This kid went through many great challenges to get to where he's
at today
Hear this through
to end
Praise
and Worship Rainbow Ribbons
A beautiful gift
Here's another of my new songs....
Prodigal Son
Condemnation Is The Root
Cause
Romans 8:1, NASB
1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.
When you have a plant with sickly leaves,
it would be foolish to just treat the leaves without knowing the
root cause of the problem. Similarly, when leaves of
sickness, poverty and destructive habits start sprouting in your
life, you need to know what the root cause is.
Experts will tell you that it is stress.
They may go a little deeper and say that it is fear fear
of the future, of rejection, of loss, of death and so on. But is
fear really the root? Or is there something deeper than fear?
The Bible shows us that the most fundamental
cause of problems in our lives is condemnation. With condemnation
comes fear. Fear then induces stress which brings about the symptoms
of the curse.
This is what happened to Adam. Long before
he faced poverty, sickness and eventually death, he had stress.
Because of his sin, God told him, In the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. (Genesis
3:19) Sweat speaks of stress. But before there was stress, there
was fear because Adam told God, I heard Your voice in the
garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.
(Genesis 3:10)
But what made Adam fearful? Adam only
feared when, seeing his nakedness, he realized that he had sinned
against God. He felt so ashamed and condemned that he hid himself.
God then asked him, Who told you that you were naked?
(Genesis 3:11) There was no one else in the garden other than Adam
and Eve, so we know that it was probably the devil who told Adam
that he was naked.
My friend, condemnation is the root cause
of the symptoms of the curse manifesting in your life. That is why
you need to know that at the cross, God took all your sins, put
them on Jesus and unleashed the full fury of His wrath against them
until Jesus cried out, It is finished!
All your sins have been completely punished
in the body of Christ who was condemned for you. The root cause
of all your problems has been dealt with. This means that the devil
cannot enforce the curse in your life apart from your receiving
condemnation. So come to the place of no condemnation and no sick
leaves will sprout in your life!
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4th July 2011
The Lord is saying. For
I have carried you when you could not walk. I have borne you
on my wings when you could not lift yourself up. And I will
continue to give you the power to fulfil all that I require
of you. Do not therefore worry about how will this and that
get done. I shall get you through successfully.
Nothing Just Happens
Bishop T.D. Jakes - Woman, Thou Art Loosed Conference 2001
"Three women - Naomi, who is the older woman, and Ruth,
who was her daughter-in-law, and Orpah, who was her other daughter-in-law.
Three women who's commonality was pain. Pain is a strange company
keeper. It brings the oddest people together. There is a secret
fraternity that exists amongst those who have been in pain that
is mind-boggling. It transcends the color of your skin. It transcends
your background. When you have been through certain things,
you feel for other people who have been through those things,
because you relate to them. I personally don't like to have
a whole lot to do with people who have not been through pain.
It's nothing against them, I'm not jealous of them, I just can't
relate to them. I can't relate to them and I am sure that they
will not be able to relate to me. The parts of me that I need
to have known, that I need to have touched, that I need to have
fellowship, are tied up not in the successes of my life, but
in the struggles of my life. For God has done more through my
struggles. He's done more through my struggles then he's ever
done through my successes. And if you look carefully at my successes,
my successes are made out of the ingredients of my struggles.
And you can never know my successes until you understand my
struggles, because my struggles are the pathway that led me
into my success. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And so if you are going to have fellowship with somebody, you
have to choose your friends and make sure that they have had
something to die in their life. If you've never had anything
to die in your life, you have the kind of optimism that is annoying.
If you've never had anything to go wrong in your life, I don't
like to hear you preach, it aggravates me, it gets on my nerves
because your preaching has not been balanced by failure. If
you've never had anything to die in your life don't counsel
me, because you really don't understand me because you don't
know why I am like I am until you've been where I've been. If
you've never had anything to die in your life don't sit there
and tell me be a man, take it, don't cry. You don't know what
I'm taking, you don't know what I'm enduring, you don't understand.
Just because you read some books and took a psych class doesn't
mean that you are ready to deal with the issues of my life.
There is something about going through death and loss and pain
and misfortune and adversity. There is something about going
through things that don't seem fair to you. That once you go
through them you need to make sense of the madness in your life
since you can't change what happened and you can't alter what
you've been through, at least you need to be able to think that
there's some greater good that's going to come out of it.
It's what they call bringing closure. To bring closure to it;
to justify that I didn't go through this kind of pain for nothing.
