Christmas 2012

Nut Shell:
God's plan is amazing! 
Your plans and dreams may have been ruined, but God has a far greater plan for your life! There is the nitty gritty, hard work you may have to face for God's plan to be fulfilled in your life, but it's still better than anything you could have done! And we are being brought by God into that plan. Each and everyone of us is part of God's plan to bring salvation to the world.
God alone fills us and brings us into that plan.

The Service:
I chose songs to reflect on what it must have been like for Joseph and Mary that first Christmas. What was it like for them trying to hear from God and understand the plan God had for them. how difficult was it for them to actually carry out their part in God's plan? How does their experience relate to our own struggles to hear from God and do what God is guiding us to do?

During the times when Joseph and Mary lived, all of Israel was looking for their Saviour to come. They were oppressed by the Roman Empire. It was hard times for them. They were looking for their deliverer to come from God. They were looking for the Messiah. 
Song: O Come, O Come Emmanuel 

In relating to Joseph, I was thinking that he couldn't always hear God and struggled to understand God's will for him. So- God spoke to Him in a dream. I know that in my life, there have been times when really important things came quickly and clearly, but, most other times I have to seek God, really search for God to get the answers I need for my life. Joseph was facing a real crisis, feelings of betrayal and fear of rejection. It was an issue of honour and he was afraid for Mary's life. It looked like his hopes and dreams were ruined and his reputation.
But God was always there for him and had a wonderful plan for his life.
 Song: Speak To Me  

Hearing from God can be both exciting and frightening.Sometimes there is responsibility in what you hear and you may have to face resistance from others who aren't open to God's will. It must have been both exciting and frightening for Joseph.Think about it. Everyone was looking for the Messiah to come and free them from their suffering and here God was choosing Joseph to be a part of the plan to deliver Israel! Joseph would have known what resistance he would have to face from his family and friends and the village he lived in. But when you have that deep conviction in your heart, you know god will take care of everything, including you. like Mary, Joseph had to surrender and trust God. 
Think again of God's plan. How amazing! The Messiah was now coming, the one who would deliver them forever, and He was coming-  as a baby!! 
Song: Amazed 

You may think it was so spiritual, so glorious for Mary to be visited by an angel, like - WOW! But the bible says that Mary was confused at the angel's greeting and the angel told her to not be afraid. It must have been exciting for Mary to hear the plan of God and know that she was the one to give birth to our saviour, but what about the implications? She faced so much adversity in her village, rejection, people talking badly of her. If Joseph rejected her, she could face death! She kept trusting and we know that Joseph did take her as wife, being obedient to God. But it was a difficult journey for them both. And then when Mary was nine months pregnant, she had to endure a long ride on a donkey to Bethlehem! I can't imagine how hard that was for her! And then when they got to Bethlehem, there was no place to stay, so she gave birth in a cold, smelly stable! That was tough!
But think of how wonderful it must have been to finally hold that precious little baby in her arms, seeing the promise of God fulfilled right before her eyes! And knowing this baby would become the Saviour of the world!

How does that relate to us? What trials, what crisis must we face in our lives. But God is with us to help us get through them and the plan that God has is far greater than anything we could ever have come up with! 
How do the decisions we make affect the big picture? The people around us, or those in the future?   We must trust God for everything! God's plan is the only one that will really work. God is brilliant!
So we may be thinking, oh, what can God do?!  
Through Joseph and Mary, just an average couple of people in a tiny village in the desert, God brought us our Lord, the one who would save us forever! 
How brilliant is That?!
Song: What Child Is this?  

Giving into God's will, yielding your heart and soul, that's when real revelation comes, wisdom and understanding from God comes. That is very exciting even if you must face adversity from others because you realize that God's answer is the only way.
In the story of Joseph and Mary, God's plan was the only way for all of us to be saved. God's plan was brilliant beyond anything we could have imagined!

And we are being brought into that plan. Each and everyone of us is part of God's plan to bring salvation to the world. God alone fills us and brings us into that plan. God brings us into the rhythm of that plan. 

Songs: I Adore You, Nothing Can Trouble  

Thought from Katherine Brittain's message:
How appropriate that God came as a baby, to remind us that we should never take our eyes off of Him! If you take your eyes off a baby for even a second, they can get into all kinds of things and create quite a mess! If we take our eyes off of God for just a second, we could find ourselves in a mess and have to quickly turn our attention back to find the way out!

Songs: O Little Town Of Bethlehem, Hope Of The Nations. 

God's Provision

Nut shell:
It's the message I've been hearing over and over. The things we think we need to ask God for are already done. But we need to make ourselves available to receive them. God won't ask us to do anything that He hasn't already made provision for.

