Inspired Word July 11, 2007

INSPIRED WORD

July 11, 2007

WORD OF KNOWLEDGE

We truly have an awesome God! But there are some here tonight who are feeling frustrated with the events in their lives. The Lord wants you to know that when you set your heart on something, it sets in rigidity, and when you let go of outcomes, you open up the flow of His power in your life. He wants you to know that He is God of the mountain, but He is also God of the valley; but He especially wants you to know that He is the God of awesomeness beyond the universe. Amen.

CONFIRMATION

I would like to confirm that with Psalm 40: 1 – 5: I waited patiently for the Lord and He stooped toward me and heard my cry. He also drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp; He set my feet upon a rock; he made firm my steps. And He has put a new song into my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will look on in awe and trust in the Lord. Happy the man who makes the Lord his trust; who does not look to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods. Many, O Lord, my God, are Your wonderful works! And in your plans for us there is none to equal you; should I wish to declare or to tell them, they would be too many to recount.

PROPHECY

.....with you. I will guide you; I love you! I come to bring you peace. Trust in Me!!

SCRIPTURE

Proverbs 3: 5 - 6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 46: God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. Thus, we do not fear, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea, though its waters rage and foam and the mountains quake at it surging. The Lord of Hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Streams of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High. God is in its midst; it shall not be shaken; God will help it at break of day. Though nations rage and kingdoms totter, God's voice thunders and the earth trembles. The Lord of Hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Come and see the works of the Lord, who has done fearsome deeds on earth; Who stops wars to the ends of the earth, breaks the bow, splinters the spear, and burns the shields with fire; Who says: “Be still and confess that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.” The Lord of Hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 27: One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent and set me high upon a rock. Even now my head is held high above my enemies on every side! I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and chant praise to the Lord.

TEACHING

...brought on by Dan's sharing of his experience at Saint Marks. It is about bread and being Eucharist. I am going to just read what I have. We are all ingredients in the Bread or the Body of Christ. Do not be deceived into believing that you are not essential to the Body of Christ. If you were to leave out even a teaspoon of yeast, the bread would not rise. If you left out the salt, the bread would be tasteless. But you may say that I am just the flour and so many others are also flour, but if you were to withhold your portion, the bread would not be full. The Lord takes all that we are and places it in the fire where it is watched carefully to transform us from what we are individually into the real Body of Christ, to be broken and shared, and to feed a very hungry world. This is pure nourishment to the world – not processed and refined, stripped of its nutrients, artificial happiness which leaves behind emptiness, but Christ Himself poured out to the world. After the man shared the prayer for the community, I was also given this - that the flour does not say to the baker, “I want to be a grand wedding cake.” It is the baker who has the plan and gathers the ingredients and mixes them together to create the fulfillment of his plan, which is beyond the creation itself. It is to where it will go, the need which it will satisfy.

SCRIPTURE

....an unusual Scripture that I have looked at and did not understood in the least as to what He was trying to point out to me. But when Margie spoke to us about thinking your portion might be too insignificant to share, it all made sense. But that we are all a portion – some yeast, some sugar, some butter, some milk, some part of the big flour, maybe thinking yours is not needed. This Scripture sounds harsh, but work with me; it is called “Robbing God.” Think about leaving your portion of the flour out, that would be like robbing God. Malachi 3: 6 – 10: I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from My decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, “How are we to return?” “Dare a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!” But you ask, “How do we rob You?” “In tithes and in offerings! You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing Me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

