I had an encounter with God this past weekend that was unlike any I had ever experienced before. I'm not really sure that I can put it into words. I hope that I was able to explain it a little in the last few posts. I think what I most came away from the ladies advance was that most Christians (myself included) do not begin to utilize the power of God in their lives. We have put God in this small little box and placed him on a shelf. We take out the box and talk to him when we have a problem or a need, but otherwise just leave him there inside that little box. We need to be reminded of the awesome POWER of God. The God we serve is the same God that placed the stars in the sky, knows the numbers of the hairs on our head and created this vast universe and everything in it!
He is the same God that wants us to be financially secure and healthy. He does not want us to be poor and sick. We are His children. We need to really think about what that means. If you are a parent, you already know that you want the absolute best for your children. And when they are sick, all you want is for them to be well. I am reminded of the words of a song that we used to sing in our quartet at church..."Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost! You are not your own. You are bought with a price! The precious blood of the lamb! You are a king's kid!!" We need to learn to tap into that power! We need to start acting like children of a king instead of thinking, "poor, pitiful, me..." Am I speaking to anyone right now? Am I stepping on some toes? I hope so!
Do you want to know the main reason we no longer attend "church"? There are lots of reasons, but the main one is that most pastors are afraid to preach a hard message that people don't want (but desperately need) to hear. They are afraid if they preach that kind of message, the people will leave and go somewhere else...and take their money with them. Matthew 5:13 says, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."
The most refreshing part of the teaching I received this weekend from Clarice Fluitt was about the awesome power of God. She is so annointed, and so blessed by God because she listens and obeys. She has allowed herself to be completely surrendered to God to do what He tells her to do. One of my favorite CD's that I purchased from her this weekend was called, "Fear God." She says, "That which you fear will come upon you!" Do you fear sickness? Disease? Poverty? That which you fear will come upon you. Fear God!! The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. When you begin to fear God, He will be able to work through you and use you in ways you never thought possible.
Clarice is an amazing woman. She has some of the best testimonies I have ever heard. She doesn't just have a testimony, she has lots of them!! Since we know that God is no respector of persons, we know that he can give us all testimonies like hers that will change lives. People need to hear that the God we serve is a God of power!!
I don't know about you, but I am ready to be used by God in an amazing way. I am ready to have testimonies that will blow your socks off! I want the kind of testimonies that when people hear them, they say, "That cannot possibly be true!"
Father God, I am ready to be used in a mighty way. I want the words of my testimony to change people's lives. I want people to say, I want to serve the God that woman serves! I want to change lives through the power of my testimony. I promise to always give you all the glory! In Jesus mighty name I pray. Amen.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Psalms 37:4 6-27-12
One of my favorite scriptures is Ps. 37:4. It is the scripture that is the foundation for my new business Udderly Delightful. (I will expound more upon that later. God is still helping me work out the details, but I am very excited about what is coming!)
Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Sometimes those desires are big, and sometimes they are small. When you realize that God cares even for the small stuff, you can begin to envision God taking care of the big stuff.
Here is just a little story about what happened to us today. Yesterday I said to John that I would love to have some watermelon. I said, "That would taste soooooo good right now!" BTW, we have a huge watermelon vine growing in the cow's pen in front of the house. It just grew there on its own, and it has about 12 watermelon growing on it right now. If that is not crazy enough, the cow's are completely leaving it alone. They are not eating the vine or walking on it, even though they LOVE watermelon!
So anyway, I said to John, "I wish those watermelon were ripe so we could eat them!" He said, "I'm afraid that I have gotten very spoiled for seedless watermelon." He is assuming they will be the seeded kind - if they are even any good.
Two days ago David said, "Mom, I wish we had some apple juice. I LOVE apple juice, and I haven't had any in a long time. Will you buy some the next time you go to the store?"
Then today I was sitting here working on my notes for my business and listening to one of the CD's I bought at the ladies conference this weekend. I was thinking, "I sure would like a sandwich. I really should get up and fix one."
The next thing you know, John comes walking in the door carrying a big box. He had taken our calf Robbie to the YMCA day camp in Tifton where he was part of a petting zoo they were having for the kids. Anyway, he says, "Who is going to eat all this food?" In the box was about 10 sandwiches, cheese sticks, applesauce, and a whole bunch of apple juice drink boxes. Then John said, "You know how you were just saying last night that you were in the mood for watermelon?" About that time, David comes walking in the kitchen with a large seedless watermelon! (It was leftovers from lunch at the day camp.)
