Ministering To Yourself

I heard a teaching from Bill Johnson, Pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California.
     He was teaching about learning to minister to ourselves. This is something I have needed to hear for a long time! I have wondered how people who are in ministry are nurtured in the things of the Lord and refilled after pouring out for others. I'm talking about bigger things than daily problems or events. 
     Everyone runs into BIG things in life at times that seem to knock them about, they can be hurt, disappointed, betrayed, challenged....but in a ministry, it's not always easy to turn to someone else for an encouraging word. So this teaching was answered prayer! Thank You, Father!
     It is a blessing to have a ministry that feeds people, but how are the ministers fed, built up, refreshed? How do they care for themselves? I believe this would also be good for anyone that does not have a close companion to share your situations with that can speak godly things into your life. So while it helps ministers, it also helps anyone that wants to put it into practice! 
     Bill Johnson shared that he reads the Psalms out loud and he keeps going until he can hear the cry of his heart in the words. That is really good advice for me, I love Psalms and the Lord has had me read through it many, many times. I had not realized that He was using it to minister to me until now though, yes, that does sound kind of like I'm slow on the uptake, doesn't it? Now I recognize it and now I will use it as the tool the Lord has given me to minister to myself! There are many tools for us to use, praise, prayer, scripture, and each one will help but if we know the one that especially touches our spirit we will be able to know what to do when we are needing special ministering for the difficult times we walk through in our lives. 
     This was something that was very helpful to me, so I wanted to share it with you! ~ Lorna
        

Faith

     Jesus had several disciples that walked with Him daily for around 3 years, they ate what He ate, they traveled everywhere with Him, listened to His teaching, watched Him interact with people, watched Him heal people, watched Him when He was exhausted and slept...but they still didn't quite get it. 

     Have you walked with Jesus for years, 5 maybe 10? maybe 20 or more and still not quite gotten it? Do you walk in the words of His teachings? Do you love with His love? Do you think and speak with the faith He taught us to have?

     I challenge you to consider the faith He taught us to walk in. He told us that if we had a small amount of faith that we could move mountains, have you moved any mountains lately? He told a woman that by her faith her daughter was healed, has your faith brought healing to another? On the healing example, I can tell you that I see many people pray and ask God to heal others, but that is not what Jesus taught, He told us to heal them! If the Holy Spirit lives in you then the power that raised Jesus from the dead is in you! That is the same power that heals! Why do you turn around and ask God to do it when He has already put you in place and equipped you for the job?

   And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Matthew 10:7-8

     And I see many people fearful when storms enter their lives, right now we're dealing with a virus that is changing our world in a way we could not have foreseen, I ask you, are you walking in faith or in fear? Are you choosing to believe the Lord or the enemy? The Lord has taught us to not fear, the enemy whispers all kinds of things in your ear to be fearful of, which do you choose to listen to? You have the power to take every thought captive, the scriptures tell us that we can and they wouldn't if it wasn't true!

   For although we do live in the world, we do not wage war in a worldly way; because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God’s power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

     In our state we're entering the season we became known as tornado alley for, but I want to challenge you here also! This challenge is based on an example of Jesus with His first disciples, I say first because we are His disciples also, aren't we? Ok then, His first disciples were in a boat with Him and a fierce storm came upon them, they woke Him up telling Him they were about to die....this is the scripture~

   On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there *arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Mark 4:35-41

     Notice here that He asked them why they were afraid! They were afraid of the storm then very much afraid of Jesus! What would have been your reaction in this situation? Would you fear? Would you think you were about to die? Would You wake Jesus to calm the storm? Would you tell the Storm/Tornados to "Hush, be still" in your own situation? I can share my personal witness that when you step out and tell the storm to be at peace in Jesus' name, it has to obey! I have heard many forecasts of damage expected in our area and stepped out on the deck and told the skies to be at peace, for the storm to rise back up and evaporate...I do encourage you to use your own words though! I try to not interfere with rain, but I do interfere with any damage the storm may be packing with it! I don't send it to another area of our country, I don't want others to encounter damage either. 

     You have the authority where you are placed to bring the Kingdom there! Think about this, you are a disciple of Jesus, He has empowered you, given you armor to operate in, the Holy Spirit lives in you, He has defeated the enemy! Now we need to walk in the victory that He won! We are the conquering army, the enemy is not! That is the foundation of your faith, now suit up and walk it out! Walk in faith! Bring Kingdom! Calm the storms, whether they be viruses or tornados! You can do this, You were made for such a time as this! 

