Happy Sunday!
The wind is howling outside my window, and the rain has turned icy and hard. We are expecting a Blizzard in the Chicagoland area tonight. Although, we act "brand new" every winter, these occurrences are not new. Genesis 8:22 says, "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."(KJV). Don't miss this! There are some things in life that cannot be avoided. Well, you can move to a warmer climate. But even when we lived in Arizona there were differences in the seasons. October to April you just knew it was paradise, then May and June would usher in the Monsoon Season. Then Summer in all it's glory would darken your skin, turn you into a recluse, and make you feel like a raisin.
What are you expecting? Psalm 62:5 says, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my Expectation is from him."(KJV). The psalmist acknowledged that his expectation was from God. Well then, what is God's expectation for you? Jeremiah 29:11 gives us an idea, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an Expected end."(KJV). God wants the best for you, and you should want the same.
1 Peter 5:7 says, "You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern."(Phillips). Isn't that a beautiful translation and reminder? You are His personal concern. He's thinking about you right now, and he's got plans to take good care of you. He's constant like the seasons, and he's faithful to His Word! The Apostle Paul gave us the key, "Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have."(Easy-to-Read Version).
Love and prayers, Cynthia
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Believe and Receive
Happy Sunday!
Praying that you have a great Thanksgiving week! I'm thankful for the time you take to allow me to share with you. I'm praying that God will continue to Bless you in all you do.
You know I love sharing excerpts from Barry Bennett. Enjoy!
Believe and Receive
By Barry Bennett
The key to effective prayer is to believe without doubting that you already have the desired outcome. We don’t speak to our mountains in order to convince ourselves or build our faith. We speak to our mountains because we know that they must submit to us
It is as if we were speaking to a disobedient dog. If we know that as the dog’s owner we have authority over the dog, we use that authority without thinking twice. The dog knows our voice and our mannerisms and the dog knows our authority.
If we are speaking to a strange dog, we can’t really be sure if it is going to listen to our rebuke or not. There isn’t the same certainty and confidence. We speak to it ‘hoping’ that it will respond as we wish. But until we ‘see’ the results, we don’t believe. We are walking by sight, not by faith. However, with our own dog, we already know the results even before we speak. That dog is going to obey or suffer the consequences. There is no doubt.
It is the same way in prayer. Speaking to our problems or sicknesses before we are convinced will seldom have much effect. The key to effective prayer is to know the outcome ahead of time. We are so convinced of the will of God, of our authority in Christ and of the spiritual and physical outcome that speaking to the problem is just the final piece of the puzzle. It puts into motion that which is already seen in the Spirit.
Therefore, the necessary time must be spent in the Word and prayer until the assurance is manifested in our heart. When the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, then we know that our words will effect change in the invisible and visible worlds. There is no formula for this. It is the fruit of a relationship with God through His Word that brings us to a place of complete confidence, faith and authority through Jesus. - By Barry Bennett
Love and prayers, Cynthia
Praying that you have a great Thanksgiving week! I'm thankful for the time you take to allow me to share with you. I'm praying that God will continue to Bless you in all you do.
You know I love sharing excerpts from Barry Bennett. Enjoy!
Believe and Receive
By Barry Bennett
The key to effective prayer is to believe without doubting that you already have the desired outcome. We don’t speak to our mountains in order to convince ourselves or build our faith. We speak to our mountains because we know that they must submit to us
It is as if we were speaking to a disobedient dog. If we know that as the dog’s owner we have authority over the dog, we use that authority without thinking twice. The dog knows our voice and our mannerisms and the dog knows our authority.
If we are speaking to a strange dog, we can’t really be sure if it is going to listen to our rebuke or not. There isn’t the same certainty and confidence. We speak to it ‘hoping’ that it will respond as we wish. But until we ‘see’ the results, we don’t believe. We are walking by sight, not by faith. However, with our own dog, we already know the results even before we speak. That dog is going to obey or suffer the consequences. There is no doubt.
It is the same way in prayer. Speaking to our problems or sicknesses before we are convinced will seldom have much effect. The key to effective prayer is to know the outcome ahead of time. We are so convinced of the will of God, of our authority in Christ and of the spiritual and physical outcome that speaking to the problem is just the final piece of the puzzle. It puts into motion that which is already seen in the Spirit.
Therefore, the necessary time must be spent in the Word and prayer until the assurance is manifested in our heart. When the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, then we know that our words will effect change in the invisible and visible worlds. There is no formula for this. It is the fruit of a relationship with God through His Word that brings us to a place of complete confidence, faith and authority through Jesus. - By Barry Bennett
Love and prayers, Cynthia
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Humble
Happy Sunday!
John 10:10 says, "The thief comes with the sole intention of stealing and killing and destroying, but I came to bring them life, and far more life than before."(Phillips).
What if I gave you my car keys. You are free to use the car and go wherever you need to go. You have the keys. But you keep coming to me, crying, begging, and pleading with me to give you the keys so that you can go somewhere. I look at you like you have lost your mind. I already gave you the keys, and permission to go.