Isn't God good? He cares about the little things, and he cares about the big things too! Some of you know the details of an ugly land dispute we are having with a neighbor. We have decided to just put it in God's hands because it is clearly too big for us to handle on our own. I challenge you right now to go find your Bible and read all of Psalms 37. God has it all under control. All we have to do is trust him. By the way, I CANNOT WAIT to give the testimony of how God took care of this problem for us!
Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Sometimes those desires are big, and sometimes they are small. When you realize that God cares even for the small stuff, you can begin to envision God taking care of the big stuff.
Here is just a little story about what happened to us today. Yesterday I said to John that I would love to have some watermelon. I said, "That would taste soooooo good right now!" BTW, we have a huge watermelon vine growing in the cow's pen in front of the house. It just grew there on its own, and it has about 12 watermelon growing on it right now. If that is not crazy enough, the cow's are completely leaving it alone. They are not eating the vine or walking on it, even though they LOVE watermelon!
So anyway, I said to John, "I wish those watermelon were ripe so we could eat them!" He said, "I'm afraid that I have gotten very spoiled for seedless watermelon." He is assuming they will be the seeded kind - if they are even any good.
Two days ago David said, "Mom, I wish we had some apple juice. I LOVE apple juice, and I haven't had any in a long time. Will you buy some the next time you go to the store?"
Then today I was sitting here working on my notes for my business and listening to one of the CD's I bought at the ladies conference this weekend. I was thinking, "I sure would like a sandwich. I really should get up and fix one."
The next thing you know, John comes walking in the door carrying a big box. He had taken our calf Robbie to the YMCA day camp in Tifton where he was part of a petting zoo they were having for the kids. Anyway, he says, "Who is going to eat all this food?" In the box was about 10 sandwiches, cheese sticks, applesauce, and a whole bunch of apple juice drink boxes. Then John said, "You know how you were just saying last night that you were in the mood for watermelon?" About that time, David comes walking in the kitchen with a large seedless watermelon! (It was leftovers from lunch at the day camp.)
Isn't God good? He cares about the little things, and he cares about the big things too! Some of you know the details of an ugly land dispute we are having with a neighbor. We have decided to just put it in God's hands because it is clearly too big for us to handle on our own. I challenge you right now to go find your Bible and read all of Psalms 37. God has it all under control. All we have to do is trust him. By the way, I CANNOT WAIT to give the testimony of how God took care of this problem for us!
When God speaks will you listen and obey? 6-24-12
After having an amazing experience the past few days at the ladies retreat (advance), John and I were able to have some time alone to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. My sister Judy graciously offered to take the kids for the night, and we got to spend some rare time alone, and even go on a date! :) We had a wonderful time and were able to catch up on some of the things that we both experienced while I was away.
This morning we attended church services with some friends at a local Baptist church. I had promised my friend that I would come and give a healing testimony. I need to first back up and tell the story of what happened:
About a month ago, I got some kind of insect bite on my hand. It really didn't bother me other than it left this ugly red mark on my hand. It would occasionally itch, but other than that, it didn't really bother me. I had made remarks about it several times over the last few weeks about how I wish it would just go away. Well, about a week ago, I started to feel sick. I had a fever, chills, body aches, and my lymph node under my right arm was very swollen. (The insect bite was on my right hand.) Then I started to notice a red line coming from the insect bite towards my arm. At this point I was a bit alarmed that it was some kind of poisonous spider bite.
We were having our weekly Bible study at our home that night, and I was not feeling well at all. I told our friends that I needed prayer. They said, "You really should have a doctor look at that. It could be a brown recluse bite, or it could be a staff infection." I said, "I don't have a problem with doctors, but I just believe that God is going to heal whatever it is. I don't need to know what it is. God knows, and I believe He will take care of it." So, we got together and they prayed for healing. Immediately after the prayer, the red line was gone. He said, "If that thing is gone tomorrow, you need to come to church and give a healing testimony."
I did start to feel better the next day, but it wasn't completely gone, so we decided we would go the following week. This brings me to today. John and I went to church, and I was prepared to give my testimony if the opportunity presented itself. Sure enough, shortly after the worship music ended, one of the church members stood up and gave a testimony about how God had delivered her from cigarettes. John nudged me in the side and said, "Now is your chance!!" (Most Baptist churches that I have attended in the past do not usually have healing and deliverence testimonies, so I knew this was God!)
