Monday, March 26, 2012

YES, GOD - Part 1 of 2

Part 1

Reading from the New International Version of the Bible, 2 Corinthians 1:20 reads as follows”:
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” And all I'm going to say is “YES, GOD”!

When we say “YES, GOD”, what are we really saying? I'm willing to YIELD. I'm willing to say Y=Yes, I=In, E=Every, L=Little, D=Detail. When you yield to something, you give up, surrender or submit. God, I'm allowing or granting you “RIGHT OF WAY”! You see, some of us want God's will for our lives, but we're unwilling to yield everything over to him.

When we whisper within ourselves, “Yes, God, except in this one thing”, we can be assured that this one thing will work spiritual disaster in our lives.

There must be no reservation when it comes to surrendering our will to God's will. Our part is to die to the flesh and self, dedicate our life to God, and daily yield to his leading. It's not an easy road. When the way seems hard, it can be made easier. Jesus said...”For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. Matthew 11:30

God wants all His sons and daughters to live with a “Yes, Lord” at all times. When you try to cultivate your spiritual life around an unsurrendered self, it is like trying to keep healthy around a malignant cancer. Only when the self is surrendered, can you cultivate your spiritual life around the new Center – Christ and Christ in control. Then everything else falls into its place.

So as we say ”YES, GOD” and yield to his lead, we then must ENDURE for God.
2 Timothy 2:3 states “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus”.

There may be those who have yielded themselves to God, but they lack the stamina to endure when the storm rages and the battle comes full blast. It is for your training that you undergo these things. God is acting to you as a father does to his child. For what child does not have punishment from his father?

I've always heard “spare the rod; spoil that child”....but Proverbs 13:24 states “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” God's way of discipline is putting us through trials, testing and tribulation. That's because he has a purpose and a plan for us so some things he must allow to happen to us in order for us to be made strong and able to stand. When the devil throws his fiery arrows at us, they are to kill, steal and destroy. Then maybe God is allowing him to do just that so it can propel us into the place that he not only wants us to be but needs us to be. The fact that Christians suffer too means that suffering “separates the men from the boys” and the “women from the girls” – it shows who is willing to remain faithful even when it is hard to do so. 1 Peter 4:12 states “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”

God never promised that he would remove all our problems, but he did promise that he will provide you the faith and strength to endure despite the problem. So when we face trials and tribulations, count it all joy because it's working for your good. Even in the physical realm, the question is which bones and muscles are the strongest. The answer is the ones that face the most hardship. There are trials that defeat some people, but for others, it strengthens them. It all depends on how you handle them.

- Shawnda Townsend

Monday, March 19, 2012

Get Out of the Pit - Part 3 of 3

Part 3

-The following blog message is posted in three parts and is based on Psalm 40:1-3. Part 1 deals with David finding himself in “an horrible pit” and how he 'waited patiently for the Lord”. Part 2 covers how David came out of the pit. And finally, Part 3 explains how awesome and powerful God is and how we need to trust Him and get out of the pit!

Then we come to the latter part of verse 2:

And set my feet upon a rock”

The word “set” means to cause to sit and to cause to assume a certain posture or position. “Feet” means to step and to be able to endure. So God “set” David's feet by putting him in a position in which he could endure his situation. And how did God do this? By establishing David in an upright position on the “rock”, meaning a stronghold or fortress. And who is this stronghold or fortress?
Yahweh Tsuri pronounced yah-WEH tsu-REE or “The Lord My Rock”, which comes from
1 Samuel 2:2: There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God”.

and established my goings”
“Establish” in this verse means to “ordain, to order, be stable, stand, to be erect, prepare, render sure”. “Goings” means “behavior, actions, progress, advance toward an objective”. Therefore God is ordaining, ordering, and preparing David and his actions in order for him to stand erect against this despairing situation the devil has put into his mind. Again God demonstrates to David that He is with David and is his strong tower. Psalm 61:3 states “For thou has been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.”
Verse 3: “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
Put” means to “bring into a specified state or condition; to place in a specified position or relationship; to send into or through something; thrust”. “New” means “fresh, to rebuild, renew, repair”. God is again showing how he is sending or thrusting David into a higher position or relationship with Him and putting a fresh, renewed song in David's mouth, which also means mind, and in his praise to God. Hasn't God been thrusting us into a higher position or relationship with Him this year? He is truly an awesome God!
“Singing, praising, and thanksgiving are the great building impulses of man. Singing restores harmony to tense nerves because its vibrations stir them to action, thus making it possible for the ever-waiting , healing Spirit to get in.” (The Revealing Word)
When that Spirit gets into us, others will “see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord”.
How many of us have found ourselves in “an horrible pit” before? When nothing seems to go right for us; when we have financial difficulties that we can't seem to get out of, when our jobs are demanding us to do more than we think we physically can; when things at our houses keep breaking down or falling apart; when our phone keeps ringing off the hook because someone needs help and we struggle to find the strength to help them; when our gas tank is almost empty or car trouble presents itself at the end of the month and we don't know where the resources will come from.
You and I both know that the list goes on and on. Every day we need to rebuke Satan for these negative thoughts and situations that he places in us. We must remember that God will lift us above our fears And set our feet on solid ground”. Just as David understood this, we need to remember this as well. Psalm 91 emphasizes the trust we must have in our God: “He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust”. Amen!
- Rachel West

Monday, March 12, 2012

Get Out of the Pit - Part 2 of 3

Message 41

-The following blog message – – is posted in three parts and is based on Psalm 40:1-3. Part 1 deals with David finding himself in “an horrible pit” and how he “waited patiently for the Lord”. Part 2 covers how David came out of the pit. And finally, Part 3 explains how awesome and powerful God is and how we need to trust Him and get out of the pit!