2 Peter 1:3 says, "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence."(NLT). Don't miss this! God has given us everything we need. We have the proverbial Keys. We have dominion. We have the Power to make a difference.
This year and this month have been full of tragedies. All over social media we are "praying" for one group or another, or one state or another. With so much prayer, why isn't anything changing? I'm serious. 1 John 5:14-15 says, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."(KJV). This scripture says, "ask any thing according to his will". It's His will for us to live in safety and not fear being gunned down in a bar. It's His will for our homes to be safe and protected from hurricanes, and floods. So what's missing?
Dr. Dharius Daniels has a possible answer. He reminds us that the Word tells us the responsibility falls on the people of God. We seem to have hit all of the necessary points except, "humbling ourselves". 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."(KJV). When we humble ourselves we acknowledge that we need help. We can't do this life thing on our own. We need help, and the help we need is supernatural.
Love and prayers, Cynthia
John 10:10 says, "The thief comes with the sole intention of stealing and killing and destroying, but I came to bring them life, and far more life than before."(Phillips).
What if I gave you my car keys. You are free to use the car and go wherever you need to go. You have the keys. But you keep coming to me, crying, begging, and pleading with me to give you the keys so that you can go somewhere. I look at you like you have lost your mind. I already gave you the keys, and permission to go.
2 Peter 1:3 says, "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence."(NLT). Don't miss this! God has given us everything we need. We have the proverbial Keys. We have dominion. We have the Power to make a difference.
This year and this month have been full of tragedies. All over social media we are "praying" for one group or another, or one state or another. With so much prayer, why isn't anything changing? I'm serious. 1 John 5:14-15 says, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."(KJV). This scripture says, "ask any thing according to his will". It's His will for us to live in safety and not fear being gunned down in a bar. It's His will for our homes to be safe and protected from hurricanes, and floods. So what's missing?
Dr. Dharius Daniels has a possible answer. He reminds us that the Word tells us the responsibility falls on the people of God. We seem to have hit all of the necessary points except, "humbling ourselves". 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."(KJV). When we humble ourselves we acknowledge that we need help. We can't do this life thing on our own. We need help, and the help we need is supernatural.
Love and prayers, Cynthia
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Gifts
Happy Sunday!
2 Corinthians 9:15 says, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."(KJV). Today we celebrated my youngest grandson's 8th Birthday. What a great gift he is to our family. I also mentioned to my students in Children's Church today, that they are gifts to their parents from the Lord. Psalm 127:3 says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."(KJV). Another translation says, "Know this: children are a gift from the Eternal; the fruit of the womb is His reward."(Voice).
Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving! Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that he gives us mercy everyday, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."(KJV). Exodus 23:25-26 tells us, "But you—you serve your God and he’ll bless your food and your water. I’ll get rid of the sickness among you; there won’t be any miscarriages nor barren women in your land. I’ll make sure you live full and complete lives."(Message). Don't miss this! God wants us to enjoy full and complete lives. Full and Complete!
3 John 2 follows this same pattern, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers."(Amplified). You are a gift from God, Jesus is a gift from God to us, and we should be gifts to the world. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says, "Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on his own triumphant way and makes our knowledge of him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakable “scent” of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading for death. To the latter it seems like the very smell of doom, to the former it has the fresh fragrance of life itself."(Phillips). Another translation of this passage says, "But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, he has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume."(Living Bible).
We should be like a sweet perfume in this dark world! We should stand out for good things. People should see our lives and come asking, "What must I do to be saved?"(Acts 16:30, KJV).
Love and prayers, Cynthia
2 Corinthians 9:15 says, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."(KJV). Today we celebrated my youngest grandson's 8th Birthday. What a great gift he is to our family. I also mentioned to my students in Children's Church today, that they are gifts to their parents from the Lord. Psalm 127:3 says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."(KJV). Another translation says, "Know this: children are a gift from the Eternal; the fruit of the womb is His reward."(Voice).
Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving! Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that he gives us mercy everyday, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."(KJV). Exodus 23:25-26 tells us, "But you—you serve your God and he’ll bless your food and your water. I’ll get rid of the sickness among you; there won’t be any miscarriages nor barren women in your land. I’ll make sure you live full and complete lives."(Message). Don't miss this! God wants us to enjoy full and complete lives. Full and Complete!
3 John 2 follows this same pattern, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers."(Amplified). You are a gift from God, Jesus is a gift from God to us, and we should be gifts to the world. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says, "Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on his own triumphant way and makes our knowledge of him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakable “scent” of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading for death. To the latter it seems like the very smell of doom, to the former it has the fresh fragrance of life itself."(Phillips). Another translation of this passage says, "But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, he has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume."(Living Bible).
We should be like a sweet perfume in this dark world! We should stand out for good things. People should see our lives and come asking, "What must I do to be saved?"(Acts 16:30, KJV).
Love and prayers, Cynthia
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