part is to answer His call by obediently following Him, His is to “MAKE ME WHAT HE WANTS”.

Once you know what He is making you into, actively partner with Him by taking hold of that for which He has taken hold of you, as the apostle Paul put it.

And we know that He who has promised is faithful and He will do it! 

Blessings!

Receive My Love - God

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I'm sure most of us know that God is love and can quote scripture all day to that end, but when it comes to knowing God's love experientially, I'm afraid we might not be there yet or maybe we think we are but in reality we've just scratched the tip of the iceberg, as the saying goes.

I recently, actually yesterday as I was driving home, had this eye-opening conversation with the Lord.

Me: (Reminiscing of the times of refreshing we had at a gathering in Rochester, NY in late October) Lord wasn't that awesome!! What should I do now, Lord?!!

The Lord: (I could picture Him smiling) Just receive my love...

Me: (somewhat doubtful if I truly heard the Lord, I protested...kind of you know...) But, but I know you love me, you love everyone you sent your Son Jesus to die for us, I know you love me.

The Lord: (I pictured him still smiling) Just receive my love

Wow!

Isn't that like Him?!

I think I'm now beginning to understand why the apostle Paul put such a high premium on knowing the love of God. He spoke of being constrained by the love of God to do what he did. He prayed that the saints would be rooted and grounded in this love; he prayed for saints to know the depth, the length, the height, the width of the love of Christ that passes knowledge...wow...this love passes knowledge. We've heard "knowledge is power" if that's so, what then is this love? Wow...we could go down a rabbit trail here...

Suffice it to then surmise that only when we receive His love can we give it away, until then our motives for ministry aren't as pure as we'd like to think.

So beloved, is the love of God compelling you to do what you think you are doing for Him? If it's anything other than His love, you may want to hit the reset button and get back to basics.

Receive His love afresh today.

Choose to believe GOD...always!

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Regardless of where you are or what you are going through, do yourself a favour and believe God’s promises to you. 

He is not a man that He should lie and He doesn’t go back on His promises. He is ever-so-faithful even when we are unfaithful. 

He is your God and He is your Father and He loves you with an everlasting love. If He gave up His only begotten Son, Jesus for us, and He did, why would we think He would withhold anything good from us? 

Far from it, He gave us His very best, His own Son and with Him, He gave us everything, including Himself!

The least we can do is to believe Him and take Him at His word.

Remember the story of the disciples in the boat during the storm, with Jesus fast asleep on a pillow in the stern? It must have been a no joke storm for seasoned fishermen, as most of the disciples were, to be that frantic. They woke Jesus up with accusations “don’t you care we are perishing?” Before we give them that “how-dare-you-say-that-to-the-Lord” look, let’s us be reminded of the many trying situations in our lives where we've more or less voiced similar sentiments to God…hmm! 

Jesus, being the express image of God, His Father, only did what He saw the Father doing, was in the boat with them and had already given them His word; you’d think that would keep them calm. 

This is what He had said to them earlier… 

35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” – Mark 4:35NKJV (emphasis mine)

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The very presence of Jesus in that boat with them should've given them the assurance that what He told them is exactly what is going to happen, storm or no storm, they are crossing to the other side, period! You see beloved, just like the disciples of old, we often get so caught up in what we are going through at the moment, we forget the promises of God to us, we also forget He is in us and with us at all times... just as He has promised us several times in the Scriptures, yes even in our darkest moments, He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He loves us eternally, perfectly and unconditionally.

Beloved, what is your Heavenly Father saying to you today? What has He promised you today? Whatever it is, trust Him – if He spoke it, consider it done. Trust Him, He will come through for you...He always does. Blessings!

Desire to Prophesy? Go for it...

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Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy -1 Corinthians 14: 1 NIV

Beloved, here we see the fruit of the Spirit (which is encapsulated by the phrase “the way of love”) and the gifts of the Spirit with emphasis on prophecy going together, hand in hand as it were. The simple reason for this is the truth that everything in the Kingdom operates by love. Whatever we do should be out of God’s love that has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). His love should be the motivating factor behind our desires for His gifts to operate in and through us. Let us not forget that God is Love. His very essence is Love. Anything done without love doesn’t amount to much,1 Corinthians 13, the popular love chapter in the Bible, makes that abundantly clear.

