"Here am I, send me." Isaiah 6:8

Fear is contagious, but so is courage! God is looking for those who are willing to pray as the prophet Isaiah prayed.

Whenever God speaks to us regarding our call or destiny, it may seem that what He is saying will be too impossible to accomplish. We must always remember that God's perspective and our perspective are usually two different things. Words such as "impossible" and "can't" are simply not in God's vocabulary. Unfortunately, they are in ours.

By definition, courage is not the absence of fear but the "capacity to meet danger without giving way to fear." (Websters)

One should not feel condemned because fear is present; it is what you do in the face of fear that counts. Do you press through to freedom and victory, or do you give in, give up and retreat?

In order to embrace the fulness of our calling we must be willing to face our fears. The term "fear not" appears over one hundred times in scripture. Why? Because God knew, when He was writing to us that we would have cause and reason to be afraid.

In Joshua chapter one, God tells Joshua to go in to possess the land that He had already given to him. But he also told him four times in that chapter to "be strong and of good courage". Why did he say this so many times when He was clearly saying that the land was already theirs, and all they would have to do is go in and take it? Because God knew that there would be plenty of opportunities for Joshua and the people of Israel to look at the natural circumstances and become overwhelmed by the impossibility of the situation. After all, there were mighty giants in the land! Some of them even stood nine to ten feet tall!

God instructed Joshua to possess all that He had promised them and settle for second best on the other side of the Jordan. God was letting them know that he would have to face his fears and overcome them before he could overcome his enemies.

Many times God speaks something wonderful to us in the same manner that He spoke to Joshua. "I've given you your healing, your finances, your family, your ministry, etc... . Don't be afraid, go on and take it!! Oh, by the way, did I mention tht you'd have to face, and defeat, a few hundred giants along the way? But don't worry! Don't be afraid! I've already said you could do it!"

Most of us turn and run at the first sign of opposition. We then try to convince ourselves that the word we heard must not have been God after all. How many times have we sold ourselves short of reaping all the blessings and doing all the possessing that God has made available to us because of a stronghold of fear over our lives?

......to be continued......God Bless...

If you don't deal with your emotional pain, it will deal with you and your loved ones. Pretending it doesn't exist won't help you get emotionally fit.

When a warning light comes on in a car, putting a piece of black tape over it won't fix the car. When a car is broken, it needs to be taken to someone who knows how the car works and understands how to fix it.

For a long time, I pretended that my pain didn't exist. I covered up my warning signs. My life did break down, and I was forced to face my feelings.

I walked away from God, telling HIM that I wanted no part of Him or His church. I made the statement to God that if and when His church became real, then I would come back. I was a divorced mother of one, no job, living on $120.00 a month, going from one bad relationship to another, hoping someone would rescue me. But not God! I was angry and hurt. I couldn't believe the infidelity I saw in the church. In the natural and spiritual! I didn't realize from what height I was about to fall.

I had to "get real" about who I was and who I was becoming. A few years later, I finally got real with God.

If we are not honest with Him about our emotions, we will die inwardly. God is the God of truth-and only the truth can set you free (see John 8:32).

If you are having trouble identifying what you are really feeling, and why it's affecting you, pray and ask God to show you any hidden hurts that need to be healed. Come out of the shadows into His light and be set free to fly!

Have you ever thought to yourself, I shouldn't be feeling this way? Why can't I be joyful about this?

It's time to get real with God. Voice to God your bitterness, your jealousy, your envy, your hatred, and your resentment.

The Scripture says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4-6, NKJ).

Many times we tell everybody, but God, how we feel, but we must never forget that He loves us despite any emotions that we are experiencing.

God sees behind the curtain that covers your heart. Don't give a performance for God; invite Him into the dark rooms where you hide your pain.

He promises to be your strength when you are weak. He will be a light in your darkness.

So get real with Him. Don't hide your emotions in your heart. Confess them to God, and ask Him to give you His strength to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

In closing, He has promised that when we "walk through the water, He will be with us and the river will not overflow us......."

Grace, grace, His marvelous Grace!

In, through and to HIM,
Deborha

Oiy! I'm not feeling well tonight! Took advantage of the weather the last couple of days and over-done-it....so ....35 bags of mulch and 10 of topsoil later...my back is killing me! Not to say the nausea that goes along with the pain. How does that old song go..."I haven't got time for the pain..."? Well, I don't ...have to start my work schedule tomorrow, need to get groceries, get laundry caught up, study for recertification in emergency nursing, take mom to the doctor.....it is definately time to delegate...!

Sunday morning my pastor shared something that I would like to relay to you ...