Part 2

And then what happened? David says that God “brought me up also out of an horrible pit”. “Brought” means to “escort or accompany (to go with as an associate or companion; implies equality of status)”. “Up” means “in or into a higher position or level; in or into an upright position; in or into a better or more advanced state”.

God didn't reach down in the “pit” from up above somewhere and physically pull David out. God was in the pit with David. He was with him the entire time, comforting him and encouraging David to stand upright. God was with David every step of the way as David's escort and companion. His Word states in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Forsake means to leave behind or to desert someone or something. God would never leave David or desert him, or anyone of us. Thanks be to God!
So when God brought David out of the pit, He raised David to a higher position, an upright position, and to a more advanced state in his mind. He gave David the strength and power to change his thinking – to transform his mind in order to get out of the state of despair he was in. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:2 to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”.
Do you remember others who were in a pit in the Bible?
- What about the Israelites? Weren't they in a pit of slavery? Didn't God use Moses and Aaron to bring them out of this pit of slavery in Egypt into a higher level position? Ex 20:2: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, of the house of bondage.”
- And what about Joseph?
Genesis 37:23-24: “And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; And they took him, and cast him into a pit”.
Didn't God bring (or accompany) him out of the pit and into an upright position and a higher level position?
And, as always, God's timing is perfect. The scripture says: “he inclined unto me ”, meaning God offered himself to David, outstretched himself to David, took David aside and caused him to yield to Him (God). How many times have we tried to handle problems ourselves but found that we would be a lot better off to be yielded to God and His grace when it comes to handling these situations.
Romans 6:13: “yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God”. In other words, give yourself to God as a living sacrifice, one that is good for use in service to God.
So thanks to the glory of God, David has been lifted out of the pit of despair.
- Rachel West

Monday, March 5, 2012

Get Out of the Pit - Part 1 of 3

-The following blog message is posted in three parts and is based on Psalm 40:1-3. Part 1 deals with David finding himself in “an horrible pit” and how he “waited patiently for the Lord”. Part 2 covers how David came out of the pit. And finally, Part 3 explains how awesome and powerful God is and how we need to trust Him and get out of the pit!

Hillsong United - Reaching For You

I can't believe the way
Your love has got a hold on me
Each morning I wake to find You near
You lift me above my fears
And set my feet on solid ground
All of my days belong to You

And I breathe in Your breath of life that fills my heart
You are my all consuming fire

I stand here before You
In wide opened wonder
Amazed at the glory of You
The power of heaven
Revealing Your purpose in me
As I'm reaching for You

This song, by the group known as Hillsong, is one that I listen to when I am exercising. A few weeks ago, the Lord brought a certain phrase from the song to my attention - “You lift me above my fears And set my feet on solid ground. You know how it is when God just “lifts words out of a song” or “off of the page”, and you become so keenly aware of those words? I couldn't stop thinking about them.
When I would wake up on the following mornings, this is the phrase that was in my mind, and I began to praise God for doing just that – “lifting me above my fears and setting my feet on solid ground” before I even got out of the bed.
Several days after this, I was reading in Psalms during breakfast. It was one of those times when I didn't know what to read and just opened the Bible. Psalm 40 was right in front of me. As I began to read these verses, I realized that they were the words of the song:
Psalm 40:1-3:
I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
    He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
    And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
Naturally I had to begin the study of this scripture, and this is what I have learned:
David is lamenting the fact that he is in “an horrible pit”. “Horrible” means “uproar, destruction, tumult, extremely unpleasant or disagreeable”. And “pit” means a “hole, a cistern, a prison, or a dungeon”. David was in a state of confinement or captivity – a situation that was extremely unpleasant and disagreeable for him. So David was really down in the dumps! He didn't give us any reason for this, but it seems that he was definitely in a state of despair or depression.
The scripture continues that he was in “miry clay”. The word “mire” refers to a wet spongy earth – one that a person can sink into and get stuck in. It also refers to a troublesome or intractable situation that a person can find themselves in, meaning a situation that is “not easily cured or manipulated or handled”. So David was in trouble – a very difficult situation that he didn't know how to get out of. He was sinking slowly but surely, but he didn't struggle and wrestle with himself to get out. When you struggle and wrestle in the mud or “sinking sand”, what happens? You end up going in deeper. But he didn't do that.
What did David do? Scripture says that he “waited patiently for the Lord”. Now if you are in some miry clay and sinking, do you think you're going to be calm and patient? How often have we heard “Patience is a virtue”? We know that Galatians 5:22 includes “patience” as one of the 9 fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But it is not always easy to be patient, meaning “to bear pains or trials calmly without complaint; not be hasty or impetuous”. We don't know how long David waited, but we can assume that there was not an instantaneous resolution to his problem. Psalm 37:7 states “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him”. And David did just that.
I believe that David knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord would help him and bring him out of this deep despair, but he also knew that he needed to be patient for God's timing.
- Rachel West