Take the Limits Off

I can't wait to share something with you and I hope it will mean as much to you as it does to me!!! Please remember that God makes no mistake in His Word. He is very deliberate in every word, meaning, and every jot and tittle. He knew exactly what He wanted to say when He penned every word through His people. 



In my study time this morning, I began reading Zechariah. I have been studying Ezra, and so to get a broader perspective of this time in history, it has taken me to Haggai, and now Zechariah. In Zechariah 1:8, we see where the Lord visits him in a vision during the night. He sees "a man on a red horse, standing among some myrtle trees in a small valley". 



Well........immediately the word "myrtle" springs up off the page and I am reflecting on how I’ve recently learned that "myrtle" is the meaning of Esther's Hebrew name, Hadassah. Researching "myrtle" from Zechariah 1:8, it says this: so called myrtle because it springs forth or grows rapidly, like Salix. 



My excitement intensifies, as I hope yours is as well! SPRINGS FORTH or GROWS RAPIDLY! Providence!



So, now I want to know what Salix is and I waste no time finding out. Here goes!!



"The genus Salix is the formal name for willow, of which there are around 400 species. They are found primarily on moist soils in the cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and tenacity to life, and roots readily grow from aerial parts of the plant. The willow is the symbol of wisdom."



We have come to know Esther in this manner but what I love is how strategic God is. He formed her in her mother's womb (Jer.1:5). He knew her name (Is.43:1). He knew exactly what He was doing. She, on the other hand, was clueless. But as she trusted and stepped forward, God's providence became manifest! It was there all along but what happened was the shift from her knowing and seeing nothing to the awakening in her that ultimately brought freedom to her people.......and all on the other side of her choice. She personifies God's wisdom at work in ordinary people. She personifies faith that takes a step into the unknown, yet finds a firm foundation beneath her feet with every step. Her cluelessness didn’t bother God nor did it change His perspective or plan. His perspective was fixed and His plan absolute, and He knew exactly what He was doing.

Girls, this is you and me! I encourage you to do today as I am choosing to do. Take the limits off of what God can do in you and through you. He is faithful!!! Trust Him in complete surrender that your every step is in His hands, even if you are oblivious to His presence. He is God alone and if your heart is to serve Him wholly, He will be your governor. He not only formed you in your mother's womb but He calls you by name. He knew exactly what He was doing when He created you and we can be like Esther. We don't have to know all the answers. We only need to know the one with the answers. When we trust Him, He will prove Himself to us. AND not only that, but by His grace, we will prove ourselves to our self. God all ready knows what we are capable of because He created us. WE only need to know what we are capable of. 



It really comes down to seeing from God's perspective. We are who He says we are, in the areas of our life where we are confident and in the areas we are not. He is still God! Please allow your heart to be His throne. Release His power and presence in your life and wait with excitement and anticipation of where you will end up!!!


TC

Secure

Col 2:7 – Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Stay connected to His Word, read it, think it, meditate on it, speak it. Letting your roots grow deep in Him is taking Him at his Word. No matter what may try to come to distract, bring discouragement, fear or insecurity, when you continually apply His Word to each and every one of them, you grow deeper and stronger in Him.

No one can make you feel inferior, worthless, fearful, insignificant or anything else negative, without your consent. So agree with the Word, you are highly favored and completely loved.

PJ

Just For You

If Jesus had to die just for you, he would of. You are an amazing treasure, you need to see yourself that way, it's true. Agree with the Lord, your precious to Him.

PJ

Launch Out

Wow, what an amazing journey we are on. Today was the day New Hope Worship Center sent out Thrive Worship Center. We are humbled, honored and blessed to be a part of this body of believers. Reflecting back on the day, I am so blessed to think about the people God has already called along side to fulfill His amazing vision for the body that is now called Thrive.

We were so blessed by so many words of encouragement and love. One friend tells me she's honored to be serving with us, another friend tells me of how she saw and experienced what being embraced looked like, another friend says, "let me know if there's anything we can do for you" and from the words of another friend when I asked "where's my kids", she says "their fine, their with family"! God has begun to put an amazing family together and for that part of this day I am the most blessed because today was a day He touched me personally. My Father lovingly said to me, "Welcome home my daughter", "Welcome Home"!

Thank you Father!

PJ

The New and Living Way

(Read this devotion from Joyce Meyer and wanted to share.)

Therefore, brethren…we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the (Holy of) Holies (by the power and virtue) in the blood of Jesus, by this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us. –Hebrews 10:19-20

Believing we are made right with God through our faith in Jesus Christ is a new and living way, one that gives us freedom, boldness and confidence. Trying to follow the law (trying to do everything right) in order to earn acceptance ministers death (every kind of misery) to us. Grace is God’s power coming to us free of charge to help us do with ease what we could never accomplish on our own. Grace is freeing! It puts the burden to perform on God, rather than on us. As believers in Jesus Christ, our work is to believe while God works on our behalf.

I cannot make myself acceptable to all people, and neither can you, but we can believe God will give us favor with the people He wants us involved with. Sometimes we try to have relationships with people God does not even want us to be associated with. Knowing who we are in Christ sets us free from the need to impress others. Once we know who we are and accept ourselves, we no longer have anything to prove.

If God is for you, who can be against you?

PJ

We Are In This Together

Acts 4:32 All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had.

This is a desire of my heart; that we believers are of one heart and one mind. Psalm 37:4 says “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires”. I don’t believe this was an original idea of mine. I believe this is the Father’s heart for us, to be one heart, one mind. The mind of Christ.

