I Can't Do This

I’m a college kid, and I’ve done some tutoring for school from time to time. Do you know what I've heard people say their biggest problem is? 

“I can’t do this, because I've never been good at ____.” 

Well, I always tell someone that I’m tutoring, “You can do it! Forget what you thought about yourself. The only thing that holds you back is you. Put your mind to it, and you’ll succeed!” 

Trust me though; there’s always a lesson that goes along with this, and here it is.School can be tricky, but it can really relate to just about any problem you face in life. Wouldn't you say that's true? I know because there have been times in my life where things have come at me, and I just thought, “How in the world is this going to turn out right? I can’t do this!” Well, thankfully, I was completely wrong!  

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”  [KJV]

Why was I wrong? Well, it’s because my opinion doesn't really matter! The only thing that matters in this life is God’s opinion of you! 

Do you know what he says about you? If you go to Philippians 4:13, He says that you should be thinking, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” [KJV] 

Woah! Do you mean that I can do anything? If you’re living for God and you’re doing it through Christ, then you betcha! It means that, when your job throws all those crazy deadlines at you or life is coming at you at a million miles an hour, you can take a second and go before God. He knows exactly what to do. Listen to the Holy Spirit, and then go conquer that giant! After it’s over, the most important thing to do is remember from whom your help comes from. Thank God, give Him all the glory, and encourage others to make God their source too!

 

You can do it!

It Is Well

Have you ever been a passenger in a car and before you knew it; your foot was applying pressure to that imaginary brake pedal on the floorboard?  Well, you are not alone! This is the example the Holy Spirit has given me to learn how to give God complete control in every area of my life.  To start this lesson, I was lead to John 21:15-17 where Jesus asked Peter three times, if he loved Him and each time, Peter told the Lord that he did, without a doubt, love Him.  Then I heard in my spirit, “Do you trust me?”  After repenting, the Holy Spirit revealed to me some areas of my life that, if I would give up control, He would ensure that all would be well.   As I was getting ready for bed that evening, I asked the Father to teach me about trust, and show me what I needed to do to trust Him completely.  That next morning I woke up with the refrain from the song “It is Well with My Soul.”  Since all I knew was the refrain, I went to the internet to get the complete song.  The song is beautiful, however; it was the biography of the writer, a prominent lawyer by the name of Horatio Spafford that stuck a cord with me.  Here is just a snippet of his life: Following the death of his 4-year-old son, he experienced financial ruin after the great Chicago fire and the economic downturn of 1873.  Later, he planned a trip with his family to travel to Europe on the SS Ville du Havre.  At the last minute, Mr. Spafford sent his family ahead and stayed in Chicago to tend to some unresolved business. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship that carried his wife and four daughters sank after colliding with a sea vessel.  All four of his daughters died.  His wife was the only one that survived.  On the way to meet his grieving wife, Mr. Spafford was inspired to write the words to this song as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.  He and his wife later had three more children, one of which died in infancy.  They moved to Jerusalem and helped found the American Colony, a mission to help the poor.                  Click here to watch a video - Mr. Spafford After wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, I opened my daily devotional and the title for that day was “It’s All Good” with 2 Kings 4:8-37 as the reference to read.   After reading the text, I took time to read the story about the Shunammite woman who, when her young son died, was not moved by what she saw or felt.  Instead, she said, “It is well.”  I’m not familiar with the lyrics to the song I woke up with, but I sing the refrain all the time now and the peace that comes over me is indescribable.  Since that day, I have made a choice to learn how to trust God.  Interestingly enough, I am discovering how trust has a direct correlation with faith.  Without faith, there is no trust.  I have much to learn about both.  My journey has just begun and I have a trustworthy driver.  He has a good plan for my life.  We are taking His vehicle and the route is loaded into His GPS (God’s Protective Shield)!  There may not be a radio, but I have a new song to sing.  I am along for the ride and “It is Well with my Soul”.                        It Is Well With My Soul - YouTube

Life of Praise

A Life of Praise

Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in mouth.” 

