10.03.18 Recap

Good Morning Sisters,

WOW!!! What a WONDERFUL night it was!!! Our cups were filled to the brim! The anointing was SO strong and His grace flowing like mighty river through our hearts and our minds. Love, peace and joy were abounding! Denise’s testimony was so powerful and opened our eyes to the importance of reaching out to others in love. We are made in the image of our Father and He is a giver. Each day we are to have an outward focus and look for people to bless. The best way to fill your own cup is to fill the cups of others. We are most like our Father when we are loving one another. To love Him is to love His children. For those who could not be with us please know that we missed you and covered you with an abundance of love, grace and prayer. THANK YOU Jen for the beautiful "It Is Finished" picture. It had great meaning for us last night as we are living FROM victory and from the finished work on the cross.

Our website is now LIVE and looks GREAT! Final revisions are being made now and I will send you the web address once they are complete. THANK YOU so much for sending in your Jesus Story. If you haven’t it’s never too late. We would love to have yours for the launch but you can submit anytime.

“A Night of Celebration” is only three weeks away! (October 26th). We had a planning this week at the venue and it is gorgeous! Evites are going out in the next couple of days.

Please invite your husbands, boyfriends, friends, family and include the number on your RSVP. You will have the opportunity to hear amazing testimonies from women and girls whose lives have been transformed through our ministry.

Last night we opened the night up with a beautiful prayer by Karen. I then shared a personal story of how God used a car to bring revelation and restoration into areas I did not even realize were broken. A little more than a month ago our 16 year daughter Kaeli was hit in the GRACE parking lot and our car was totaled. She had only had her license for 2 weeks. The car was a 1998 Jaguar XK8 convertible with only 50,000 miles on it. I had purchased it when I was single and my mother was alive. It held a lot of sentimental meaning to me and I was very upset as I knew it would be difficult to replace as it was in such good condition with low mileage. Although it was not a practical car for our family I just could not sell it. I didn’t realize until this past Monday what the car represented to me. Kent and I had also been praying and believing God to send us the right car to replace the one we had lost. We had searched the internet high and low to find a car but to no avail. On Monday we had a ministry meeting at the venue of our “A Night of Celebration” event that is coming up on Oct. 26th. As I was sitting on the sofa I mentioned to Karen that we were looking for a car. She said “Oh I have a guy you need to call. He is a friend of Bill Alsop’s.”  When I heard Bill’s name my ears perked up as Bill is a strong man of God that I trust. Kent called him that afternoon and within a couple of minutes had an appointment the next day to look at a car.  That night as I was spending my quiet time with the Lord he brought something to my memory. I remembered how upset I became as I was discussing the car with my sisters on Monday. Just talking about the loss of the car brought tears to my eyes and so much sadness to my heart. Why was I reacting this way? I know it held sentimental meaning to me as I could remember my mother riding in it but it was just a car. A material thing. “Why Lord am I so upset?” Only the Holy Spirit knows our hearts and can reveal those mysteries to us.

He reminded me that I had purchased the car at a time in my life when I was very self dependent and very self reliant. My identity was not in Christ but in the world. And the loss of this car represented the last vestiges of that old identity. The hardest thing we ever do in this life is to die to self. To surrender the wheel of our life to God. God does not make bad things happen. He did not cause that accident but He did use it. Had that accident not happened I don’t think I would ever have sold that car. I would have held onto it with no understanding as to why. It needed to go, just as the last remnants of my old identity had to go. In order for God to bring better things into our lives we must let go of the old. With God, the restoration is always greater than the loss! When we put our trust in HIM He promises to restore 120% of what was taken. God could not use Moses for the first 40 years of his life.  The Bible says he was strong in word and deed. The next 40 years he had no trust in himself. When God appeared to him he was stammering, and then God knew he was ready to surrender to him. For the first 32 years of my life I was like Moses. God could not use me. Only when I surrendered to Him did I truly begin to live.  When you find Jesus is when you find yourself as God placed YOU in HIM.

When we arrived at Steven’s house I could feel the presence of Christ in this man. It turns out that he had been a pastor in Manhattan for several years and God moved Him to Raleigh for a period of “rest.” The car was far above and beyond what we had found. It was gorgeous! And much newer, with less miles and priced far below ANYTHING we had found. It had a couple of small dings on the driver’s side but I knew those dents had a deeper meaning for me. They represented my dependence on Christ. They remind me that I don’t have to be perfect to be happy. My joy isn’t dependent on what I do or achieve but on what Christ did at that cross for me. It reminds me that my identity is in HIM. And there such great freedom in that!

We could literally drive this car for two years and sell it and make a profit on it. ONLY God can do that! What we had spent so much time searching for God had already provided. Before we left Kent put His arms around Steven and we prayed together. This is a special man and this was a divine appointment. God had shown us so much through the purchase of a “car.” He restored what we lost with a much better and newer car, introduced us to a new friend and healed a deep wound within my heart that I didn’t even realize was there. He also showed me that all of that time we had spent searching for a car...hours and hours of googling simply stole our time. The enemy had stolen our precious moments. You see, when we don’t trust God to provide the enemy is the only gainer.