During the worship service his grandson came up to him and wanted to be held.
I was sitting behind them a couple of rows and could see the look on that little guys face! He just nestled into his grandpa's arms and nuzzled the back of his head into grandpa's neck. So sweet. Pastor related that he began to thank god for his grandchildren and his family. Then, he started to feel guilty about taking his thoughts off of God, (during some awesome worship!) and thinking about his family. He stated that God doesn't usually audibly speak to him; however, at that very moment the 'guilty' thought came in -- the Lord said, "That's okay Bob, I feel the same way when I'm holding you." Enough said.
When was the last time you let God hold you?

Grab a cup of coffee and come sit a while beneath my tree or upon its billowy branches and rest a while with me....

IT TAKES A CHURCH ...

During the last few generations we have watched the gradual deterioration of the "community" in our nation. With much grief we must agree that our communities are in great need of major renovation- physically, socially, economically and spiritually.

The deterioating conditions have resulted in further breaking down of the family and a general disrespect for life. Regrettably, the village has abandoned the children, leaving them unsupervised and hopelessly alone.

The community is no longer qualified or adequately prepared to raise a child because the community itself must be raised. But who will do it?

There can only be one answer: the church. This is our day, church, and we must rise up and take responsibility for the community. It is the church that must establish integrity and biblical standards. We must turn to our Lord for a new empowerment and a fresh filling of HIS love.

The community is filled with the oppressed and brokenhearted. A spirit of heaviness pervades the atmosphere, culturally, naturally, and spiritually.

Will we choose to focus on building our own impressive empires of religion, or will we turn our attention to building a new community, empowering those who sit at our very gates?

Now is the time to stand up and extend our hands to these victims, lifting them up into the loving arms of the Lord who can heal them and give them a living hope.

Acts 3:1-10 is the account of a man who was carried daily to the temple gate.
Religion offered him no other alternative but a beggar's lifestyle.

The story is set outside the gate "Beautiful," a very ornate and impressive doorway into the temple that was covered with gold and other precious metals. Throughout his years of begging thousands of people had passed him by oblivious to his desperate need. His misery provided an opportunity for devout Jews to display their generosity as they quickly entered the temple to get on with their religious exercises. He was the object of the righteous pity of a religious system but remained unhealed.

Then one day Peter and John passed by at the hour of sacrifice, the time when religious men perform their duties. As Peter was about to enter the temple, his heart was seized by this man's condition.

On his way to church, Peter shifted his attention away from the opulent beauty of the religious structure and locked his eyes on the lame man. Out of the deep compassion of his heart, Peter said, " I don't have any worldly thing to impress you with , but I do have something that will change your life and put you on your feet. Rise up in Jesus Christ!" (see v. 6).

Peter chose to set aside religious duty and righteous appearance so that he could change one man's life forever. He did not look upon this poverty-stricken man as an outsider but welcomed him into the community and that day gave him a purpose and an inheritance.

There are so many who sit at our gates - socially and spiritually lame from the womb, disenfranchised, generationally dysfunctional, educationally disadvantaged, and impoverished. What will we do?

Will we continue to pass them by as we make our way to our houses of worship?
Or will we reach out and take them by the hand, as Peter did, and raise them up in the of Jesus Christ? Will we seek to impress the community with our pious efforts or will we impact it eternally with our compassionate exploits?

How can we as a church continue to take up building fund offerings when our church attendance is the lowest it has ever been? Why not call it a "building up fund"? We can use these moneys to contribute to the needs of those in the community.

God is calling us out of the temple and into the community. If we want to make a difference, we will have to move away from impressing the community and ourselves with our religious structure to impacting it with the power of God through the tools that He has provided. The future of our community is in our hands.

We must get involved in the life of the community. We cannot restrict the body of Christ to ministering solely inside the church walls. We need to focus on the believer's effective involvement in the world around him. Jesus was concerned with reaching those on the outer fringes of society and lifting them out of their misery. As the body of Christ, His concern should be ours, too.

My prayer is that not only the spiritual gifts of His church will be used but the plumbers, electricians, carpenters, housewives, nurses, doctors, beauticians, seamstresses, etc.....will be used to improve our community. Each one of us has something we can offer someone in the community.

Karen, a dear intercessor had a vision of what this community would "look like"
in the future. She said the Lord showed her that if one congregation did not have someone gifted in marriage reconciliation then they would be referred to another that was. If one church didn't have a drug addiction program and another did, or one church had an unusual number of single mothers who need help with parenting skills and job training and another church in the community has a person or group established for this..send them to that group!

Lets empower one another, give God the Glory, give up "ownership" of the lambs. A team effort, churches united in the community, can bring awesome results.

To God be all the Glory....

In, through and to HIM...
Deborha