Another very powerful message Jon, I reread Psalm 84 the other day “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, than get my next promotion” :-) been doing a lot of thinking .. But reLeaders have all the recognition they need in Christ and not from Man? I was looking at my annual and mid year appraisal the other day a generic form that you have to fill out... I thought to myself you know what Steve why not take your Bible into work each day and read in the canteen before starting your day and see what happens...? So I did and I still am... This act alone is liberating I feel i am being trained and blessed by our commander in chief!!! The Chief Cornerstone!!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Wow!!! Another great read. I feel that God walks us thru those seasons so we can grow closer. When everything seems impossible, he keeps showing the possible.
Amen. Good word! Fear of failure has to be Satan’s most potent weapon against young pastors especially those stepping in after a major leadership failure!
Because of these articles on this forum, I decided this morning, to read the entire book of Haggai (yes, all 2 chapters, lololol). Wow, I have never recognized how encouraging that book is until this morning!!
An exceptional read, very uplifting/encouraging, thank you, Pastor!
Another crockpot meal is on the way...
These articles can potentially be applicable to many different areas of life, residential communities, parenting, adult siblings/extended family, employment, faith-based groups of all types, etc.
I thought it was interesting that you mentioned feeling like "blood was in the water and sharks were circling" and with Shark Week coming up, it's another great and timely analogy. I used the phrase "shark infested waters" as I tried to encourage a friend this week. Have you seen the lady on the Shark Week commercials who splashes in the water to show what not to do when sharks are nearby? When the massive killing machine gets close, she turns around, faces the shark, and gently shoves its nose away from her, and the shark swims away! The enemy loves to see us flailing because it's usually a sign of distress. This post offered such great encouragement and a warning to stop flailing, worrying, and focusing on things we cannot change. Thank you for the reminder and the encouragement to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the future He has for us ❤️
Oh. My. Word! That is SO good!! That is exactly what happened to me just this morning!!
Satan has me so worried about a family member, and when I kept telling Father God that I was placing my complete trust in Him, Satan began scaring me about a certain extremely vindictive person in my life over the past 7-8 months, that he has the potential to harm my family. I turned around and began speaking, out-loud, the "blood of Jesus, healing, forgiveness, the Light of Jesus, the life of Jesus, Life to the full" over both my family and this other vindictive individual!!!!
The fear left!! HALLELUJAH!! And I knew that I knew that Jesus was right by my side!!
I have been reading a trilogy by a David G Benner,:
"Surrender to Love"
"Desiring God's Will"
"The Gift of Being Yourself"
And one by Leif Hetland, "Baptism of Love"
Much of these books talk about truly knowing the depth of God's Love for us, and gaining victory over fear.
When I stop and think about it, "Perfect Love casts out fear" the Apostles were SO bold!!! How? How did they go from scared in the upper room after Jesus' crucifixion to bold as lions???? I believe, that the fact that they then understood how deeply Jesus loved them was a pivotal factor in that change....(just my opinion is all)
I'm really leaning into, and asking God to give me a deep heart Revelation of God's love to "cast out fear."
I have been reading through Haggai and Zechariah over the past few weeks, so I was reminded of this article, which was a great encouragement to me.
As I was meditating on Haggai's statement about the temple's glory being greater than it was before, I was thinking about the Apostle Peter....
Jesus knew the entire time, that Peter had that particular weakness in him. He even told him that it would happen.
Yet after the resurrection, Jesus pursued Peter through His love for him. That fact, plus the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, allowed Peter to be transformed in the strength and courage within his character to completely change him. He gave a power-packed sermon to 3,000 people!! The Apostle Peter's "character flaw" was flupped upside down and courage became so nuch greater than his fear was before.... (AKA: The Holy Spirit's power was greater than it ever was before)
Those thoughts gave me faith to cling to God's promises when things look like they did for Sarah and Abraham at 90 and 100!!
Hope this encourages someone today. Don't look at the physical reality, that's exactly what Satan wants us to focus on. Look at what is aleeady done in the spiritual realm.... what God has already promised us!!
Another very powerful message Jon, I reread Psalm 84 the other day “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, than get my next promotion” :-) been doing a lot of thinking .. But reLeaders have all the recognition they need in Christ and not from Man? I was looking at my annual and mid year appraisal the other day a generic form that you have to fill out... I thought to myself you know what Steve why not take your Bible into work each day and read in the canteen before starting your day and see what happens...? So I did and I still am... This act alone is liberating I feel i am being trained and blessed by our commander in chief!!! The Chief Cornerstone!!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Praise the Lord!
