01.08.20 RECAP

WOW!!! What an incredible way to start 2020! The first night of the year and we’re already seeing God’s goodness! I believe this is only a taste of what we have to look forward to in this new year. We are going to see our King invade our lives in epic proportions. We witnessed first hand the great power of prayer, thanksgiving and praise. The areas that seem so dry and desolate in our lives He breathes hope and life into. Taking our emphasis off of ourselves and onto Him we entered into a whole new dimension of prayer, worshiping from a throne room experience. This dimension of kingdom worship opens up something within you. It releases you to the eternal realm. What a privilege it is to pray together, abiding in Him. There is nothing that quiets your soul like being in the presence of God. 

As we went around the room sharing the many things we were grateful for in 2019 one thing stood out…being thankful to God for the storms. As we look back we see how God used the hard times in our lives to strengthen us and promote us. 2019 was a year riddled with hardship and trials. Each Wednesday we praised Him in our pit. We are pit praisers! PIT PRAISING IS POWERFUL! The greatest demonstration of your faith is when you praise God in the pit. Paul and Silas are great examples of the miracles that result from pit praising. 

There is no fruit on the mountaintop. There is only fruit in the valley. The valley is the stretching place. The place we grow and bloom. The place that you don’t like while you’re in it but thank God when you are through it. Ezekiel 37:4-6 tells us that God is with us in the valley. To Ezekiel it looked impossible but to God the situation was perfect for a miracle.

THIS is the season we are IN sisters! The season we SPEAK to the dry bones in our lives! The days we give God our “not enough” and he takes our little and turns it into a LOT! We don’t have to “feel” ready for God to do something...waiting to “feel” prepared to do what God is calling us to do. The very fact that we step out in faith is proof that we have fear in our lives. The truth is none of us are ready to do what God is asking us to do. We have to learn how to move on a “maybe”. Faith is like a pit in your stomach. Many people are running from that pit. God is not going to give you a life where He is not necessary. That pit keeps you on your knees praising God. Jesus told Ezekiel to talk TO the mountain. We did that very thing on Wednesday night. We SPOKE to the mountain, not about it. SPEAK to the bones! Word in your mouth becomes a double edged sword. When you say what He says God starts to move! I believe the atmosphere in 2020 is especially sensitive to the words we speak as we are so close to the return of our King. God’s Word becomes your compass. We must SAY it until we believe it. Faith comes by HEARING. We heard our way into the pit and we must hear our way out of it. Psalm 119 says SAY it until you SEE it. The earth will fade away but God’s Word lasts forever. We keep trusting. We keep declaring. It’s seems a little crazy. It seems impossible, but we serve a God that delights in the impossible. His Word is our guiding North Star. When Ezekiel started to speak over those bones things began to change. 

Our word for 2020 is PRAISE! PRAISE! PRAISE!!! God inhabits the praises of His people. We’ve gone from a place of “I’ve got to pray” to a place of “I get to pray”. A place where we desire to be in the presence of our Father. We are hungry for the things of God. We are not moved by what we see as we know that we are multidimensional. Hebrews 11:1-3 tells us that what we see is made by what we can’t see.The things we see are temporal and subject to change. 

God is asking for repentance from his people this year. Repentance is the heartbeat of God. Repentance simply means to change one’s mind, to change your thinking to align with God’s. To change your thinking you must change what you’re seeing. To see yourself you must SEE Jesus. God put YOU in HIM. We can only know ourselves by knowing Him. This year our focus will be laser focused on Christ, praising Him. 

The Lord is really working in the hearts of the younger generation. It was great to have Brooke Hanshumaker back with us!  She is half way through her Freshman year at UNCW. We have missed her so much. The light of the Lord shines so brightly through our young warriors. God’s youngest disciple was 17 year old John. Through John’s life we see the power of seeing oneself through God’s eyes. John put his ear on God’s heart. He knew the rhythm of God. He was able to look at himself through the lens of Christ.This is why he called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”  He could not do that if he saw himself through the lens of the world. The world is screaming “you’re not enough, you’re not worthy, you must earn your place”. This is a LIE from the pit of Hell. John did not align with these lies. He knew his place. He knew that His worth was secure in Christ and because of that right thinking He saw what God saw...a beloved son of the King. 

John saw God’s goodness in Him. He knew His righteousness was in Christ. John saw that He was His beloved son in whom he was well pleased. He saw Himself in HIM. John had 2020 vision. I believe that WE will have John's vision this year. As we change what we SEE we will think differently and speak differently. We will have a Jesus perspective and that will bring a flood of healing, blessings and miracles into our lives.

After we shared what we were thankful for we gathered into our circle holding hands, praising and worshiping God. It was POWERFUL!!! We then took communion. Communion is a big part of worship as it puts the focus on Christ and His finished work, reminding us that Jesus bore our and carried our pain. We will taking communion every Wed. we meet in 2020. 

Indeed, we went deeper sisters! We are now swimming in the greater glory of God. We understand on a whole new level the gift and value of our trials. We have a revelation of what it means to be transformed into His image. Each week we grow. Each week our bonds become stronger. Each week our hunger grows as we seek more of Him and less of us. It’s a beautiful thing! This is why we will experience an unprecedented release of His favor and goodness this year. As we focus on Him it frees Him up to work in our lives. 

We’re only 10 days into 2020 and I have a long list of PRAISES already! I think this year we should all keep a GRATITUDE JOURNAL so we don’t forget how good and faithful our Father is. 

As humans we have short memories which result in our complaining and ingratitude. Let’s hold one another accountable by reminding one another that we are PRAISEOLOGISTS! We are PIT PRAISERS! We PRAISE our way through our day! Sisters, I am beyond thankful to be taking this life journey with you. We’re on our 8th year together and I am expecting our cups to be overflowing by the end of 2020!

Next week we will dive into Chapter 11 “Sword of Song.” Our new study “20/20” written by Christine Caine will begin on Wed. Feb. 12th (can be purchased on Amazon or Christian book store).  It is a 7 week study of how God sees you and has chosen YOU to make Jesus’s name known on this planet. Through biblical teaching and lessons from her own life, Christine challenges you to share the story of how God’s love has transformed your life right where you are. It is a study for NOW and is spot on for this season of reward.

We are also working on our big event “A Night with Jesus” scheduled in May at Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary. It will be a night of music, praise and worship. More details to follow.

Please cover us in prayer as we ask the Lord for wisdom, direction and guidance in preparing for this event. 

I look forward to seeing you next Wednesday sisters! Have a blessed and PRAISE filled week!

Love,

Sherry :-)