I need to be able to feel like something good is going to come
out of this. If I can't do that then I feel like I'm a victim.
I feel like I've been victimized and I forever feel sorry for
myself and I'm not free to go on with my life, and I'm not safe
to remarry again, and I'm not safe to get another job again,
and I'm not safe in another church again, because I have unresolved
issues out of my past; and I'm not ready to go forward with
my life because I'm still tied up with where I came from. I
need to know if I'm going to continue to worship God, I need
to know that some demon didn't get loose in my life and wreck
my life. It's not a mistake, it's not an accident, God didn't
fall asleep on the job and the devil came in and wrecked the
car. No, God never sleeps and he never slumbers. He's in complete
control and he knows where you are, and he knows how old you
are, and he knows how much time you spent, and he knows what
happened to you, and he knows who walked out and left you, and
he knows who betrayed you, and he knows who molested you, and
he knows who raped you, and he knows who rejected you, and he
knows where you are in life, and he knows about your bills,
and he knows about your degree, and he knows you dropped out
of school, and he knows about what you didn't get, and he knows
about the health of your child, and he knows about the condition
of your neighborhood. Understand that and tell yourself nothing
just happens.
And so Orpah walks away. She walks away. I might have to turn
this into a series because I can't get out of this. Orpah walks
away, and she cries and she goes back. There are people who
can walk away from you. And hear me when I tell you this - when
people can walk away from you: let them walk. When people can
walk away from you: let them walk. I can sit down now; I've
preached. I can sit down. I don't need to make an altar call
or nothing. I don't have to hoop, I don't have to make you shout,
I have just preached right now. When people can walk away from
you: let them walk. I don't want you to try to talk another
person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring
about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean
hang up the phone. When people can walk away from you let them
walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left. The bible
said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest
that they were not of us. For had they been of us, no doubt
they would have continued with us. [1Jo 2:19]
People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if
they are not joined to you, you can get super glue and you can't
make them stay. Let them go. And it doesn't mean that Orpah
was a bad person it just means that Orpah's part in the story
is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story
is over so that you don't' keep trying to raise the dead. You've
got to know when it's dead, David. When your boy is dead, wash
your face and have another baby. You've got to know when it's
over. Let me tell you something. I've got the gift of goodbye.
I mean I've got the gift of goodbye. It's the tenth spiritual
gift, I believe in goodbye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's
that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have
he'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't
need it. Stop begging people to stay. Let them go!! Ruth, on
the other hand, coming to the crossroads, she looks at Orpah
who left. Ruth turns to Naomi and says, as the Lord liveth I
shall not leave thee. She makes a statement to this woman that
sounds somewhere in between poetry, intimacy and borders on
lesbianism.
People don't even know how to explain what Ruth said to Naomi.
It makes them uncomfortable, they are afraid to talk about it,
they don't want to teach on it. The same thing with David and
Jonathan. Whenever same sex relationships get too close people
don't even know what to say because people are so carnal they
think the only thing that can tie you to somebody is flesh to
flesh. Understand that Naomi was an older woman. She was old
enough to be Ruth's mama. She's not attracted to Naomi's flesh.
Some kind of way Naomi's spirit has gotten in her spirit. There
is something that happens to you occasionally where you can
meet somebody and you sense, you sense, you sense that your
destiny
oh God, oh God
your destiny is tied to that
person. Do you understand? Do you understand what's happening
to us? Do you understand that we are spending our lives together?
Has it ever crossed your mind that we are spending our lives
together? That we will die after this, and that we have been
joined together and we are spending our life together? Have
you ever realized you can spend your life anywhere with anybody
doing anything, but something happens inside of you where you
sense that your destiny is tied to a ministry or to a vision
and you decide to spend your life
People keep talking about spending their money. That ain't
nothing. I can spend my money and live in Chicago. But when
I spend my life with you, that's all I have. I don't think that
hits you. We are spending our lives together. You will not be
able to write your story and leave me out. We are spending our
lives together. There is no greater bond possible. Occasionally
in scriptures in the whole bible you see it happening with people
who are not even blood related spend their lives together in
the most intimate connection possible. And theologians and scholars
and preachers stumble about it because they don't know how to
talk about it because they don't understand the power being
joined together. How can we explain what made Elisha leave his
natural mother and father and run after Elijah to wait on him?