The Word of God breaks strongholds in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
I love the Psalms especially those that are put to music!!
Two different Psalms that have been particularly close to me in the last couple of months are Psalms 121 and the Psalm/song from 51
https://youtu.be/vD847UcRbL4
Wow!!! Another great read. I feel that God walks us thru those seasons so we can grow closer. When everything seems impossible, he keeps showing the possible.
Amen. Good word! Fear of failure has to be Satan’s most potent weapon against young pastors especially those stepping in after a major leadership failure!
How come all of these completely describe my exact situation 🤣. Thanks for this.
Thanks for reading!!!!
Because of these articles on this forum, I decided this morning, to read the entire book of Haggai (yes, all 2 chapters, lololol). Wow, I have never recognized how encouraging that book is until this morning!!
Thank you for picking my curiosity!
An exceptional read, very uplifting/encouraging, thank you, Pastor!
Another crockpot meal is on the way...
These articles can potentially be applicable to many different areas of life, residential communities, parenting, adult siblings/extended family, employment, faith-based groups of all types, etc.
It's very thought provoking!
Such an encouraging word. It's our job to plant the seed, it's God's job to make it grow.
I thought it was interesting that you mentioned feeling like "blood was in the water and sharks were circling" and with Shark Week coming up, it's another great and timely analogy. I used the phrase "shark infested waters" as I tried to encourage a friend this week. Have you seen the lady on the Shark Week commercials who splashes in the water to show what not to do when sharks are nearby? When the massive killing machine gets close, she turns around, faces the shark, and gently shoves its nose away from her, and the shark swims away! The enemy loves to see us flailing because it's usually a sign of distress. This post offered such great encouragement and a warning to stop flailing, worrying, and focusing on things we cannot change. Thank you for the reminder and the encouragement to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the future He has for us ❤️
That's really good Christy. Face our biggest fear and watch it swim away!
Oh. My. Word! That is SO good!! That is exactly what happened to me just this morning!!
Satan has me so worried about a family member, and when I kept telling Father God that I was placing my complete trust in Him, Satan began scaring me about a certain extremely vindictive person in my life over the past 7-8 months, that he has the potential to harm my family. I turned around and began speaking, out-loud, the "blood of Jesus, healing, forgiveness, the Light of Jesus, the life of Jesus, Life to the full" over both my family and this other vindictive individual!!!!
The fear left!! HALLELUJAH!! And I knew that I knew that Jesus was right by my side!!
I have been reading a trilogy by a David G Benner,:
"Surrender to Love"
"Desiring God's Will"
"The Gift of Being Yourself"
And one by Leif Hetland, "Baptism of Love"
Much of these books talk about truly knowing the depth of God's Love for us, and gaining victory over fear.
When I stop and think about it, "Perfect Love casts out fear" the Apostles were SO bold!!! How? How did they go from scared in the upper room after Jesus' crucifixion to bold as lions???? I believe, that the fact that they then understood how deeply Jesus loved them was a pivotal factor in that change....(just my opinion is all)
I'm really leaning into, and asking God to give me a deep heart Revelation of God's love to "cast out fear."
I have been reading through Haggai and Zechariah over the past few weeks, so I was reminded of this article, which was a great encouragement to me.
As I was meditating on Haggai's statement about the temple's glory being greater than it was before, I was thinking about the Apostle Peter....
Jesus knew the entire time, that Peter had that particular weakness in him. He even told him that it would happen.
Yet after the resurrection, Jesus pursued Peter through His love for him. That fact, plus the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, allowed Peter to be transformed in the strength and courage within his character to completely change him. He gave a power-packed sermon to 3,000 people!! The Apostle Peter's "character flaw" was flupped upside down and courage became so nuch greater than his fear was before.... (AKA: The Holy Spirit's power was greater than it ever was before)
Those thoughts gave me faith to cling to God's promises when things look like they did for Sarah and Abraham at 90 and 100!!
Hope this encourages someone today. Don't look at the physical reality, that's exactly what Satan wants us to focus on. Look at what is aleeady done in the spiritual realm.... what God has already promised us!!
Just some musings....
Have a blessed day!