God is good, ALL the time.

sorry i’ve been MIA for a while, been busy with stuff.

http://www.boyson.org/articles/abideinchrist/abideinchrist.html

Abide in Christ
Victoria Boyson
www.boyson.org

True Humility
True humility is not focusing on our weaknesses or how bad we are, but on how all-sufficient and good God is. Without Christ, truly, we can do nothing, BUT with Him we can do all things (see Philippians 4:13). Moreover, true humility is abiding in Christ, because we have come to understand our great need of Him. But mature humility goes beyond that fact and at its highest level will manifest itself as a strong belief that as we abide in Christ we rely on His omnipotence to use us as He wishes.

As we abide in Christ we have access to His divine strength to overcome any obstacle. Of course, the flesh of man is weak and uncontrollable; it is only as we abide in Christ that He imparts His power to us and subdues our flesh.

It is sin to assume that we can do anything in our own strength, but it is also sin not to trust in Christ’s power to work His wonders through us. As we exercise our faith in Christ’s power working through us as we live daily in Him, we will bear much fruit for the glory of God. We would work, not for Him, but in Him, becoming one with Him.

“Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’”

Our Excuses are No Excuse
“The Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say’” (Exodus 4:10-12).

The anger of the Lord burned against Moses (v 14), because he continued to focus on his weaknesses instead of God’s abilities.

True humility is not self-abasement, focusing on our personal inabilities, but is seeing God’s ability to show forth His awesome power through us. Plain and simple: true humility is faith in God!

God +  0 = Victory!
Humility is believing that God is more than enough to make up for our weaknesses. It is not by anything we do that we succeed, only by our union with Christ. Our strength bears no fruit and is inconsequential in the equation of victory. It is not our strength that matters, but His. And He is all-powerful and all-sufficient. His power encompasses heaven and earth and us as well.

God chooses to work through us to accomplish His will on this earth, who are we to tell Him He can’t use us. Who are we to think there is anything good or bad in us that would keep Him from accomplishing His will through us. It is not by our might or our power, but by His Spirit that we bear fruit (see Zechariah 4:6).

Abiding in the Vine
As we abide in the Vine, we do as the Vine wishes, which is to bear fruit for the Vine. The branch is an extension of the Vine and has no purpose apart from fulfilling the wishes of the Vine. Furthermore, as we remain in the Vine we experience a natural flow of the power of the Vine through the branches, resulting in much fruit.

As Christians, we must understand that we cannot produce quality fruit apart from Christ and that our fruit flows directly from Him. It is the will of the Vine Dresser that we bear much fruit, which is the evidence of our union with the Vine.

We are suppose to bear fruit!

As we are established in Christ, the fruit of our lives is a result of our love for Him, and being yielded to Him is evidence of that love. Of course, it is possible to bear fruit outside of Christ, but is it lasting fruit or edible fruit? It is only through our union with Christ that we produce useful, long-lasting fruit and are made useful to Him.

The more fruit we bear, the greater our love and appreciation for the Vine becomes. Our humility is made manifest through the fruit we bear. The branches who bear the most fruit bow the lowest, because they know more than anyone that the fruit they bear is only a result of Christ’s power working through them.

Friends, when we see what Christ can accomplish through us, we will never want to leave Him, not even for a minute. Our hunger to abide in Christ daily and do His will as He asks is, indeed, mature humility.

http://www.ibethel.org/features/testimonies/index.php?f=testimonies.php&trecord=1050

Treasure Hunt Testimonies

December 14,2009

Here are the treasure hunt testimonies from Saturday Dec. 12, 2009 

There were a total of seven of us who went out today.  Our destination: Bethel Church Holiday Feast!!!!

One of the team members named Shelly drew a picture of a guy with curly hair and glasses carrying a platter.  She found her treasure in the upper room.  She showed the picture to a volunteer, and he just got rocked, started to cry and felt the presence of God.  She also prayed for a little baby with eye problems and said when she left the baby was full of joy.