The minute we asked God for a car He was on it. He had already answered it. Our job was to simply trust Him. So many times we think we are trusting God but we are really just trusting in ourselves. We want God to get on our plan rather than us getting on His.  Kent and I have grown so much through this experience. Our faith has strengthened and God has brought us closer to Him. Steven has four small children, four month old newborns and a three and five year old. We have invited his wife to our Wednesday night study. How wonderful is that! I am in awe of very good our Father is!

Is there something in your life that you need God to restore and redeem? Ask Him for it. Believe Him to provide it. Thank Him for it. And then enjoy your life while He works behind the scenes to bring it to you.

After our story we plunged into our study. The devotion “Your Conscience” lays the foundation for Chapter 12 entitled “Peace In Your Conscience”. The devotion was sent out via Mail Chimp last week. Until you have peace in your “conscience”, you cannot freely receive what the Lord Jesus has purchased for you on the cross. We need to understand that we receive ALL that Jesus has purchased at the cross “judicially.”  He heals us, provides for us and gives us His peace not because of His mercy, but because these blessings have been bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. They are legally and righteously ours. Your conscience allows many things that God would not allow. Your conscience is not a safe guide unless you are born again then your conscience becomes good, cleansed and purged by the blood of Jesus. Our Lord Jesus, who is altogether perfect and without sin, has finished the work on the cross and has answered every accusation that can ever arise whether it be from our conscience or from the enemy. He took ALL of our sins upon His body...past, current and future. Today, because of what HE has done nothing can separate you and I from the love of God.

God does NOT want us sin conscious. Our Lord Jesus was the PERFECT offering. Focusing on our sins is an insult to the finished work of Christ. Hebrews 10:2 says “For the worshippers, once purified, would have no more consciousness of sins.” As believers in Christ, we have been made righteous and declared blameless before God. How? By FAITH, by believing that on the cross, Jesus took away our ALL of our sins. We are not justified by our works or our obedience. We are justified by our believing, NOT by our doing! Does this mean we don’t do good works? How are these good works produced in our lives when we receive His righteousness as a gift?  Not at all! When we receive His righteousness as a gift, we will produce good works effortlessly. Apple trees produce apples. They don’t strive to produce them. The apples are a fruit of the tree. We produce good works in our lives that are the fruits of HIS righteousness. Right believing always produces right living.

Didn’t you love the story of Stephie? She broke her drug addiction by seeing and declaring herself as the righteousness of God in Christ right in the midst of her addiction. As she kept putting her trust in God and not her own willpower (which had failed her over and over again) the power of God’s grace flowed through her situation and broke the addiction that had her in bondage for years. All we have to do is RECEIVE this free gift of peace is to believe by faith in Christ who made it possible. How do you feel knowing this?

Many believers today can relate to the Israelite who applied the blood to His doorposts and worried all night about his firstborn. This man is a great example of how we should not be approaching concerns for our children.His worry and fear did nothing more than steal his peace, his time and his joy. Nothing was going to happen to his first born because of the BLOOD. Likewise, many believers today are not possessing their peace with God even though they already have peace with God. They can’t really believe that God is truly that good. Because people hear mixed teachings about God they can’t really believe that God is for them. Their conscience is condemning them and they are receiving that condemnation and guilt. They seem to expect the worst to happen in any situation they are in.

What enabled Abraham to be so strong in faith? The Bible says that Abraham was “strong in faith, giving glory to God.” The Greek for glory is “doxa” meaning “good opinion.” Abraham could be strong in faith because he had a good opinion of God and was fully convinced that what God had promised He was able to perform. Like Abraham, lets have greater faith in God’s promises to heal, protect and to provide for us.

Why did Jesus wear a crown of thorns and what did it represent?

Thorns represent the curse. There were no thorns in the Garden until the fall. Our Lord Jesus took our curse of depression. He took our curse of stress and anxiety. He took our dark and evil thoughts. He took it ALL and paid it ALL so that He could crown us with His peace that passes all human understanding. This means you don’t have to live under a dark cloud of depression anymore or allow those thoughts of guilt and hatred toward yourself to define you. You don’t have to live under perpetual shame and condemnation. Say out loud right now…”I have peace for my mind. I have the mind of Christ. It has all been paid for and I receive it now in Jesus’ name.”

The bottom line is this…when we keep our minds stayed and fixed on our Lord Jesus, Isaiah 26:3-4 promises us that He will keep us in perfect peace. Today, let’s keep our minds fixed on His sacrifice, stayed on the price that He paid and focused on His finished work. We can never earn or merit any of His blessings. Because He loves us He has done it ALL! We can REST! We can LET GO! We can depend wholly and completely on our SAVIOR! THAT my beloved sisters is what the LET GO LIFE is all about!

Cast your cares on Jesus and ENJOY your time here on earth!

We ended our night with Communion and prayer. My favorite part of the night is when we hold hands and pray. It is indescribably special. Next week we will plunge into Chapter 13 entitled "Stand Still." Please invest time this week answering the questions in the study guide and meditating on the scriptures. He will reveal to much to you about yourself and give you the answers you are seeking.

God Bless You Sisters! Cast ALL of your cares on Him and walk in His shalom peace!

Love,

Sherry :-)

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