SENSE / EXHORTATION / PRAYER

A different twist on these things is this: Sometimes when we think of giving to God, we think of giving only the good. But God also wants the bad. Remember that God, and only God, can do good from bad. Sometimes I come here, and I don't feel well, or I am concerned about someone, or heard that someone has lost their job, or a spouse lost a job. I read the prayer requests that come in emails and think, “O my God, there are so many people who need prayers and so many people who are hurting.” But I know and have the sense that some of us are hurting here tonight, not only physically, but maybe emotionally, maybe spiritually. The sense that I get is that the Lord is saying, ”Give that to Me also! Let it go and give it to Me. Don't hold onto it; what are you going to do with it? If you give Me your hurts, your concerns, your worries, your doubts; if you give Me anything that you are holding back, I can do good from it. Because you have given it to Me, you now have an empty space for what I want to give back to you!” So if you have been sitting here with something – maybe it was a good thanksgiving that you didn't say, or maybe you have been sitting here with a concern. You don't have to come up here and say it, just give it to God right now. He already knows what it is. Trust in Him as He has asked us. He will bring us comfort as He promised. So I encourage you right now, if you haven't done it, do it now or if you have already done it, do it again. “Lord, You are our hope when we are hopeless! Lord God, You are our guide when we are lost! You are our strength, Lord, when we are weak. You are our relief when we hurt. You are the beauty, Lord, in the ugliness that we see. You are the light in the darkness. Lord, we have trouble understanding that sometimes, and no matter how much we want to believe it, Lord, sometimes we just can't. So we give even that up to You, Lord. We try to empty ourselves and we give You that effort. We empty ourselves, Lord, of anything and all things that hold us back from truly believing, truly trusting, and truly surrendering, Lord. We do that because You have taught us to love and we want to love as You have taught us, Lord. So right now, God, we say to You, 'Send Your Spirit upon us, Lord, to change us. Send Your Spirit upon us to help us believe, to help us trust, to help us understand. But more than anything, Lord, send Your Spirit upon us to help us surrender to You, Lord, because truly we love You.'”

CONFIRMATION

I would like to confirm that message, and maybe even strengthen it a little. The Lord gave me the following words: “Do not let life happen to you, but let life live through you.” What I heard the Lord saying is, (in the first part), “Don't let life happen to you.” We have a tendency to think that life is about us, but it is really about Him. That is how we live life, or how life can be lived through us, because we have Jesus within us. The Lord also showed me that He hasn't promised to shelter us from life's storms. He has, instead, promised us that He will be the shelter in that storm. I think that the real message here is that it is not about us, but it is all about Him.

TESTIMONY

I moved here two years ago, and the Lord knows why and what He does. I read that we, ourselves, either dive into a pit, or we accidently fall into a pit, or we are pushed into a pit.

I was pushed into a pit, but God did not allow me to fall because I held on. I am thankful that I am out of it. God is working in my marriage. Last year I went back to visit my parents. My Mom works the night shift. That night my Dad stayed home and I went to visit a sister. When I came back to my parent's house, I found my Dad laying on the basement floor in a pool of blood. That has been very hard for me because I was “Daddy's little girl.” But now I see that God did that for a reason; if my Mom would have come home and found him laying there.... I don't even want to think about that. I am thankful to God the storms are clearing away and I can see His hand in it all. I just pray that He works in my life and does with me whatever it is that He wants to do with me, through the midst of it all. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and I am very thankful too that I found this prayer group. Thank you!

SCRIPTURE

I think this prayer of David says all that we are trying to say this evening. Psalm 142: With full voice I cry to the Lord; with full voice I beseech the Lord. Before God I pour out my complaint, lay bare my distress. My spirit is faint within me, but you know my path. Along the way I walk they have hidden a trap for me. I look to my right hand, but no friend is there. There is no escape for me; no one cares for me. I cry out to You, Lord, I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Listen to my cry for help, for I am brought very low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me. Lead me out of my prison, that I may give thanks to Your name. Then the just shall gather around me because You have been good to me.”

SENSE

I think God wants to remind us of something here tonight. He is very powerful here. After Dan did the opening and Sandy came up with all of those beautiful thanksgivings, people came here tonight and shared, at this place, with this candle, the Word of God. God says back to us in His Word tonight, “Before they call, I will answer! While they were yet speaking, I will harken to them.” I think that is what God is telling us tonight. That no matter where we are, where our path has been, if we walk that path in trust, in boldness, in compassion, in mercy and in confidence, He hears our prayers and we can be assured that He answers. Tonight in this community, the proof of these words has been expressed by the people here. Sandy's thanksgiving to God for that catastrophe which was averted on her brother. That is a gift from God beyond our imagination and that is an answer to a prayer spoken out of love in families. When people come here and thank God for what He has done in their lives, then God responds. He wants us to know that before we call, He will answer, and while we are yet speaking, He will harken to us.

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