Shantel and I found a girl who was volunteering at the feast suffering from a severe headache. She was wearing a pink scarf, which was one of the clues on our map.  She was so excited to be God’s treasure, and she got completely healed—no more pain. 

There was another worker wearing a blue shirt, which was one of our clues. I felt she had stomach problems, and she shared how her spleen was enlarged and had been in pain all week.  She said there was no pain at the moment to test it out, but she felt peace just come over her body.

We also prayed for a guy who had an ankle problem. He said his pain level was a 5. After we prayed, he was shocked he didn’t know what to do because the pain was gone.  When I asked him what he was feeling, he said, “I don’t know what this is. This is freaking me out. There is no pain. I can’t talk about it.  What just happened?”  I really felt like he was going to get saved. I found out on Sunday that he gave his life to Jesus before he left the table on Saturday. Praise Jesus.

There was another lady who was also dealing with pain in her back and ankle at the same table, so we asked the guy who just got healed to pray for the lady, and all the pain left her ankle and back. The guy could not believe what he was seeing. The lady started saying there was no pain. Yea, Jesus.

Another volunteer who had problems with her left foot was asked to put her foot up on the chair and all of a sudden after a very short prayer, the pain left her foot. She had had problems for several years until Saturday.

Many others had love encounters and encouraging words..

It was a great day sharing the love of Jesus. Both volunteers and guests were healed. Praise the Lord.

Blessings,
Kristina Waggoner
Treasure Hunt Leader

I know the whole gemstone/manna/gold dust thing is controversial. People ask “why would God do that?” etc. and talk about prosperity and stuff like that.

Yet didn’t Jesus turn water into wine as His first miracle??? “Why would God do that?” “People will get drunk, won’t they???”

But neither are sins (unless you get drunk or use money/resources wrongly).

Everything depends on what you do with what God gives you. Are you going to worship the gift or the Giver?

http://www.ibethel.org/features/testimonies/index.php?f=testimonies.php&trecord=1051

In September at the BSSM student retreat, students were asked to write on a large banner their hopes for their second year at the school of ministry. Angela Toth felt she should be concise since there were so many students to write on that space, but she heard the Lord tell her just to let go and write. One of the things she found herself writing was that she wanted to see children raised from the dead. Then she wondered why she had specifically written “children.” And the Lord told her to pray into the people she may encounter.

In November, she and her husband, Matt, stopped at a stoplight on their way to church. They saw a car run the red light going about 60 miles per hour and crash into a turning Jeep. She and her husband are EMT trained, so they pulled over to check on everyone. People in the Jeep were fine. People in the car that ran the red light jumped out and a man and two boys were covered in blood but otherwise all right. Then a woman emerged from that car shrieking; still in a car seat was a child of two or three years, bearing a head wound from which dark blood was flowing, and she was clearly dead. The ICU nurse arrived and she and a man with her were able to take the child out of the car. Then the ICU nurse began working CPR on her. As the ICU nurse was doing that, a couple of other people came by and were praying as well. Angela called 911, and Matt would repeat the nurse’s stat reports for her to relay to the operator. Angela felt the Lord tell her not to speak those things out over the child. The other people there that were praying for her to be resurrected were also comforting the woman and the boys. Angela’s husband was telling the 911 people how long the child had not been breathing.

All Angela’s EMT training told her that only 3% of people respond to CPR without heart-starting paddles. Plus the child was so young and with a head injury. Angela was thinking, “We need a miracle, God! We have to have you intervene.” The next thing she knew, her prayer language busted out of her mouth, surprising the 911 operator, who said, “What? What?”

The ICU nurse, according to Angela, was doing her own job very well. Both the Toths and the other couple were praying out loud. No one prayed quietly; it was very obvious what they were doing.  A second-year student, also medically trained, was at a stoplight and saw what was happening, and seeing it was under control and knowing that too many people at a scene could be a hindrance, he remained in his car praying.

At the five-minute mark, the child took a breath and started moving and crying—all good signs. She was back to life! Then the ambulance came, and the ICU nurse said they would need a neurosurgeon to be ready on hand. And the whole family was whisked off to the hospital.

