Friday, December 25, 2009

Wonderful Counselor

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, You are my God and I trust You. Today I bless those family members and friends with whom I will be interacting during this Christmas season. Father, through Jesus Christ, You have enriched us in every way—in all our speaking and in all knowledge. We will glory in Your love, thanking You that through the Holy Spirit we are strengthened and empowered in our inner most beings. We are learning of the height and depth of Your great love for us, in the name of Jesus. Amen.


[So] that in Him in every respect you were enriched, in full power and readiness of speech [to speak of your faith] and complete knowledge and illumination [to give you full insight into its meaning].

1st Corinthians 1:5 [AMP]



16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

Ephesians 3:16-19 [AMP]

Blessed Christmas


”The blessing of the Lord be upon you”
                                            Psalm 129:8

May you rejoice in the blessings of His love this Christmas and always.

Please enjoy this beautiful rendition of  “O Holy Night”








Francis Ng
Pastor
Tabernacle of Christ



Monday, December 21, 2009

Just Stay

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.

“Your son is here,” she said to the old man.

She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.
Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing
outside the oxygen tent.

He reached out his hand.

The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed.

All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength.

Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

He refused.

Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words, the dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned.

She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

“Who was that man?” he asked.

The nurse was startled, “He was your father,” she answered.

“No, he wasn't,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”

“Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?”

“I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed.”

The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.

We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.

This is what we are put on this earth to do anyway, right ?

Have a great day and bless someone else in some little way today!

God is so good.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Emotional Healing Meditations from Judypie

Think on These Things

Father, Your Word is my Handbook for renewing my mind to think and speak as You think and speak. By the grace of God I will think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. Your Word will renew my mind with Your thoughts, Lord, driving out thoughts of fear, doubt, bad feelings toward others, self-hatred, depression and unbelief in the name of Jesus. Amen.
For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
Philippians 4:8 [AMP]

Letting Go

Father, I glory in what Christ Jesus has done for me. I let go—put aside all past sources of my confidence—counting them worthless, in order that I may experience Christ and become one with Him. I unfold my past and put into proper perspective those things that are behind. I trust in You, LORD, with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. In all my ways I acknowledge You, and You will make my paths straight. Thank You, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
Philippians 3:7-9 [NLT]
I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]--then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
Psalm 32:5 [AMP]
I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead
Philippians 3:13 [AMP]
Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6 [AMP]

Direction

Father, thank You for instructing me and teaching me in the way I should go and for guiding me with Your eye. Thank You for Your guidance and leadership concerning Your will, Your plan and Your purpose for my life. I hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, for I know You and follow You. You lead me in paths of righteousness of Your name’s sake. In Jesus Name, Amen.
I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
Psalm 32:8 [AMP]
The watchman opens the door for this man, and the sheep listen to his voice and heed it; and he calls his own sheep by name and brings (leads) them out. When he has brought his own sheep outside, he walks on before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
John 10:3-4 [AMP]
He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him--not for my earning it, but] for His name's sake.
Psalm 23:3 [AMP]

Change

Father, direct my steps by Your word and let no iniquity have dominion over me. Uphold my steps in Your paths that my footsteps may not slip. Thank You that I am ever learning, ever growing and ever achieving. Things change because I'm changing; I am wonderfully and fearfully made. You give me the freedom and courage to be my creative self, which You made unique unto me. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Establish my steps and direct them by [means of] Your word; let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Psalm 119:133 [AMP]
My steps have held closely to Your paths [to the tracks of the One Who has gone on before]; my feet have not slipped.
Psalm 17:5 [AMP]
I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.
Psalm 139:14 [AMP]

Emotional Healing

Heavenly Father, you saw my heartache and pain when I was brokenhearted. You sent your Word and healed me, and you delivered me from all my destructions. It didn't all happen in one day, but layer-by-layer you healed the emotional wounds [curing my pains and sorrows). Thank you for the anointing of Jesus that is at work binding up and healing my broken heart. In Jesus name. Amen.
He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction.
Psalm 107:20 [AMP]
The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent.
Psalm 34:18 [AMP]
The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity],
Luke 4:18 [AMP]

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Fruit of My Lips: Thanksgiving, Praise and Rejoicing