To clean his clothes, to pour water on his hair, to set up his
tent, but some kind of way Elisha sensed that his destiny was
tied to Elijah. How can we explain Timothy, who walks away from
everything that he owns to hang out at the outside window of
a jail cell as an old man prepares to be beheaded? He peeks
in the window handing him books and blankets ministering to
him. The young man understood, I'll never be who I was meant
to be without you in my life. Do you hear what I'm saying?
There is something, there is something about the way you talk
it feeds me. It's something about the way you speak that changes
me. There is something about your spirit that motivates me and
I'll never be completed without you and I didn't meet you by
accident. I didn't stumble up and meet you. This didn't just
happen. There is a reason that I'm in this place. I'm so sick
of talking to people who think that everything just happens.
I guess I'll go to church. I guess I'll get saved. I guess I'll
move to Chicago. I guess I'll move to Dallas. That's not how
it is. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Your
steps were ordered. If you hadn't got the phone call that you
got when you got like you got it, you wouldn't even be here
right now. If you hadn't made the turn that you made yesterday
you wouldn't experience what you are experiencing today. God
has been behind the curtain like a puppet master pulling strings
in your life. It's not that you're smart, it's not that you're
great; it's not that you're holy; it's not that you're perfect;
it's not that you're good; but God winded you up; pointed you
in the right direction; released you into your destiny; and
you are here and you can't get away. Slap somebody and tell
them nothing just happens. Can I talk to you a few more minutes?
This means, this means, this means that I'm up under the banner
of his will. I'm up under the banner of his will. Even in the
midst of death, I'm up under the banner of his will. Even in
the midst of pain, I'm up under the banner of his will. Even
in the midst of separation and disappointment I'm up under the
banner of his will. Can I take you to the next level? Jonah
was sent to Nineveh, went to Tarsus, headed for Tarsus not obeying
God, got thrown off the boat into the belly of the fish, swallowed
up for three days. Even though God told him to go to Nineveh,
and he didn't go, he was still in the will. I'm not sure you
can handle this. He went the wrong way and he was still in the
will. They threw him off the boat he was still in the will.
I'll prove to you he was in the will. It just happened to be
a big fish. See it just happened to be a big fish swimming beside
the big boat so that when men dumped him over, the fish just
happened to
this is too strong. You can't take this. The
fish carried him down to the bottom of the mountains with seaweed
wrapped around its neck. He's thousands of feet below sea level
and God sustained him. Sustained him not one day, not two days,
not four days, but three days. Nothing just happens.
On the third day
on the third day the backslidden, rebellious,
reprobate, disconnected, disjointed preacher comes up out of
the water, and thousands of years later Christ says even as
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days so shall the son
of man be in the grave. He had to get up when he got up, and
he had to go down when he went down because nothing just happens.
Oh God. Your mistakes were in his will. Your trouble was in
his will. Your pain was in his will. I don't care what you went
through. David said if I make my bed in hell, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning and ascend unto the uttermost
parts of the earth God is still there. He was with you in the
middle of your trouble. He was with you in the middle of your
pain. That's why Paul said, I've learned whatever state I'm
in, therewith to be content. I know how to be rich. I know how
to be poor. I know how to be free. I know how to be bound. You
ought to shout. I don't care where you are because nothing just
happens! And no devil in hell has ever been able to abort the
purpose of God not once. And yes, God gave you a human will,
and you are a free moral agent; but if you think that your human
will is strong enough to change his divine will you are tripping.
You are out of your mind. God is God.
The reason we worship him as God is because he is the CEO.
He is in charge. He runs the universe. And when God gets ready
to make you, and when God gets ready to break you, and when
God gets ready to take you, he has never been without the power
to make you yield to his will. He's never, not one moment or
time, not been able to orchestrate your affairs and anointing
in your life. Think about the most damnable thing that ever
happened and shout 'nothing'! Think about the most embarrassing
thing that ever happened in your life and shout 'nothing'! Think
about the most impoverished, financially depleting thing that
ever happened in your life and shout 'nothing'! Think about
the worse scandal that you ever went through in your life and
shout 'nothing'! Think about people who loved you and walked
out and left you and shout 'nothing'! Think about betrayal on
the highest level of your life and shout 'nothing'! Think about
the struggle going on on your job right now and shout 'nothing'!