Meditate on that scripture a moment.

Notice that David says that he will bless the Lord at all times, not just sometimes or not just when everything in his life was going great. 

David constantly had enemies pursuing him, yet David chose to bless the Lord at all times. 

How many of us are actually hiding from enemies that are out to kill us? 

The faith and trust in God that David had was pretty intense. David knew that the Lord was upholding him, no matter what the circumstances looked like.

Psalm 63:8 says, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

 David had a revelation of the importance of being close to God and not only that, but the importance of praising God. 

Some of us may have this idea that worship is in the sanctuary or worship is with music, but it is so much more than that. You can praise him with your mouth throughout the day whether you’re at work or in your car…anywhere. Notice that David didn't say he praised God when it was convenient or when he knew that he was safe from his enemy…no, it says that he would bless the Lord at all times.

I know that I need to work on this and I believe that the closer we cling to God that this will just be a natural product of that, but today I just want to challenge you to open your mouth more and praise God despite your surrounding circumstances. Know that God is with you and that He will never leave you nor forsake you. Remember that praise is an act of surrendering to God. 

Psalm 145:14 says, “The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.” There is something about bowing down and surrendering to God and living that life of praise that makes the enemy cringe. 

There Is A Work To Be Done

The Wrestling Match

In the last couple of years, the Lord has really been moving in this body of believers to become pure and holy before Him. There is a work to be done that requires us to be willing and obedient to leave behind anything from our past including separating emotional ties with it. For most people that is a difficult thing to do, but if we will simply trust Him to help us, we will complete the work that is set before us and finish the race capturing the prize our King longs to give us!

Jacob was a man that loved God and honored Him. Unfortunately, he was given a name that he heard every day and that name meant: supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler. That is how Jacob lived his life at times. Let’s take one instance to illustrate the point I wish to convey. Jacob tricked his father into believing he was his brother Esau and as a result swindled Esau out of his birthright. The choice he made in that moment caused him to live in fear of his brother for a good portion of his life and make choices rooted in fear.

Now the time has come that he must face his brother and he doesn't know what to do, so he seeks God for an answer. Go to Genesis 32 to read about this. Verse 7 tells us that Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. In Verse 12 God assured him that he would prevail. Now with God telling him that, it would seem like he could relax and listen to how God wanted to go about restoring their relationship. But Jacob is really no different than most of us.

Being motivated by fear, Jacob decides to come up with his own plan on how to soften Esau’s heart before he faces him. Isn't that like our flesh? We tend to take things into our own hands instead of taking time to listen to God’s solution for our problems.

Jacob ends up in a Wrestling Match with God because he was too stubborn to listen and change. God ultimately had to put him in a position in order for him to listen and quit fighting Him. God was not his enemy, but just like Jacob that’s how many people view Him.

 Jacob’s mindset of what had been spoken over him daily had to be changed in order for God to get through to him. Once he realized that, released the fear and listened to God, God gave him a new name, Israel….one that spoke blessing over him the rest of his life.

Oh…the end of this story goes…God restored Israel’s relationship with his brother Esau.

 If only he would have listened in the first place and trusted God completely, he could have saved himself so much heartache.

So…Are you wrestling with God about something? It’s time to repent, release it and move forward as God shows you.

 He has your solution. Seek Him and when He answers you…do it!

         

          

Peace in Uncertain Times

How to Have Peace in Uncertain Times

                Ever have those times where things seem out of control? Where everything in your life seems to just go wrong?  You try and fix the situation and it seems like it gets worse. This is where we tend to get stressed and anxious about what we perceive as problems. Combine that with satan whispering all sorts of lies to you and you've got a hot mess on your hands. That’s when you’re most vulnerable to be deceived by the devil.

