Today started with the group talking about Jay and Karen’s house being broken into and their Godly response to the event.
Jay shared how this was not the first time someone they have helped has turned around and stolen from them. He said when he was first saved and read how Jesus said “When you have done it to the least of my brothers you have done it to me” (Matthew 25:40) So, as a young man, Jay’s desire was to help Jesus!!! Through helping people in different circumstances he had the opportunity to speak to many of them about the truth of God!
God allows things to happen. Jay shared Romans 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
WHY does God allow these things to happen? 2 Cor 1:8,9…. SO THAT we will learn to rely on Him who raises the dead!!! He wants us to trust Him in the Spirit! If we do, our rewards are more than we can imagine!!! (Romans 8:18) If we don’t? We lose even the rewards which we had ... stolen by nobody but ourselves. The Father promised an act of OBEDIENCE would bring the rewards. The enemy is out to deceive us into believing God can’t be trusted and we must take matters into our own hands ... the very same lie he fed Eve in the garden!!!
The enemy tries to cause discouragement and fear to keep us from accessing the Spirit and keep us downcast! Over ONE HUNDRED TIMES the bible tells us “do not be dismayed, afraid, disheartened….” Jerk your hands OUT of the hands of discouragement and fear, don’t even let them touch you!!! When you feel a twinge of fear or discouragement, raise your hands!!! Say “I don’t understand LORD, but I don’t have to!!! YOU know the beginning from the end so why do I worry about this, you have it covered! My hands are raised in sacrifice to you. My heart is opened up to you. THAT is what this is all about. I am gonna make a resolution in my heart – my hands, my heart, my life are yours.”
Jay went on to share about watching the movie on the life of Ray Charles, who went blind as a child and learned to function in the everyday world with no cane, no dog, no outward help. Ray learned to listen … carefully … to the world around him. He would hear things that virtually everybody else missed. What an amazing example of how WE are to listen to the Spirit!
Ray takes his soon to be bride to a bustling restaurant after church one day. Amidst the chaos of all the conversation by the other patrons he asks her “Can you hear the hummingbird?”. She looks at him in utter astonishment. What a scene! Just put yourself there!!! He then gently instructs her on how to hear … Watch the first 45 seconds of this video to see it for yourself.
Jay shared how this was not the first time someone they have helped has turned around and stolen from them. He said when he was first saved and read how Jesus said “When you have done it to the least of my brothers you have done it to me” (Matthew 25:40) So, as a young man, Jay’s desire was to help Jesus!!! Through helping people in different circumstances he had the opportunity to speak to many of them about the truth of God!
God allows things to happen. Jay shared Romans 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
WHY does God allow these things to happen? 2 Cor 1:8,9…. SO THAT we will learn to rely on Him who raises the dead!!! He wants us to trust Him in the Spirit! If we do, our rewards are more than we can imagine!!! (Romans 8:18) If we don’t? We lose even the rewards which we had ... stolen by nobody but ourselves. The Father promised an act of OBEDIENCE would bring the rewards. The enemy is out to deceive us into believing God can’t be trusted and we must take matters into our own hands ... the very same lie he fed Eve in the garden!!!
The enemy tries to cause discouragement and fear to keep us from accessing the Spirit and keep us downcast! Over ONE HUNDRED TIMES the bible tells us “do not be dismayed, afraid, disheartened….” Jerk your hands OUT of the hands of discouragement and fear, don’t even let them touch you!!! When you feel a twinge of fear or discouragement, raise your hands!!! Say “I don’t understand LORD, but I don’t have to!!! YOU know the beginning from the end so why do I worry about this, you have it covered! My hands are raised in sacrifice to you. My heart is opened up to you. THAT is what this is all about. I am gonna make a resolution in my heart – my hands, my heart, my life are yours.”
Jay went on to share about watching the movie on the life of Ray Charles, who went blind as a child and learned to function in the everyday world with no cane, no dog, no outward help. Ray learned to listen … carefully … to the world around him. He would hear things that virtually everybody else missed. What an amazing example of how WE are to listen to the Spirit!
Ray takes his soon to be bride to a bustling restaurant after church one day. Amidst the chaos of all the conversation by the other patrons he asks her “Can you hear the hummingbird?”. She looks at him in utter astonishment. What a scene! Just put yourself there!!! He then gently instructs her on how to hear … Watch the first 45 seconds of this video to see it for yourself.
We need to be as sensitive to the voice of the Spirit in our lives during the hubbub and chaos of our daily lives. 1 John 2:20 and 27 both talk about the anointing that is ours in the Spirit when we are Christ’s. This anointing is the Spirit speaking to YOU; that is the hummingbird outside the window that we must learn to listen for.
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