I know there are a lot of different things that go into enabling us to walk this out but I believe one way, which I thought I’d share today, is trust.

I believe it starts with each of us doing our part. One of our parts, which ultimately benefits the body as a whole and results in getting us all closer to this goal, is to develop our “personal trust” walk.

God is a gentleman and He will not force His bride to trust Him. Trusting Him is an act of humility; it’s a choice. Duet 30:19 says “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!” Even when we don’t know in the exact moment which particular thought or action to choose, we can always choose trust. It’s there to choose, a free gift to us, bought at an extremely high price. We are never left alone, no matter what our situation in life and no matter what the circumstances, we have the precious gift of trust.

Romans 12:1 says “Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is”. This is trust, changing the way we think when we don’t understand and when the answer seems unclear. Choose to offer up the concern, the worry, the trying to figure it all out, the works of it, to the one we can trust, who knows exactly what we need to know. James 1:4 says “But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Allow this verse to work for you, trust.

His Word is full of answers and will answer all of our questions. Trusting Him is a choice; it’s a humbling decision to “know” Him. Worry is not trust, peace is. He is trustworthy and we can rely on Him to show us the way. Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path”.

I believe that as each of us, who are called believers, develop the personal trust in our personal Saviour, we will more and more be of one heart and one mind.

PJ

Reveal Your True Self

Proverbs 29:25

“Something has a hold of me, like someone grabbed me from behind and refuses to let me go. I try and I try but I can’t seem to break free from the grasp of this invisible force. Sometimes it’s even hard to breathe. As I feel my breath waning from the force of constriction, I sense the weight of it all against my chest as I am caught in its clutches and I wonder……………What is this?”

Waaaaaaait, wait, wait, wait…….hold on a minute…..reality check…….did I really mean to say all of that? What if someone sees me buckle and all of a sudden I’m out in the open? What then? My cover will be blown. I’m not even sure I want to face this, much less let anyone else see it.

OK….get a hold of yourself. “Sister All Together” is headed right for me and I can’t let her see me like this. Deep breath, relaaax. Do I have all my loose ends tucked in? Shoulders back, head up, smile. I must be as convincing as my…………“perception”……….. of her.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Too many times we think the stuff that we try to hide from others is the unseen force that holds us back but nothing could be farther from the truth. The real life “clutcher” we deal with is one of our own choosing and we have become so accustomed to dragging it around with us everywhere we go, nursing it and protecting it, that we don’t realize that it is has become a parasitic leech. It’s not hidden........we just convince ourselves that it is. All the while, we drag it into the arena of our life for public consumption where we will be eaten alive.

A parasitic leech is something that depends on something else for existence or support without making a useful or adequate return, seeking its own advantage or gain. I’m talking about the fear of man. Not just fear of what others can do to us or what we perceive them to think of us, but even more, the fear of ourselves and our unwillingness to embrace our frail humanity. We carry this fear around like a monkey on our back and we feel it every time we buckle under the weight it. We cloak it in pretense and, BINGO…….we land ourselves in full fledged insecurity and pride, unable to receive the mercies of God because we aren’t willing to be real about our weaknesses.

Second Corinthians 12:9-10 says that God’s power works BEST in weaknesses and that we should therefore GLADLY boast in them SO THAT the power of Christ can work through us, for when we are weak, then are we strong. Our weaknesses serve as a platform for Jesus to operate from and when we hide them away, we hide Him away. Our sphere of influence is depending on us as Christians to stop being phony. We will all be at a greater advantage when we choose to arrest the fear of man, embrace ourselves, and allow Jesus to be seen. The world has no problem understanding man’s ability to be accomplished in his strengths but it will certainly take notice when it sees us as Christians being accomplished in our weaknesses. Little do they realize that in that moment, they have just had an encounter with Jesus, and He speaks through our yielded lives ever so gently to the hearts of those who will witness it.

So my encouragement to you today is don’t be afraid of who you are. Be the woman God has created you to be. Ask Him to help you understand His love for you and as you do, trusting Him will lead the way to yielding yourself to Him in the areas of your life that feel vulnerable, as those are the areas where He will work best. And in the process of it all, your understanding of who you are will increase in Him.

TC

Need Help?

Ps 121 - I look up to the mountains, does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth! 3 He will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep. 4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps. 5 The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon at night. 7 The LORD keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. 8 The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

Where are we looking for our help? Where do the answers for our needs come from? Do they come when we receive a miracle of provision? Is it in attaining peace? Is it in an absence of a struggle? Could it be in someone else having made a much needed change? Is it when we feel approved by others, or the approval we give ourselves when we feel we've met all the requirements? Where are our hearts and minds finding help?

The Word says, it comes from the Lord. It comes in relationship with Him; an abiding, yielded, humbling, set my attention and affections on Him, kind of relationship, the kind where I can trust. The Psalm goes on to say that He will not let me stumble and fall. He watches over me and stands beside me as a protective shield. He keeps me and preserves me as I come and go, now and forever.

Phil 4:8 tells us what to think on, what to fix our thoughts on:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Our help comes from the One who is true, honorable and right. He is pure, lovely and admirable. He is excellent and worthy of praise. And He is there, always, to help. He is trustworthy. We can relax and let go.

He said He would never leave us, never forsake us! (Heb 13:56).

HE is our help in time of need! (Psalm 46:1)

PJ