How do you keep from getting to a point of worry and stress? Simple, by casting your cares on Him because He cares for you (1^st Peter 5:7). I have had people tell me, “Well Pastor Ben, I tried that and I still worry.”  Well that’s impossible, if you truly cast your cares to the Lord. Proverbs 16:3 says “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” The word commit literally means to roll or to roll away.

When you roll all your heavy burdens to the Lord and truly trust Him with it, your mind will be at peace knowing your God works everything out for the good of those who love Him. How do you get to the point of trusting God like that? Know who He is. Know that God is your strength, your rock, your fortress, your deliverer and your shield (Psalm 18:1-3). He will never leave nor forsake you, and is able to deliver you with a great deliverance (Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm18:50). This is how you have peace in uncertain times.

                                  

You Are Given Everything You Need To Live

One of my favorite verses (and I have many) J is Isaiah 54:17.

Is says in the KJV, “No weapon formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”

The AMP version states, “But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This (peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition) is the heritage of the servant of the Lord (those in whom the Servant of the Lord is reproduced); this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me (this is that which I impart to them as their justification), says the Lord."

We live in a fallen world. That means that even though God had originally intended it to be for mankind to dominate and rule, it was given over to satan when man fell in the garden. As a result, unless you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are subject to satan’s rule here on the earth.

As a believer in Christ you are given everything you need to live and overcome in this fallen world. Everything satan has to offer is through deception, but Jesus beat deception and showed us how to do the same. That excites me!!

So what are weapons that are formed against us? Sickness and disease, unforgiveness, depression, debt, strife, lust, pride, etc. are all weapons satan uses to bring you down and cause you to draw away from God.

The tongues that rise up against you are those that say things like…you will never get out of this situation, you only have 3 months to live, certain things in the Word of God don’t apply today, you are worthless, you are never going to amount to anything, etc.

But, you know what? If you read that verse carefully it says those weapons will not prosper and you will prove those wrong who speak against you!

Isn’t that Good News??

I will go on to say that there is a choice that you have to make - to believe God and His Word and to trust Him in every situation. If you give in to these weapons and tongues that rise up against you, then you are ALLOWING satan to have reign in your life rather than God. And trust me it does not go well with you when you do that.

I want to encourage you that the SECOND something comes against you, let’s just say a cold for instance, you recognize that it is not from God and you use the Word against it, just as Jesus did when He was tempted of the devil. I actually use this verse and say: “No weapon of sickness formed against me shall prosper because I am a saint of God and am under His covenant of healing, for that is my heritage!” Guess what? It leaves immediately!! Praise the Lord!

Find the promises of God and write them down, study them and hide them away in your heart so that when the storms of life and the affairs of this world come against you, you will have a foundation to stand upon and to fight with.

Have a Great Day in Him!

Pastor Kathy Mosier

Indianapolis Indiana Financial Seminar April 23, 2011

Biblical Finances

Presented by LIFE Church

April 23, 2011

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7 KJV)

LIFE Church is presenting a class on finances to help people overcome economic hard times. The class will help individuals understand God's kingdom principles in finances and why His principles never fail.

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  Find out why the U.S. economy is failing.


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  Are you tired of being in debt and barely able to pay your bills?


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  Are you and your spouse having disagreements concerning money?


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  Have you lost hope concerning paying off your bills?


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  How can you have peace in this economic downturn?

This class will also teach you how God wants you to prosper in any economic climate. You will learn how to trust God for all your needs and help to promote His kingdom in these last days.

Come expecting to learn God's way of doing things.

Childcare and lunch will be provided.

SPACE IS LIMITED

PLEASE RSVP by calling 317-727-5443 or 317-786-5460

LIFE Church and Training Center

5895 E. Thompson Rd.

Suite D

Indianapolis, IN 46237

TIME 9:30 am - 2:00 pm

APRIL 23, 2011

Ask and You Will Receive Dorothy's Teaching

The Lord gave her a song that she sings at the end!