RECAP 01.22.20

Good Morning Sisters,

Oh what a GLORIOUS night it was!!! Praising Jesus for all of the 2020 miracles we are seeing! Rita’s testimony was INCREDIBLE!!! Amazing how the Lord has transformed her heart and brought her into a place she has never known...a place free of worry and fear. Rita’s life had been riddled with anxiety and fear for as long as she could remember. Losing her dad at only 4 years old she has only one vivid memory of him. She went to bed one night and the next morning he wasn’t there. At 39 years old he had a heart attack and passed away. Raised by a single mom in New York City with three kids Rita’s childhood was tough.

 As she shared her journey with us we were in awe of how the Lord had used the trials of her life as stepping stones for her promotion. She attended her first study with us in 2014 and brought her journal with her, explaining how God’s grace had impacted every aspect of her life. She recounted the many times she had faced attacks in her health and how the true battle had been in her mind. Over the past two weeks Rita had a major revelation. The Holy Spirit revealed the root of her fears and made Himself “real” to her, filling her with an unexplainable peace and joy. He brought into a place a place of true intimacy, a place that can only be reached through great trial. For the first time in her life she understood what it meant to be a “pit praiser”...what James meant when he said we should consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. (James 1:2-4). Rita is seeing the beauty at the bottom of the ocean, the beauty that was always there but could not be seen from the surface. She is looking at herself, at God and her life through a whole new lens. WOW!!! How mind blowing beautiful is that! She is now in position to RECEIVE!

As she was speaking there was a glow on her, a radiance that only comes from spending time with the Lord. Her face was filled with His glory and you could see that her joy did not come from this world. I have known Rita for many years and I have never seen her at such great peace. The light of the Lord was all over her. How can that be? How can you be filled with that kind of joy and peace when you smack dab in the middle of a storm? Ask Rita. She is in the sweet spot with Jesus and there is no other place she’d rather be. It was a special night. We are praising Jesus for the miracles He has done and is doing in her life. I think the most powerful thing she said all night was “I know it sounds crazy but I’m glad I’m here. I love being this close to Him.” That is FAITH. That is what positions us to receive what Jesus has already done. We are standing with our beloved sister and praising Jesus for her healing and for the trial that brought her to Him. Oh how He is going to use her in His kingdom! He has BIG plans for Rita! And He has BIG plans for YOU my friend. He wants us ALL to be in that sweet spot with Him, surrendering ALL of our cares to Him. 

After watching a 10 minute Joseph Prince clip on faith and listening to Rita’s story the Lord tied it all back to Chapter 12 “The Sword of Silence.” What a powerful chapter this was! How interesting that one of the longest chapters in this study is on SILENCE. Do you think the Lord might be trying to tell us something? My grandmother used to say “God gave you one mouth and two ears for a reason. We’re supposed to do twice as much listening as talking.” This has always been a challenge for me. For the talkers of the world we have to be “intentional” with our silence. We have to learn how to pause, seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and let Him teach us when to speak and when NOT to speak. Being still and silent is the best posture when we need to hear from God. Last night we talked about when to be silent and why it’s such a powerful tool. We also learned that God often positions us by refining us through rejection. We all have critics in our lives. We will not go through life free of others opinions and ridicule. The key is to choose to allow those critiques to refine you, not define you. Below are my notes on this chapter. There is a powerful prayer on p. 190 on when knowing when to speak. It’s a powerful one that we should all pray.

Next week we’ll plunge into Chapter 13 “Sword of Forgiveness and Restoration”. I believe the Lord saved this one for the end of our study as it’s KEY to our victory. As Christ forgave us we must forgive those who have hurt us. Before God can restore what the enemy has taken we must forgive as His grace cannot flow in an unforgiving heart. 

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.

I look forward to seeing you next Wednesday! May we PRAISE our way through the week!

Love,

Sherry :-)

Notes on Chapter 12 “Sword of Silence”

Do you need to hear from God? 

What battle needs to be answered through your silence? What are the areas of your life where you find it difficult to be silent? Are you ready to stand still and trust God? 

Jesus spoke the loudest through his silence. Trusting God in the face of threats insults and insinuations is a constant, continual, and sometimes, even a daily process. 

Stilled and silent is the best posture we can assume when we need to hear from God. 

The sword of silence is best captured in the imagery of a sword that remains within its scabbard. It is a sword that is contained and undrawn. Silence is an unseen sword because it is a word unspoken or or an action untaken. The sword is relevant when we lay aside all we would or could do to save or defend ourselves. It is what happens when body and soul are laid at the very feet of our King. 

What does silence mean? It can mean you have no answer to the question, accusation, or assault. Sometimes things happen that we just don’t know how to respond to. Silence can also mean you have a response but have chosen not to give it voice. Remaining still often requires more strength than striking. 

To be silent requires we rule our souls. Culture refers to this as self-control.

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Proverbs 25:28). 

If we used our words carelessly and we’ve left our souls unprotected, then a period of silent reflection and repentance can begin to right what was ransacked. 

