Wow! It’s hard to believe that July is just around the corner. Seems like June just started. It was a full month of June. Lots of ministry opportunities. Our FMN World Conference was perfect. Very relaxed, lots of fellowship, amazing praise and worship, anointed messages. I believe everyone who was here went home with something new, deep, and life changing.
Then we went straight into the Evergreen Rodeo and parade. David Hinton and Monte were a part of the events, Cowboy church and rodeo. The rodeo sold out both days and had record numbers and they all had the blessing of hearing God’s Word in a song. They even rode in the parade with us on the float. What a fun time.
Now we are headed to 2 pigs roasts in July, the fair and celebrating our country’s birthday! Our country needs a celebration. We need to be thanking the Lord for all the blessings of our freedom in this wonderful United States. But that is not what people are doing or focusing on. It’s a sad situation. It’s actually beyond sad, it’s evil. I have prayed and sought the Lord in what, when and where are we to be doing personally and as a church body. We hear a lot of different perspectives and opinions. I want nothing less than His perspective at this point. This is not something I want to try to figure out myself or head off head strong in my own ways.
The Lord has opened up His Word to me with some powerful verses that when I read them, they made sense😊 Sometimes I don’t understand every verse or how it applies to life right now. But lately He has given me verses and maybe because I am asking, seeking and knocking, my eyes and ears seem to hear and see more clearly. So today, I am going to share a lot of the Word and explain a bit as I go about what it is saying to me. All the scriptures I am using today are from The Passion Translation. Here we go.
“But we thank God for giving us the victory as conquerors through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. So now, beloved ones, stand firm, stable, and enduring. Live your lives with an unshakable confidence. We know that we prosper and excel in every season by serving the Lord, because we are assured that our union with the Lord makes our labor productive with fruit that endures.” 1 Corinthians 15:57-58
He is telling HOW to prosper and excel in EVERY season, stand firm, stable, and enduring. Live your lives with an unshakable confidence and by serving the Lord! That’s something to meditate on. By serving the Lord you will prosper and excel in every season. This is a season you want to be sure you are prospering, always have His possessions in abundance, and excel!!
“Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional, purposeful, and self-controlled so that you can be given to prayer. Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins. Be compassionate to foreigners without complaining. Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God’s grace. For example, if you have a speaking gift, speak as though God were speaking his words through you. If you have the gift of serving, do it passionately with the strength God gives you, so that in everything God alone will be glorified through Jesus Christ. For to him belong the power and the glory forever throughout all ages! Amen.” 1 Peter 4:7-11
Above all ECHO, say the same thing as God, His intense love for one another.
Beloved friends, if life gets extremely difficult, with many tests, don’t be bewildered as though something strange were overwhelming you. Instead, continue to rejoice, for you, in a measure, have shared in the sufferings of the Anointed One so that you can share in the revelation of his glory and celebrate with even greater gladness! If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are greatly blessed, because the Spirit of glory and power, who is the Spirit of God, rests upon you. If you suffer for being a Christian, don’t consider it a disgrace but a privilege. Glorify God because you carry the Anointed One’s name. For the time is ripe for judgment to begin in God’s own household. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those who refuse to obey the gospel of God? If the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the wicked and godless? So then, those who suffer for following God’s will should enfold their lives into the Creator, who will never fail them, and continue to always do what is right.” 1 Peter 4:12-19
These verses say so much but basically, if you are persecuted for being a Christian, a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are blessed, privileged, and need to continue to rejoice!!! That is our word for this season that He says to listen to and not turn a deaf ear to!
“If you bow low in God’s awesome presence, he will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in his hands. Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you. Be well balanced and always alert, because your enemy, the devil, roams around incessantly, like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour. Take a decisive stand against him and resist his every attack with strong, vigorous faith. For you know that your believing brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the same kinds of troubles you endure. And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up. And he has all the power needed to do this —forever! Amen.” 1 Peter 5:6-12
Humble yourself in His presence, give Him all your worries, be well balanced and ALERT, take a decisive stand and He WILL restore you and make you stronger than ever!
“Be cheerful with joyous celebration in every season of life. Let your joy overflow!” Philippians 4:4
Again, in EVERY season of life rejoice, stand firm, stable, and enduring!
“Come on, everyone! Let’s sing for joy to the Lord. Let’s shout our loudest praises to our God who saved us! Everyone come meet his face with a thankful heart. Don’t hold back your praises; make him great by your shouts of joy! For the Lord is the greatest of all, King-God over all other gods!” Psalm 95:1-3
Psalm 95 starts out with praising the Lord in everything. Don’t hold back your praises and thankfulness. Shout for joy.
“For we are those he cares for, and he is the God we worship. So drop everything else and listen to his voice! For this is what he’s saying: “Today, when I speak, don’t even think about turning a deaf ear to me like they did when they tested me at Meribah and Massah, the place where they argued with me, their Creator. Your ancestors challenged me over and over with their complaining, even though I had convinced them of my power and love. They still doubted my care for them.” Psalm 95:7-9
But by the end of the chapter, we see a truth. The people, the Israelites, started out praising Him and thankful but……
This is where I am going to end today. This is what we need to meditate on. I have showed you just a drop in the bucket some verses that show His will and desire for us. These verses give us direction, wisdom, encouragement, warnings and the way to ALWAYS prosper and excel. Let’s
drop everything else and listen to his voice! Let’s not be like the Israelites or people today, Believers and non-Believers, who start complaining. This part breaks my heart because I have done this. “Even though I had convinced them of my power and love. They still doubted my care for them.” Sigh. Let’s stand and believe together, love one another and echo His love!