Angela has tried unsuccessfully to find out about the whereabouts of the child so she could follow up. She continues to pray for her full recovery. We all rejoice in God’s mercy and resurrection power! Angela says, “I love it because it’s our ordinary Christian life to believe God would raise someone from the dead” and so many Christians were surrounding the scene praying. Glory to God!

http://www.theramp.org/site/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Christianity-Redefined.html&Itemid=119

When you consider the word “Christian,” what’s the first definition that comes to your mind? Here’s my off-the-top-of-my-head answer: someone who follows Christ and Christ’s teachings. I’ll bet your definition is similar. However, I’ve come to discover lately that this definition is not the totality of the answer.

This personal journey of redefining the terms of Christianity begin in me while reviewing some Ramp footage from December of 2008. While introducing his sermon, Damon Thompson stated that to be a Christian you must not only follow Christ, but also be in possession of the attributes of Christ. We must not only read and believe His teachings, but also express His very nature through our lives. Now, this may seem to be only stating the obvious for you, but for me, this redefinition has been a paradigm altering discovery.

I began to see in my own life how I was a follower of Christ, but not a possessor of Christ. I can read scripture, agree with what I read, even teach what I read, but the very nature of Christ living through my body is a whole different story. The compassionate heart of Jesus in my chest is different than agreeing mentally that giving to the poor is right. Hatred for compromise is different than a disciplined life that’s learned how to dodge temptation. The fear of God and utter deadness to the opinions of men cannot be learned by refining outward behavior. I need an encounter with the cross.

The cross is the place where true Christianity begins. Therefore, the cross is where we not only agree that Jesus was right in His teachings, but where we possess His Spirit. Before an encounter with the cross, there is nothing in us that remotely looks like Christ. Romans 3:10, 11 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.” Even perceived human goodness is evil in the sight of God. Man is completely depraved. However, after an encounter with the cross, we are given the right to operate out of a different nature. John 1:12 says, “As many as received [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become the children of God … .” Therefore, receiving Jesus does not just change my eternal position, but it changes the very attributes I possess today.

The apostle Paul would go on to write in Romans 8:9b, “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” What a redefinition of Christianity! The test of whether or not we belong to Christ is not what we profess we believe, but what spirit we possess. If we aren’t in possession of Christ’s Spirit, than how much of our lives we’ve handed over to Christ’s Lordship needs to be questioned.

Today, I find myself challenged. Whenever I feel myself growing comfortable, scripture breaks through and redefines for me what it is to walk with God. I hope today you have been challenged as well. Let’s embrace this redefinition of Christianity and seek today that we might be possessors of the Spirit of Christ.

-Micah

thanks to Kamiedreams for this submission! (btw thanks for your other submission, i got it) :)

—-

God just has this *amazing* plan for our lives.

Much more than we’d ever ask, think or dream.

The maker of the Universe isn’t some far off ‘force’

It’s a God who loved us so much, saw we messed up

Stepped into his creation and out of love died.

So He died and rose again.

that menas something in us must die to live “in Christ”

Die to sin

Die to ‘me thoughts’

Yeah they may see good to you

And don’t try to cover it up w/ God wants the best for me

Of course he does

But realise, when’s it gonna hit you- the best is his best

And as long as you do what he asks you to do

Forgive, spread love, evangelise,

As well was any ther specific instructiins (no matter how wierd or wacko they made seem), no good thing will he withold

Whats a good thing?

That’s up to God. But we aren’t called in a vacuum. This world is full of people meant to have interlocking purposes. Yet every minute, everyday, people go to their grave with unfilled purpose

God what’s gonna happen to the world?

Hey you’re talking about the one who made the whole Heaven, Earth & probably lots more than we didn’t even discover

He’ll work it out. His way -> and whatever he says I humbly submit

I’m just gonna keeping talking to my best friend, look out for when he answers back thru friends, strangers, preachers, even vagrants on the street.

See you on the other side: eternity

God bless

Worship is a lifestyle

Worship the Lord with all.

*FEEL FREE TO SHARE*