Tag Archives: Success

Autumn Colors Pt. 3

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Autumn Glow On House. by JE Lillie

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
— Elizabeth Lawrence

Walking By Leaf Light by JE Lillie

 

I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Road To the Future by JE Lillie

October is a symphony of permanence and change.
— Bonaro W. Overstreet

Broken Sun Rising by JE Lillie

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.
— Stanley Horowitz

Get Up and Glow Pt. 9

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We have been talking about getting up and moving on in life. We have said that getting up is necessary and that it is possible because God’s Holy Spirit and His Word guide us and bless us. Yesterday we said that all the promises in the Bible are ours to claim…

But we can only claim them if we get up and start pursuing the promises. Today I want to state that because of His promises…

 Getting up is powerful!

 Faith honors God and God honors faith! A story from the life of missionaries Robert and Mary Moffat illustrates this truth. For 10 years this couple labored faithfully in Bechuanaland (now called Botswana) without one ray of encouragement to brighten their way. They could not report a single convert. Finally the directors of their mission board began to question the wisdom of continuing the work. The thought of leaving their post, however, brought great grief to this devoted couple, for they felt sure that God was in their labors, and that they would see people turn to Christ in due season. They stayed; and for a year or two longer, darkness reigned. Then one day a friend in England sent word to the Moffats that she wanted to mail them a gift and asked what they would like. Trusting that in time the Lord would bless their work, Mrs. Moffat replied, “Send us a communion set; I am sure it will soon be needed.” God honored that dear woman’s faith. The Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of the villagers, and soon a little group of six converts was united to form the first Christian church in that land. The communion set from England was delayed in the mail; but on the very day before the first commemoration of the Lord’s super in Bechuanaland, the set arrived.” (taken from sermon illustrations.com, author unknown)

During the terrible days of the Blitz, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father’s voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, “I can’t see you!”

The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, “But I can see you. Jump!” The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known. ( taken from sermon illustration.com,  Donner Atwood)

There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain! We just have to persevere until the answer comes!

Get Up and Glow Pt. 8

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   We have been talking about getting up and moving on in our lives in the midst of trials. In the last post we spoke about how getting up is possible because of the power of the Holy Spirit in us. But there is a second reason getting up is possible…

Getting up is possible because we have the promises of the Bible to guide us!

“Russell Kelso Carter (1849-1928) was a star athlete of a military academy and an excellent student academically, who went on to be a successful teacher and coach. He then spent several years as an ordained Methodist minister, after which he went to medical school. He spent the last of his professional years as a doctor of medicine. Carter was also a musician and songwriter. …

Although Carter was a professed Christian most of his life, it wasn’t until a crisis with his natural heart that he began to understand the reality and power of Bible promises. At age 30, his health was in critical condition and the physicians could do no more for him. Carter turned to God for help and healing.

He knelt and made a promise that healing or no, his life was finally and forever, fully consecrated to the service of the Lord. It was from that moment that the written Word of God became alive to Carter. He began to stand upon the promises of healing, determining to believe no matter what his physical condition, no matter how he felt. Over the course of the next several months his strength returned, and his heart was completely healed! Carter lived another healthy 49 years.

The hymn Carter had written several years before his healing miracle became more than words and music to him. Standing on the Promises became an integral part of his life.

Standing On the Promises

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.”  (the Story Behind the Song  by Connie Ruth Christiansen)

All the promises of the Bible are yours if you will only get up and line yourself up with them.

What Bible promise are you standing on right now?

Get Up and Glow Pt. 7

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 In yesterday’s post it was mentioned that getting up and getting on with life is necessary…

But not only is getting up necessary getting up is possible!

The word of God says in Isaiah 59- “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

I recently had lunch with two Bible translators from Papua New Guinea. It turns out when they were newly married they lived in the town next to me. One of the missionaries worked in a local factory. They lived in an apartment fifteen minutes from my home. These missionaries are  just regular folk like you and  me. Yet God has called them to this incredible work half way across the world. In their time as missionaries these “regular folk” have faced thievery, life threatening sicknesses and near fatal accidents. Their computer system with the translation on it and their back-ups have crashed because of computer viruses causing them to almost lose the translation. They have been threatened and even carjacked at gun point. The place they live is so violent that just a few months ago one of the missionaries was in her bedroom reading when she heard gun shots out in the street. Her first reaction was not to duck and cover. Instead she calmly stayed on the bed and made a mental note to remind their 18-year-old to be careful when he went to the store because “there are people shooting today.”