Think about the attitude of your kinfolks and your family members
and shout 'nothing'! Think about how your boss is treating you
on your job and shout 'nothing'! Think about that disagreement
between you and your children and shout 'nothing'! Think about
your past life of sin, your whoremongering, your inappropriateness,
your attitude, your dysfunction and shout 'nothing'! Shout 'nothing'!
Let the devil hear you say nothing. That devil will think he
won if you don't shout nothing. The devil will think he's in
charge if you don't shout nothing. He'll think he's going to
win but you've got to shout 'Nothing'!"
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Just Joking
Four Worms in Church
(Four worms and a lesson to be learned !!!)
A Minister decided that a visual
demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon.
Four worms were placed into four
separate jars.
The first worm was put into a container
of alcohol.
The second worm was put into a container
of cigarette smoke.
The third worm was put into a container
of chocolate syrup.
The fourth worm was put into a container
of good, clean soil.
At the conclusion of the sermon,
the Minister reported the following results:
The first worm in alcohol ... Dead.
The second worm in cigarette smoke
... Dead.
The third worm in chocolate syrup
... Dead.
The fourth worm in good, clean soil ... Alive .
So the Minister asked the congregation,
"What did you learn from this demonstration?"
Maxine was sitting in the back and quickly raised her hand
and said,
"As long as you drink, smoke,
and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"
That pretty much ended the service
!!
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Prayer Requests
Please pray that someone will take
on the running of the stall on a Tuesday or I get a few
people to do a relay on that day. Friday and Saturday are
covered by Maureen. Please pray that she will cope really
well and that the Lord will use her mightily for the people.
That the stall will make the rent during the time I am away,
and that whoever helps will be who the Lord wants for the
stall.
Please pray that I will be ready
in time for America with all preparations complete. I have
to do a tax return to fill in before the end of June and
I'm dreading having to do all the math's and stuff for that.
Pray it will be easy and less time consuming than I am imagining.
Please pray for Anna, a young women
with a child and no husband, from a foreign country who
has cancer of the cervix. Please pray that the cancer will
respond to treatment and that she will be completely clear
of it.
Update. Good news Anna came to know
Jesus in the last week... Thank you Lord and thank you so
much for your prayers
Please pray for M who is on all sorts
of tranquillisers and anti-depressants that she will be
able to have a vision for the future and that she come into
the full potential of all her talents and be set free in
her mind completely. Her greatest need is to be able to
be free from negative thoughts in the morning.
Please could you continue to pray
for A's son that he will stay free from drugs and from the
people who encouraged him in the past to take them. Please
pray for his complete salvation in Jesus.
Thank
you so much for your prayers for Jack. His cancer is shrinking.
He came into the stall after many months this last week.
Please continue to pray.
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Watch
of the Lord
Gudrun
Brewster
PRAYER REQUESTS FOR THE NATIONS
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The
Word of the Lord Ministries Int'l
Katey Moreland
What
Katey's doing next.......
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More Links
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Working Out Of Rest
Hebrews 4:3
3For we who have believed do enter that rest
Naturally speaking, when we rest, we dont work. So
what does working out of rest mean? Well, let me explain
by sharing with you what the Lord had taught me.
Many years ago, when I first started preaching, I would
prepare diligently for all my sermons. I fine-tuned my points
and made sure that everything was in place. I would think
to myself, Man, I am going to share this... and that
But when I preached, I would forget to mention certain
points. Because of that, I would get angry with myself.
I would tell myself, That was such a good point. Why
didnt I remember to share it?
Then, God began to speak to me. He said, Son, your
preaching is not out of rest. It is out of your memory.
What He said next changed my life, not just in the area
of preaching, but also in every other area, and I pray that
it will bless you too. He said, Prepare everything
you need to. But when you stand in front of the people,
whatever you need to say, I will give to you.
Yes, there must be preparation, whether it is your sermon
or sales presentation. I am not telling you to be lazy and
just do nothing. You need to prepare, but dont depend
on your preparation. Just trust God and tell yourself that
whatever you forget, God wants it forgotten. And whatever
you didnt plan to say but said, it is because God
wanted it said. Dont be stressed out and lose your
rest by thinking, I must know everything! I must remember
everything and do everything I have prepared!
No, believe God and be at rest. When the time comes, whatever
you need to know, there and then, God will let you know.
Whatever you dont need to know, you dont need
to know. And dont worry about what you didnt
say believe that God didnt want it said.
My friend, when you live life like that trusting
God and resting in His love for you you become cool
and collected. And when you are peaceful and at rest in
Him, what you do prospers!
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