Okay, so I have just been told that I am no longer timid and shy. I have been given boldness from on high! (Be careful what you pray for people!!) I go walking down the center aisle of the church and ask the pastor if I can give a testimony. He says, "Of course you can little lady!" I said, "Do you have a mike?" (Boldness!) So, I give the testimony of the healing just like I told you. Well, these 2 testimonies started a wave of testimonies throughout the church. Isn't God awesome?
The pastor went on to give a very good sermon from John 13:8-17 about the time that Jesus washed the disciple's feet. When he was done, one of his deacons stood up and said, "What about the verse about how we should wash one another's feet? You skipped over that verse." The pastor replied, "I said all that I God told me to say." Well, apparently this particular deacon has been attending church services at this church under this same pastor for the past 30 years. And for the past 30 years, he has been telling the pastor that they should have a foot washing service. The pastor didn't really believe in foot washing, and he had said many times that he would NEVER have a foot washing service in his church.
After this, someone else sang a song. When she was done, the pastor came back up and said, "The Lord has spoken to me this morning. I need someone to go get me a basin of water and some towels, and I am going to wash ---'s feet. (I don't know his name.) It was a very moving and touching experience to watch.
When the service was coming to a close, the pastor said, "I would never of had the privilege of what I did this morning if I did not listen and obey." I thought that was awesome because that was the title of my blog post from 2 days earlier.
So, are you ready to be used miraculously by God? What is God telling you to do today? Today is the day of obedience. Go and do what He is telling you to do.
This morning we attended church services with some friends at a local Baptist church. I had promised my friend that I would come and give a healing testimony. I need to first back up and tell the story of what happened:
About a month ago, I got some kind of insect bite on my hand. It really didn't bother me other than it left this ugly red mark on my hand. It would occasionally itch, but other than that, it didn't really bother me. I had made remarks about it several times over the last few weeks about how I wish it would just go away. Well, about a week ago, I started to feel sick. I had a fever, chills, body aches, and my lymph node under my right arm was very swollen. (The insect bite was on my right hand.) Then I started to notice a red line coming from the insect bite towards my arm. At this point I was a bit alarmed that it was some kind of poisonous spider bite.
We were having our weekly Bible study at our home that night, and I was not feeling well at all. I told our friends that I needed prayer. They said, "You really should have a doctor look at that. It could be a brown recluse bite, or it could be a staff infection." I said, "I don't have a problem with doctors, but I just believe that God is going to heal whatever it is. I don't need to know what it is. God knows, and I believe He will take care of it." So, we got together and they prayed for healing. Immediately after the prayer, the red line was gone. He said, "If that thing is gone tomorrow, you need to come to church and give a healing testimony."
I did start to feel better the next day, but it wasn't completely gone, so we decided we would go the following week. This brings me to today. John and I went to church, and I was prepared to give my testimony if the opportunity presented itself. Sure enough, shortly after the worship music ended, one of the church members stood up and gave a testimony about how God had delivered her from cigarettes. John nudged me in the side and said, "Now is your chance!!" (Most Baptist churches that I have attended in the past do not usually have healing and deliverence testimonies, so I knew this was God!)
Okay, so I have just been told that I am no longer timid and shy. I have been given boldness from on high! (Be careful what you pray for people!!) I go walking down the center aisle of the church and ask the pastor if I can give a testimony. He says, "Of course you can little lady!" I said, "Do you have a mike?" (Boldness!) So, I give the testimony of the healing just like I told you. Well, these 2 testimonies started a wave of testimonies throughout the church. Isn't God awesome?
The pastor went on to give a very good sermon from John 13:8-17 about the time that Jesus washed the disciple's feet. When he was done, one of his deacons stood up and said, "What about the verse about how we should wash one another's feet? You skipped over that verse." The pastor replied, "I said all that I God told me to say." Well, apparently this particular deacon has been attending church services at this church under this same pastor for the past 30 years. And for the past 30 years, he has been telling the pastor that they should have a foot washing service. The pastor didn't really believe in foot washing, and he had said many times that he would NEVER have a foot washing service in his church.
After this, someone else sang a song. When she was done, the pastor came back up and said, "The Lord has spoken to me this morning. I need someone to go get me a basin of water and some towels, and I am going to wash ---'s feet. (I don't know his name.) It was a very moving and touching experience to watch.
When the service was coming to a close, the pastor said, "I would never of had the privilege of what I did this morning if I did not listen and obey." I thought that was awesome because that was the title of my blog post from 2 days earlier.
So, are you ready to be used miraculously by God? What is God telling you to do today? Today is the day of obedience. Go and do what He is telling you to do.
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