How does this couple keep getting up day after day to pursue the things of God? They do it by the power of the Spirit. They have recognized that giving up is not an option… that getting up is necessary. They have also realized that with the power of the Holy Spirit getting up is possible.

The Holy Spirit is a well of limitless power. No force in the universe can stand against Him: By the Holy Spirit the waters of the red Sea parted! By the power of the Holy Spirit demons bowed before Jesus! By the power of the Holy Spirit Corrie Tenboom prayed over a bottle of vitamin C drops in Ravensbruck concentration camp. The bottle never went dry for a full year! By the power of the Holy Spirit Elizabeth Elliot and her friends marched  into the jungle to evangelize the tribe who had murdered their husbands. The  tribe was converted to Christianity!The list goes on. By the power of the Holy Spirit you can get up!

What are you believing the Holy Spirit to do in your life? Arise Christian!

Get Up and Glow Pt. 5

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What follows is a brief excerpt from Pastor Wrinkle’s latest sermon…

Reader, I have got good news for you! We can stop worrying about our problem. God has arranged it so we can give them to Jesus by prayer. Once we have done that our problems are no longer our problems. They become Jesus’ problems. By this we are given the grace to move on!

Even as our problems become Jesus’ problems though  there are still  two things we must do to find freedom. We must get up and we must glow!

The Scripture in Isaiah says “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the LORD rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the LORD rises and appears over you.” Isaiah 60:1,2 NLT

I love the Hebrew word for arise here: quwm-  to rise, arise, stand, rise up, stand up

a) (Qal)

1) to arise

2) to arise (hostile sense)

3) to arise, become powerful

4) to arise, come on the scene

5) to stand

a) to maintain oneself

b) to be established, be confirmed

c) to stand, endure

d) to be fixed

e) to be valid

f) to be proven

g) to be fulfilled

h) to persist

i) to be set, be fixed 

You do realize don’t you that the world is constantly trying to take our power. But the truth is we don’t have to let it! When the world knocks us down we can get back up.  We certainly can’t control what other people or circumstances do to us but we can control how we respond. We can choose to shrivel up and die or we can get up and live!

Which option are you choosing today? How can I pray for you?

Heaven Pt. 56

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“The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.” Deut. 28:12 NLT

The Lord gave the people of Israel the land of Canaan as their “ministry-project.” He told them everything they needed in order to accomplish their work and be blessed He would provide out of His personal treasury.

God has given you a work to do as well…your own “ministry-project”. What is it? What  provision do you need to finish it? The things you need in order to accomplish that work and be blessed are in God’s treasure-house. As you go to your respective houses of worship today ask Him for the thing you have need of so that you may fulfill His will.

I would love to hear the testimonies of God’s provision!

Heaven Pt. 52

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“That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.” Deut 11:21 KJV

What’s the best way to establish an inheritance and a strong family line? Godliness! I think some people may read this verse and think that what God is saying is that if you live right everything will go well for you and your life will be Heaven on earth. That’s just wrong. Neither Scripture nor experience bear that out!

What God is saying is that if you live for Him and train your children to live for Him your family line will be strong until the end of time (as long as there is a sky over the planet). I have to remind myself through the trials of life my righteous response is not just about how I feel( frankly there are times I do not feel like responding righteously to life); It’s about the legacy I am leaving, that my children and their children would know that there is a God in Heaven who is greater than everything this life throws at us!

Heaven Pt. 49

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“Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude” Deut. 10:22 KJV

Remember Israel started as one small insignificant family tossed into a sea of troubled nations. Now it is the hinge on which the door to eternity hangs.

God’s chosen vessel is almost always the underdog, the dark horse, the runner lagging behind from the start of the race. The success of God’s ventures always rely on the inability and incompetence of God’s partners in business and the miracle of God.

So if God has made you a promise and you don’t see anyway in the natural for the thing to come to pass, relax that’s just you standing at the headwaters of God’s river. Take a step of faith into the river and see where the waters take you. It probably won’t be a comfortable ride, it will probably take you through some uncharted territory you never would have chosen. In the end it will be the great adventure He chose for you!