We’ve all had times in our lives where “the odds are against you” and “this one is too big for you to handle”. Great example in the Bible of this is when the children of Israel left behind Egypt, the land of their enslavement. God views ambushes without any means of escape as opportunities. Pharaoh’s army on one side and the ocean on the other. 

Exodus 14:13-14 says “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent.” When the Lord fights for you, all you have to do is remain still and silent until it’s time to celebrate.  Most of the battles we face today to not include cutting a path through a visible sea. Our enemy is not chasing us with chariots and spears. The attacks are more subtle. He is attacking us in our minds with lies of distortion, isolating rumors, and immobilizing fear.  We don’t have to be afraid. Fear muddies our thinking. God wants us to hold our ground. This means we don’t run, yield, or back down but remain upright just where we are. This positions us to see God do the miraculous. This takes faith in God. 

Our faith doesn’t move God. It moves YOU! It moves you to a position to receive what Jesus has already done. The first step to receiving it is to believe that God loves you. If you don’t believe God loves you, you will blame Him for things that He is not responsible for. 

When battles or adversaries are too big for us to handle, God has an opportunity to make himself known as our deliverer. We back off, and he steps in and reveals his might, faithfulness and power. 

How many times do you think God was armed and ready to do battle on your behalf and you sabotaged His miraculous deliverance with your own mouth? 

The sword of silence may be the most difficult one to wield. Remaining silent when threatened seems to conflict with a posture of protection, especially since silence if often the stance required when you are accused or belittled. 

Proverbs 26:20 says “Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.” 

Sometimes silence means walking away from conversations that put you at risk. Other ties it means refusing to open your mouth when others cannot seem to close theirs. Weapons that are the mightiest are often the hardest to hold. Our tongue can be a weapon of extensive destruction or an agent of healing. We’re not talking about the “silent treatment.” I’m talking about when you walk away without saying or doing anything when you want to do and say everything. 

(p. 183) King David almost became what he’d been running from. After years of being chased and misrepresented by Saul he became wearied. He thought he’d found a safe haven  by protecting Nabal’s men and sheep. When David asked to be part of the sheep-shearing festival his request was denied. His character was questioned and he was dishonored in front of his men. His birthright and identity was questioned and he snapped. He had reached his limit and had enough of the accusations. He changed from a protector shepherd into a “let’s kill them all” leader, which is easy to do when you forget that your rewarder is God, not man. David strapped on his sword , gathered 400 men and went after Nabal. David was a great leader but was not acting out of wisdom. He was at the tail end of a rough season. How did he get here? He allowed the words of a ridiculous man blur his vision. After so many years of trusting God with the outcomes, David was on the path of taking things into his own hands. You must be very careful not to listen to what other people say about you as it may cause you to forget who you actually are. No matter how many times David tried to prove his innocence to Saul, it could never put him on the throne. The throne was not Saul’s to give. The kingdom had been ripped from his hands. God was positioning David by refining him through rejection, the very test Saul had failed. We all have negative nellie’s in our ives. No one escapes the opinion of others. The trick is choosing to allow those critiques to refine, not define us. 

David had not been anointed to kill Saul and Nabal. He was anointed to rule Israel. He was on the verge of God’s promise being fulfilled in his life and he almost lost it, because he allowed a foolish man to distract him. A nugget of wisdom for you...fools will appear to detour you right before you arrive where God wants you. Fools question the existence and presence of God. 

We must now allow people’s foolish comments to define us or distract us. 

Thank God for Nabal’s wife Abigail. She fell before David, honoring all that her husband had dishonored. She reminded David of who and whose He was. (read 1 Samuel: 28-31).

Chances are someone has insulted you. Are you willing to allow an insult or oversight to sabotage your destiny? When you strike out the sword you now hold is called vengeance, and it is not yours to wield. God is the righteous judge and vengeance is His and His alone. You don’t have to know how He is going to do it. It is time we move from the posture of self protection. God fights for us when we fight on behalf of others. 

Take up a different weapon called a sword of silence. Jesus was a master at using this sword. Through silence he saved our lives by laying down His own. He had the might of heaven available to him and he did not raise his voice or hand. Imagine being falsely accused when he was the very personification of justice and saying nothing. (John 5:22). Jesus wasn’t silent because he had no answer. Jesus was silent because He was their answer.  

“Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well aren’t you going to answer these charges: What do you have to say for yourself? But Jesus remained silent.” (Matthew 26:62-63).  Not a word, whisper, heavy sigh, or a rolling of the eyes...just silence. It wasn’t that He didn’t have anything to say: he chose to say nothing. 

There are times when we are falsely accused and misunderstood. Times when those accusing are not looking for the truth. Keep silent and watch for God’s answer. If Jesus, the Son of God, the only innocent One, was silent when he refused to defend himself in the face of death, surely we can do the same as we face life. Jesus silently stepped in and took our place in the battle for us. 

Jesus spoke the loudest in His silence. There was no need for words to be uttered when the word of heaven stood before them silent, as they condemned themselves so that through him all would be saved. 

Are you ready to stand still and watch? Trusting God in the middle of the storm? You can do this. Jesus has already won the battle for you.