Lord, by Your Holy Spirit perfect the fruit of my lips. Help me draw thanksgiving forth from my innermost resources; reach down into the most secret places of my heart that I may offer significant thanksgiving to You in the name of Jesus. Amen
Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.
Hebrews 13:15 [AMP]
Father, You are worthy of all praise. We praise You for Your mighty acts, according to Your excellent greatness. We will praise You in the sanctuary with instruments and with the dance; with stringed instruments and organs; with cymbals and high-sounding cymbals. As long as we have breath, we will praise You, Father God, in the Holy Name of Jesus. You are a mighty God! Hallelujah!
1 PRAISE THE Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!
5 Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 150:1-6 [AMP]
Father, we rejoice because we have been justified by faith, and have peace with You through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We shout glory to God in the heavenly heights, peace to all men and women on earth who please You. This is the day that You have made and we rejoice in You, God our Savior in the name of Jesus. Amen.
THEREFORE, SINCE we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2 [AMP]
Glory to God in the highest [heaven], and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased [men of goodwill, of His favor].
Luke 2:14 [AMP]

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

R.I.P. Oral Roberts


Evangelist Oral Roberts has exited the planet after suffering from pneumonia at the age of 91 years. 

You may read details about the man, his ministry, and more at The New York Times.

There is also an audio retrospective available for listening at National Public Radio.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

My Most Recent Divine Appointment by Melody Green

Last week my friend Paulette and I were running late and had not eaten anything before we left her house.  So we stopped en route to grab something quick at a small deli she liked. Just as we were about to walk in, an upbeat voice called out to us from the open window of a parked car.

“Hey, that’s a great place you’re gonna love it!” 

We nodded and gave a faint (hungry) wave back.

“I just had the little dumplings on the left side of the counter, but the salad with the nuts is great too,” the voice continued.  We paused at the deli door. “Everything is so good there… sorry for rambling, my mom just died, but you can’t go wrong at this place.  It’s the best.”

We started towards the curb as she continued recommending menu items.

“I’m in culinary school here, and this place is so…”

Stepping towards her, I interrupted, “Excuse me, did you just say your mom died?”

“Yes mam, this morning,” she said, as we inched our way to her car door and listened as her story unfolded.

Her name was Keisha and her mom, who’d recently been diagnosed with cancer, had been rushed to the hospital that morning.  They talked and prayed on the phone together and Keisha told her mom she’d be on a plane that afternoon to come see her. But another call came just a few hours later.  Her mom had slipped into a coma and died.

The sun was beating down hard on Paulette and me as we told Keisha how sorry we were for her loss.  She slipped out of her car and continued with her tragic story.  Her fiancé was just back from Iraq, mending from a gunshot wound, and they’d planned to travel to her mom’s for Thanksgiving so her mom and family could meet him.

Understanding how loss felt, I put my arm around her, and the next second she fell sobbing into both of our arms. “I believe in Jesus and go to church but the devil is trying to destroy me.  But he’s not gonna get the victory,” she declared. “I’m not going to let him win!”

Now that we were holding her, I could smell something stale, like old whisky on her t-shirt, and she was out of it with grief and whatever she’d used to numb the pain in her life.  But the Lord had us there to stand with her in her grief and comfort her breaking heart.  It seemed surreal.

We asked if we could pray for her and she said, “Yes. Yes, please.”

So there we stood, in a parking lot praying for Keisha her and her whole family.  We thanked God for sparing her fiancé’s life and identified with her great loss. We shared our faith and assured her that God totally loved her – and wanted all of her heart to be His.  It was somehow clear she’d been dabbling on the dark side and that a battle was going on for her soul, perhaps for a very long time.

It was a sensitive moment.  Not a time to preach or correct.  But her heart was soft and God gave us the words to gently remind her that Jesus wanted to be her only one – and to let everything else, not of Him, go. And she agreed and fought for herself with us in prayer.

“Something told me you ladies were safe,” she said, lifting her head. “That’s why I kept calling out to you, trying to get your attention.”  She started thanking the Lord for sending us to her.  “It’s exactly what I needed,” she said.  “Thank you Jesus!”

About 40 minutes later we said goodbye. I thought about how easy it would have been to totally ignore Keisha and plow forward into the deli.  To hear the growl of our stomachs instead of hearing those few sad words, tucked inside the cheerful-sounding voice of a stranger.  Instead of the hearing the Holy Spirit.

It’s so easy to miss the moment. To miss God.  I’ve missed Him before, more than I could ever possibly know.  But not last week.  God wanted to touch Keisha last week and we didn’t let Him down. It felt really good to know we played a small, but strategic part, in a painful part of someone else's journey.



Internationally known author, minister and songwriter Melody Green has traveled to over 30 nations to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Her best selling book, “No Compromise. The Life Story of Keith Green” has been translated into numerous languages.  This article was reprinted by permission from Last Days Ministries’ November e-letter. For more information on Melody and her prolific ministry materials, visit http://www.MelodyGreen.com 


Saturday, December 5, 2009

Do What Is Good

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 [AMP]
I first heard the above scripture as a youngster in church.  Of all the theology spoken with much gravitas by our pastor, that one verse had a profound impact upon me.  Here, God is giving us a blueprint for doing what He considers to be good.  We are to practice justice... to love kindness and mercy... and to be humble and not proud and haughty.