As we yield to the love of God that’s poured out in our hearts, we won’t have any other agenda, our desire will be to see others saved, healed, delivered, blessed, lifted up, restored and fulfilling their God ordained destinies. The gift of prophesy that flows out of love is never condemning, neither does it seek to bring fear, control or manipulation; the gift of prophecy will always edify, exhort and comfort others. 

The gift of prophesy is for building people up, for comforting them and for encouraging or exhorting them. It is never for tearing people down (1 Corinthians 14:3)

Every believer can and should operate in the gift of prophesy, the Lord, through the apostle Paul,  urges us to desire it earnestly, He calls on us to desire it above all the other gifts because He knows we – His body – need it very much and for that reason He desires to use you to prophesy, to speak His words of edification, exhortation and comfort to others. 

In His wisdom, God has made a way for us to learn how to operate in this gift, and as we learn we become bolder and more fluent in flowing with the Spirit. The thing is, we cannot improve on the gifts of the Spirit; they are already perfect gifts from the Perfect One. What we can and are ENCOURAGED to do is to LEARN HOW TO BETTER FLOW or OPERATE in the gifts, and in this case, the gift of Prophecy

³¹ For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. – 1 Corinthians 14:31 NKJV

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Start where you are, when the Spirit of God reveals something to you for someone else and impresses upon you to share it with them, the in love, step out by faith and share it, even if it is a one liner such as “rest in the Lord” or “I love you” or “I’m with you”, that might be exactly what the other person needs to hear at that time. Don’t hold back and wait until you can prophesy paragraphs and chapters; faithfully start with what He reveals to you. Do not let fear hold you back, the Lord desires to bless others through you so partner with Him. Blessings!

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

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Beloved you have a choice... to either let your heart be troubled or to trust the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. We can succumb to worry, stress, anxiety and fear or we can trust our Father - we can't do both...at least not at the same time!

What happens when we trust God? Isaiah the prophet gives us some insight through this inspired revelation:

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! - Isaiah 26:3 NLT

Also, Paul, an apostle who experienced all kinds of hardships and prevailed reminds the Philippians and us today:

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

So beloved child of the Most High I would encourage you to refuse to let your heart be troubled... choose to trust God always...choose wisely...

John 14:1; “Let #(John 14:27; 16:22, 24)not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

“Let #(John 14:27; 16:22, 24)not your heart be…

BIBLE.COM

YOU ARE who GOD says YOU ARE! - By Peninnah Kamera

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Did you know that people who love to bring out your past are the ones that feel threatened by your present?

The people who had a difficult time accepting Jesus as Lord always questioned His past, like in Matthew 13:55 " Isn't this the carpenter 's son? Isn't His mother's name Mary? Aren't His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?" In another example, Nathaniel echoed how most people in those days viewed Nazareth, Our Lord's hometown, by saying, " Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" John 1:46
Well, something great did come out of Nazareth; Yeshua, the Saviour of the world! Well, something great did come out of Nazareth; Yeshua, the Saviour of the world! 


So I would like to encourage you, no matter what people say about you, don't base your worth on their opinions. Base your worth on the Greater One in you, your creator who is your loving Abba Father, who by the way thinks you are awesome, valuable and worth His beloved Son's sacrifice to save you. 

To God, your past is irrelevant, it was buried with Christ. He has a bright future for you, look forward with hope. 

You are deeply loved by your heavenly Father. Happy New year!

A BLESSED 2018

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John the apostle documents this command from Christ Jesus:

“Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” -
JOHN 13:34B-35

Later the same apostle drives the point home:

My little children, let's not love in word only, neither with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. - 1 JOHN 3:18

Then along comes the apostle Paul and gives us a resolution, if you will, to live by:

Do not owe anyone anything—except to love one another. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the Law. - ROMANS 13:8

We'll be wise to heed these exhortations and
may this be our renewed resolution for 2018.

And lest we forget - we don't do this in out own strength but through Christ we can do all things...yes...for His love has already been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit...let's just turn it loose on everyone we cross paths with.

Blessings beloved!