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:28 ESV

Pray

Can you imagine the pressure on President Trump right now? He is the leader of the United States of America, the whole world watches everything he is doing. There is an infection that started in a foreign country that our own news media is blaming him for allowing it to come to the US, first he was criticized for stopping travel from the infected area, now he's criticized for not doing enough and now they even are criticizing him for calling it the China virus! People are no longer expected to act like adults and know they should stay away from crowds and wash their hands! They act like they have to rely solely on the government unless it comes to their toilet paper, then they are happy to run out and hoard more than they can use in 6 months, depriving their neighbors and the elderly in our communities from one or two small packs to take care of their own households. Sorry, I digress here...I just think this is not the America I know. Americans pull together to help each other in emergencies, we don't hoard at the expense of our neighbors. Back to President Trump, please keep him in your prayers! He is a man doing his best to lead a country that is under an attack from so many fronts, this disease is just the latest. He has faced attacks from people in his own Republican party, the Democrats have attacked him since his election, the News media relentlessly has attacked him.... it goes on and on, remember if he fails, the US also fails. Pray constantly, protection, wisdom, and guidance for him, his decisions, his actions~

Psalm 2:1-4

Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”


He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.  Psalm 2:1-4

Healing

     Many times when we're faced with illness or health issues we start praying, "Lord, please heal me!" But His word tells us that we're already healed! 
     But he was wounded because of our crimes, crushed because of our sins;
the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him, and by his bruises, we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

     Shouldn't we be doing more than praying for healing? Shouldn't we be decreeing healing, claiming the healing that the Lord tells us we already have?  Shouldn't we be walking in faith and claiming the healing? 

     If you read the scriptures that tell of the healings that Jesus did, there is something to notice, He didn't pray for the Father to heal the people, He simply spoke the healing Himself. Of course, you do need to remember that He spent time daily in prayer, knowing the Father's heart and hearing His directions. That is how we need to be walking also, then we should speak the healings.

     We need to remember that the Lord told us ~ "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give." Matthew 10:8  He wouldn't have told us this if it wasn't possible!

     I would suggest that if You deal with an illness that you claim the truth of His words! You are the healed, walk it out. Daily repeat I am the healed! Then trust in the healing that was already paid for by Jesus' blood!

     Walk in fellowship, live in faith, praise and give credit for His healing blessings!

Thanking! Not Asking!

From May 30, 2012

I'm transferring this post from a different Blog site so I can have them all consolidated.

I received a lesson from the Lord about praying that I would like to share with you all. For some of you, this will be “old news” but for some of you, this will be a new concept.

The Lord showed me a person standing facing Him, holding an empty glass and asking that He would fill it. The person kept praying and saying “Lord, please fill my glass. Father, please give me a drink. God, my glass is empty, please fill it!”. The person just kept facing God and begging for the glass to be filled.

Then I was shown that behind the person was a great waterfall of pure, delightful water and that the person only had to turn around and hold their glass under the falls and it would be full in the blink of an eye. This showed me that God’s blessings are pouring out continually! After the person had filled their glass they needed only to thank our Heavenly Father with a thankful heart!

At the time I was shown this I started thanking God for so many things! I thanked Him for the Godly man He was creating in my husband. I thanked Him for the Godly men He was bringing my sons to be! the Godly woman He will bring into fullness in my granddaughter! I thanked Him for the health and strength that He was pouring into my body! Thanked Him for the provisions He was bringing into our lives!

I went on and on as I realized that I needed to claim the blessings He was pouring out by naming them and thanking Him for them! I was so excited by this new understanding that I wanted to wake Lane up and share it with him immediately, but I did have the grace to wait until his alarm went off and then started excitedly sharing with him the things I had been shown in the night.

This is not to tell you to not pray about a need, but once you've prayed it, start thanking and praising! If you start telling God thank you for the things He is doing in your life then you are walking in faith!

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

An example would be if you pray for finances, then start focusing on thanking Him for the provision that He is giving you. Start thanking Him for resolving your financial situation, start thanking Him for His care of you, start praising and thanking Him for providing for your needs.

Psalm 100:4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

This takes a bit to grasp and walk in, but pray and try it, God will bless you and your life will be changed!

Morning Love Letter

I used to go to a thrift store in Kansas City that was connected to a retirement home, so many of the things they sold were from people that no longer needed them. I adopted many bibles and some were gifted to others that didn't have a Bible, but some of them were special to me and I have kept over the years. The one that I'm telling you about this morning is a New International Version. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but this Bible has seen a lot of loving use, the hand marks are on the sides of it where it was held tenderly and regularly. It is a joy to pick up and hold where it has been held before.

     I have several Bibles in different versions, but I have my main one I go to regularly, a New American Standard. I prefer the NASB because it is most precise in wording to the original writings and as my husband says, I am a "word person" so I do prefer "precise" words. I could write about the different versions here but it's not my purpose, I'll try to get back to it in the future!
     This morning I was drawn to the well used NIV Bible. The Lord has created a habit in myself of reading in Psalms and I try to maintain it regularly, so picking up this Bible I flipped over to Psalms and noticed a circled scripture that was out of the order of what I was going to read but I was still curious why I had been drawn to this Bible and this scripture.

     Reading this scripture I found it to be about "healing". I have been dealing with healing in my own body recently and could see the encouragement in the scripture so I followed the noted scripture that was written in by the circled one and found it to be about healing also! This was not an accident or coincidence! The Lord brought me here to read His promises.
     Thinking that the healing path of scriptures would end at the end of Psalms I read through them and found that the path goes on into Proverbs, I'm saving Proverbs for tomorrow and to go back before Psalms to try to see if there are more scriptures noted for healing before Psalms. This is such a treasure the Lord brought me to and I am thankful and rejoicing for His morning "love letter" to me! Thank You, Father, You are such a good, good Father!