This was by far my favorite night of Study thus far... Tuesday Night Ladies Bible Study 9/23/14 Tonight’s worship was so fun! We cut loose and jammed out with Jesus!! It was a blast. I am sure the neighbors are getting curious about what goes on Tuesday nights in the DeLaCruz house. Every second that passes is now in the past. Don’t dwell on it. Leave the past in the past. Learn from it and move on. We have all made mistakes. Try even harder this time around. Every new second that comes is a chance for a new start. If we are consumed with dwelling on the past then what did Jesus come and die on the cross for?!? Amanda shared a word that she read online that was so powerful. It is as follows: I hear the Holy Spirit saying, September is a month of shifting. It is a month for you to monitor like the sands of time in an hourglass. Hes been wooing you and whispering to you to make changes for many months now. He teaches by His Word or He allows circumstances to teach us. His perfect will is that you would finally bend to His whisper out of your fear of, trust in, and love for Him. It is because He loves you that He is calling you to a higher level of living; however He is very prepared to love you by lifting His hand ever so slightly off you in order for you to experience circumstances that will teach you through other means – what it is to fear the Lord. A Time Of Breaking Free There are many dark forces that have been unleashed against the Kingdom of God and in this season; and the Father is serious about raising a people who will be able to take the fight to the enemy with clean hands, pure hearts, and souls that have not been given to idols. Hes wanting to break you free from things youve said in your heart that you cant live without because those things have deceptively become your master. Hes wanting you to live your life without the crutches youve devised and the coping mechanisms youve constructed. Yes, this is a time of breaking free and His commitment to you is so intense thats Hes prepared to bring discipline in order to usher you into freedom. Many of you are already in the midst of His discipline and the Lord would say that you are not under attack; cease praying against what isnt there. This is not an attack but a summoning from your Father to change. Dont resist Him; submit to His discipline and it will bring you to levels you could not have achieved without it. His discipline is actually His mercy because Hes not allowed you to be mortally wounded; only the socket of your thigh has been injured to remind that He is the Lord. This is a redemptive judgment and in the coming days your limp will be a testimony that you have overcome. God gave Jezebel space to repent and her window closed. Paul told us not to receive Gods grace in vain. Were in that kind of moment again. Gods grace is not a license to do what you want, rather it is a supernatural power enabling you to be what God has called you to be. Be sober in this month, be on alert, and break the allegiance with what or who Hes been telling you to break allegiance with; for September will be a month that you will see your time of ignoring His voice evaporate. This is a month when God will close the window for you to respond to His whisper and force you to respond to circumstances. Troy Goode, Senior Pastor New Dimension Church Paul said to Timothy in 2Timothy 4:2-5 “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and discharge all the duties of your ministry.” We talked about preaching, being persistent, patiently correcting and rebuking and encouraging. Keep a clear mind and bring others to Christ. We have a responsibility to be leading people to the good news. He gives us clear instruction on how to do this. This is also a time to beware of false prophets. New preachers coming out of their school preaching that there is no hell. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” Disciplined athletes train for a purpose. It takes hard work and self denial and preparation. The same is true for our work for the Kingdom. We must prepare in Prayer, Study, and Fasting. We have to take a good look at ourselves and our strengths and weaknesses. We have to build the strength to say no when our flesh wants to say yes. We must redirect our weaknesses into strengths. And we need to start practicing what we preach. Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” So the question was posed…What does this look like? What does it look like in your life when you seek God with all your heart and you find Him? I believe it is an unexplainable contentment despite your circumstances. No matter what the world puts on you, you can face those trials and tribulations with a peace knowing that God has already won the battle for us. You have a confidence that no weapon formed against us will prosper. His perfect love casts out all fear and doubt. Isaiah 51:1-3 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.” We get so caught up in our own messes that we don’t see what God is doing. Abraham was one man and his wife and he were beyond child bearing years, but through them God brought forth a nation as numerous as the stars. 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Moses wore the veil to because the Lord’s Glory was upon him and he didn’t want the Israelites to see as they might fall dead because of it but he kept the veil on even after the glory faded because he didn’t want them to see him and know that it had left him. We too wear a veil to let people only see what we want them to see. We aren’t real about who we are behind closed door. It’s God, and with each other. God can’t heal who you pretend to be. He desires to heal what’s behind the veil! Part of my greatest healing has come from being completely raw and real about my testimony (even the parts that embarrass me or I feel like I might be judged for.) I have found that as I start to be absolutely real with other women, a weight is lifted off their shoulders and they begin to be real about what they are walking through. This is the beginning of true healing. And here’s the thing women… you can hide the truth from the people around you but you can’t hide it from God and hiding it doesn’t hurt anyone but yourself. You are delaying your own healing by keeping your reality all bottled up. Don’t be like hypocritical Christians pretending to be something we are not. We are all broken and in need of healing. We are to move from Glory to Glory not from Shame to Glory. Jesus came to set the captives free. When the Israelites were to go take the city of Jericho, they had no idea that they would be walking around the city for 7 days. They were just told to march and they did so in obedience and on the 7th day, the walls came tumbling down. We have no idea when our 7th day is coming. You may be on day 6 of walking through your trial and your victory is just around the corner so don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged. Keep in the fight because greater things are yet to come. The enemy’s only device is deception so don’t fall into his lies. Matthew 6:31-33 “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Worry dominates the thoughts of unbelievers. Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” We give the devil free rent in our minds when we don’t take our thoughts captive. We are to focus on what is good and praiseworthy. Focus on what is going good in your life and if you can’t think of anything then focus on the promises of God for our lives. Don’t speak negativity over yourself or your family. Declare the promises that God has for you. None of us are perfect. Sometimes our prayer is just as simple as ‘God help me through today.’ Be real in your prayers. Job and David both told God exactly what they were feeling. Our prayers aren’t to be like the Pharisees with eloquent words and phrases. It isn’t being disrespectful to be honest with God. He already knows the truth and he rejoices in that fact that you can bring it to Him. Build an active prayer life. If you don’t know how to pray, start with the prayers from the Bible. The Lord’s Prayer is a great start and there are many amazing prayers in the book of Ephesians. Having prayer warriors is great but don’t only rely on them to pray for you. Become solely dependent on God. Have a relationship with Him. John 17 says that God gave us to Jesus. Jesus loves us so much that he looked down from His throne and his heart broke for us so much so that he came to save us. Many people have a tendency to look at the God of the Old Testament as a different God than that of the New Testament but that isn’t so. He was the same God and Jesus came to save us from His wrath. It is time to change our perspective. We are to start fresh with a new attitude and perspective. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over in the same way and expect different results every time. So start switching it up. For most of us, it was a series of bad decisions over several years that got us where we are at so it is going to take a series of good decisions and patience to get to where God wants us to be. Remember also that being a Christian doesn’t mean that bad days won’t come… it means that when they come, we know who has our back! If you are having difficulty getting into the word of God, start with topic related searches. If you are angry today, look up scriptures about anger. Depressed? Look up scriptures on depression. If you can’t bring yourself to read it yet, look up sermons on the subject. You are more than a conqueror in Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Declare it sister! Walk in your deliverance and freedom. Healing is now!
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 16:59:57 +0000
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