Pastor Lon Solomon made note of the attitude of a tax collector in the Bible.  This man, unlike the self-righteous Pharisees, humbled himself before God and prayed, “Be merciful to me, a sinner.”  This man did not approach God in a proud or haughty manner... and as a result, his prayer was honored by God.  As we take on the right attitude, we can be vessels that God can use.

And how can we expect God to use us... even if we are average every day Christians?  We found the answer to that question in the following message from Pastor Francis Ng.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
Proverbs 3:27 [NKJV]
Dan Clark recalls when he was a teenager, he and his father once stood in line to buy tickets for the circus.  They noticed a poor family immediately in front of them.  The parents were holding hands.  They had eight children, all probably under the age of twelve.

He could tell that the circus was going to be a new adventure for them.  The attendant asked how many tickets they wanted.  The man proudly responded, “I’d like to buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets.”

When the attendant quoted the price, the man’s wife let go of his hand and her head drooped.
The man leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?”

The attendant quoted the price again.

The man obviously didn't have the money.  He looked crushed.  Clark says his father watched all this, put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a twenty dollar bill and dropped it on the ground.  His father then reached down, picked up the note, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, I think this must be yours.”

The man knew exactly what was going on.  He looked straight into Clark’s father's eyes, took his hand, shook it, and with a tear streaming down his cheek, replied, “Thank you, thank you, sir.”

“This really means a lot to me and my family.”  Clark and his father went back to their car and drove home.  They didn't have enough money to go to the circus that night, but it didn’t matter. They’d blessed a whole family, and it was something neither family would ever forget.  That's called “doing good.”

As we approach the holiday season -- where thoughts often turn towards buying gifts, having meals, and traveling to be with friends and family -- let us not forget to do good where we have the ability to do so.  Specifically, in reaching out and touching the lives of others.

This is not specifically referring to the giving of financial blessings... although that is often needed.  Sometimes it can be as simple as taking a few moments out of our schedules to touch someone’s life in ways that may seem trival... but that often have eternal reverberations.

I was recollecting the Blizzard of ‘85 with a friend who was in San Antonio Texas (as I was) during that event.  My friend was amazed at how a normally toasty town in South Texas could be inundated with a historic amount of snow.  But I also remember what appeared to be a homeless bum sitting on the sidewalk near my new apartment, begging for cash.  He had a bottle of booze in his hands and I figured there would be no way I would give my money to support some drunk’s alcohol habit.

Imagine my surprise when the Holy Spirit spoke and directed me to give $50 (a tithe I had set aside for the following Sunday) to the guy.  I figured it had to be a mistake.  I had to be imagining things.  After all, that was God’s money.  But after much prayer, I obeyed God and went back to give the $50 bill to the guy.  Long story short... he was near the end of years of running from God.  He had in his pocket a bottle of pills and was planning on washing down the pills with the vodka and ending his life.  We prayed on that sidewalk and he recommitted his life to Christ.  He took the money to a cheap motel nearby and called his family.  That night was the blizzard that hit San Antonio.  I imagine that, under other circumstances, he would be a frozen corpse.  But thanks be to God who knows each of us and puts His blessings in our path.

One thing that I recall was that this young man had made an earlier attempt at cleaning up... and went to a church requesting help.  He was turned away.  Man, how often do we as Christians wind up dropping the ball and, worse, feeding the atheists (see our book Please Don’t Feed the Atheists at http://link2power.org).

We recently heard about a divine appointment that Melody Green experienced... she was famished and ready to grab food at a deli when a young woman interrupted her train of thought.  She quickly realized that this woman had a spiritual need and chose to pray with and minister to her rather than give precedence to her growling stomach.  Sound familiar? 
Then the woman left her water jar and went away to the town. And she began telling the people, Come, see a Man Who has told me everything that I ever did! Can this be [is not this] the Christ? [Must not this be the Messiah, the Anointed One?] So the people left the town and set out to go to Him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged Him saying, Rabbi, eat something. But He assured them, I have food (nourishment) to eat of which you know nothing and have no idea. So the disciples said one to another, Has someone brought Him something to eat? Jesus said to them, My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.
John 4:28-34 [AMP]
As you spend time in prayer this week, ask the Lord to show you ways that you might touch someone’s life.  Whether it is a financial blessing... a prayer... or whatever, be a vessel of the love of God manifest in this world.

Selah.