1.09.19 Recap

Good Morning Sisters,

WOW!!!  What a POWERFUL way to ring in the New Year!  There is something so very special about FIRSTS. Last night the Lord set the stage for the healing He is bringing through this study. God loves YOU and wants you to be whole, healthy and fulfilled. How wonderful it was to see everyone!  2019 looks GREAT ON YOU SISTERS!!! We have SO much to look forward to!  We are in a season of the three R”s...REST, RENEWAL and RESTORATION!  For those of you who could not be with us we missed you and covered you with lots of love and prayer.

Before we plunged into Chapter One of our study we laid a solid foundation for 2019.  What will our approach to this new year be and how does God want us to live until His return? Your vantage point matters. From what altitude you are looking at your problems will determine how you see them. You have to look up to look down. There are 2 ways to process information and approach life. One is called top down and one is called bottom up.

Do you have a bottom up or top down approach to life?

The first one, the bottom up approach, is to start with your life and your experience, and then project all that on to God. The result is that when things are good, you feel like God’s a good God, that He’s close, loves you and cares about you. But when things are hard, you start to wonder, “Does God care?” The end result is that if you start with the bottom up approach, you begin with your feelings, experiences, sin, sadness and suffering, and you project all that toward God. So when you need Him most, you’ll run from Him not to Him. You get angry with Him. You’ll have questions about Him, not trust Him or worship Him.

The other way to live life is the top down approach. You start with God, not you. It’s to believe that God is who He says He is. That the Bible is true and reveals to us the character, nature and what we call the attributes of God. Believing that and then interpreting all of our life in light of what God says and who God says He is. As we go to Scripture, we realize God is good and that He made the world good. We’ve corrupted it through sin. The sin, suffering and sadness that’s experienced is not because of God. It’s because of sin, Satan and his demons, all working together in a war against God. And God is good, altogether always and only good. He has a plan that He’s working out and unfolding through history to be a Redeemer, Liberator, Deliverer and a Savior. The result is that if we start with the top down approach, when we’re suffering or sinning, or when we’re anxious or frustrated – we know to trust in God and run to God.

Most people that you know, even many “Christians,” approach life with a bottom up approach to life.  This is why so many are depressed, sad and hopeless. They are putting their faith in themselves as opposed to Christ.  Philemon 1:6 says that our faith is effective when we acknowledge everything GOOD.

Sisters will you join me this year and approach life with a Let God, Let God Top Down approach to life?  It is the KEY to your freedom and joy!

Our scripture for this year is “Be still and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46:10).  Being “still” has become a challenge in today’s go, go, go world.  We are constantly on the move with distractions coming at us from every direction. The distractions are designed to steal our time so that we do not seek the One who can restore and renew our souls.  None of the things that are distracting us can fill the God sized hole in our hearts. Our souls need restoring. God’s grace cannot flow through a wounded heart. Wounded hearts are the reason so many people are struggling emotionally today. Just as our bodies can be sick our souls can be sick.  Jesus wants to heal us everywhere we hurt including our souls. The soul is the mind, will and emotions. It is the inner part of us. No matter how good our circumstances in life are, if we have wounded, bruised and battered souls, we will not enjoy life. Whether our hurt is from shame, anger, bitterness, guilt, fear or depression it needs to be confronted and dealt with.  Jesus is the healer and the restorer of souls. In Psalm 23:3 we see that God restored David’s soul. When God restores our souls they are made NEW again. He restores them to a better quality than before they were wounded.

The key to life is to make sure you are practicing the presence of God. You need to make contact with Him everyday. This is how you overcome spiritual dryness. Prayer changes things. It changes YOU. It puts you in a position to receive what Christ has already done. Through praise, worship and fellowship with believers we get a charge that affects our whole being. Prayer makes you sensitive to what God is doing. It is in YOUR benefit to pray.  Prayer doesn’t move God to do...He’s already done it.  A hard heart is a result of not giving your attention to the Word. Whatever you give your attention to most is what you can do easily. A Christian who doesn’t spend time in the word hardens his heart against the Word. God is always broadcasting but we have to be in a position to receive.  A good example to visualize is a satellite dish. The satellite in space is constantly emitting a frequency but if the dish on your house is not in the right position it will not receive the signal and you cannot watch TV. Like the satellite, God’s grace is always flowing but our hearts have to be in the right position to receive it. When we give our attention to His Word, His presence and prayer we become sensitive to what He is doing and this puts us in a position to receive.

Proverbs 4:20-23 tells us to give our attention to His word. “My son, pay attention to what I say: turn your ears to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them in your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above, all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” You guard your heart by guarding your gates...your ears, your eyes and your mouth.  When we give our attention to other things we harden our heart to all of the love and blessings God is pouring down on us. Green Hope Senior Mary Wasilak is a shining example of how HEARING God’s word can transform your thinking and heal your physical body.  She has been listening to messages by Pastor Michael Todd for several months now and she radiates health and wholeness! I am so inspired by how many teenagers come each week. God is training His generals and a great destiny awaits these young girls!

In Chapter 1 “The History of Women” we learned that no matter what has happened to us in our past that has damaged our souls, we can be healed and totally restored. All death is swallowed up in life, and darkness is swallowed up in light. Jesus is both Life and Light. John 1:4 says, “In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.”  After Satan successfully deceived Eve, tempting her to be disobedient, God made a statement to him that leads us to understand why women, by and large throughout history, have been so disrespected and devalued.  In Genesis 3:14-15 God was letting Satan know that Eve’s Offspring would bruise his head, or take authority away from him and defeat him. Satan, would for a time, bruise the heel of God’s children, referring to how he attacks us in our daily walk. He hates women because it was the seed of the woman that destroyed him.

Because of this long history of being marginalized and devalued many women today still don’t see their true worth and value. Thankfully our history does not have to be our destiny.

No matter how deep of a pit you are, God’s arm is never too short to reach in and lift you out. He will set you on high places and will give you peace and joy that you can never find in this world. You don’t have to feel like you’re fighting the world.  God wants to fight your battles and with Him on your side you always WIN!

Next week we will dive into Chapter 2 entitled “Living the Best Life Available”.

Please read and meditate on this chapter and answer the questions in the Study Guide.  I cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of this study guide. By investing your time answering these thought provoking questions you are giving God the opportunity to contemplate areas you need His healing in and how to activate them in your life.

This year sisters we are COMMITTED to REST!  We are committed to a TOP DOWN approach to life! We are committed to being STILL and allowing Christ to restore our minds, washing away all of the pain and healing our wounds. When we put Him first in our lives He renews our souls, directs our path and fills us with His JOY. This year we stand together on the promise in Psalm 16:11 “You make know me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

I love you each dearly and look forward to seeing you next Wednesday! Let go and let God!

Love,

Sherry :-)