Live Transformed Series: Health, by Dr. Jim Richards
In the gospels, john says that he wishes we would prosper even as our souls prosper. What is happening in our souls is going to keep us healthy. 
( or make us ill ) What is happening in our soul comes out of the beliefs of the heart. The core of health of the New Testament believer is about managing your beliefs and your emotions. If you, by the grace of God manage your beliefs and emotions, you will turn your health around.
Jim was asked, what would be a great testimony of his ministry. Now, Jim does think healing is a great testimony and has had many at his meetings, but this is what he said. "A great testimony for me is not : You came to my church, I went to an altar call, you laid hands on me and I got healed right on the spot. a great testimony for me is: You came to my church, I went to one of your meetings,  I went home and I started dealing with my issues and suddenly I realized, I don't have this problem any more."
I think Jim meant by issues: our heart beliefs. In other broadcasts he has said that it's not so much asking God to give us what we need as it is letting go of wrong concepts, ideas and beliefs about ourselves and God, and then we receive those things which God has already done for us.  I think he is saying, when we don't believe we have those things, then of course we cannot receive them, even when God has already given them. The problem is not on God's end, but our end.


Lectionary, November 4/12
Psalm 51
v. 6: But you desire honesty from the heart so you can teach me to be wise in my inmost being.
v.17: The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken spirit and a repentant heart, O God. you will not despise.
v.10- 12: Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Don not banish me from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you.

Psalm 119:  Happy are people of integrity who follow the Lord; God never gives up on them!

Psalm 146:  The writer asks God to give Him the right attitude so he can teach sinners and do the will of God with joy. That acknowledges our need as humans for God's help to obey Him.

Songs: Only You, Create In Me A Clean Heart, Come And Fill Our Hearts, Be Thou My Vision, My All In All.

November11/12

My new Day Nov. 8/12
Dr. Jim Richards , Life Transformed Series.

If we don't have the beliefs of the heart to support where we are going, we will always quit. 
We cannot comfortably exceed the beliefs of our heart. 
We cannot comfortably exceed our self perception.
What is shaping our beliefs? Media? Advertizing?

The human body is hugely adaptable. What we do over and over trains our body to do it that way, positive or negative.

We don't want the goal to be: I want to get healed, because once you are healed, then you go back to the unhealthy things that caused the problem in the first place.
We want the goal to be: I want to be healthy. That is a never ending goal and if your heart is in that, it will keep you motivated your whole life.

For those who have constantly started and stopped, there is something within reach that you can actually do and if you do it properly, then you will get great benefits from it. 

See and embrace yourself living healthy.

(Bob) Then you can see and know where you are going.  

Prescription:
Create a character sketch: What would it look like of you were healthy. What would I be doing?This is designed so that you will set goals that engage the heart and then the goals you set will last a life time.  

Fall back in love with yourself!

My New Day,November15/12
Dr. Jim Richards Life transformed Series

Your health, emotions and spiritual life all mirror each other. As time goes on it gets easier. You must do what fits naturally in your life, or you won't continue, you'll quit. your beliefs about anything must be consistent with you're having a sense of dignity and worth based on who you are in Christ.

You don't want something that is not consistent with how God wants you to live.

What you believe about yourself is what your life is going to become, even your physiological part of your life. For example; if you focus on health, your body will automatically adjust to the weight that is right for you. If you can't accept yourself where you are, you cannot get out of where you are. It's not accepting where you are, but accepting yourself even if you are not where you want to be. You can't do it mentally, you can only do it through the beliefs of the heart, the perspective of the heart, connecting with who you are in Christ.
When you are stuck in guilt and shame, not accepting yourself, what a better way to punish yourself than to keep your self in those things you hate.

Perscription:
Love and accept yourself, and accept the fact that God loves you, and Jesus died for you. that's how much worth you have.
With your hands held in front of you, palms upward, and fingers curled inward, tap your palms together gently, bringing them together at the base of the baby fingers, where the skin creases. Do it for 10 to 20 seconds. While you do it say to your self: I love and accept myself even though I am or do or have ( the thing that I hate.) You can do it when you find yourself thinking about that thing you hate about yourself.
In time you will start thinking differently about yourself.

Dr. Jim Richards, My New Day, November 22, 2012
Last program of Live Transformed Series.

Nut shell:
The more I can see what I would look like being healthy, the more that becomes normal and safe and familiar to me and the more my heart will automatically take me to that place.
< It will become natural for me to live that way.>

From the program:
I must love and accept myself where I am. When I love and accept myself, I no longer need to punish myself.
What a better way to punish myself than to hold on to the things I hate. If I forgive myself and love myself, then I can let go of those things for I no longer have need of them to punish myself.
I must put off all that which is not consistent with what Jesus has for me and put on the truth which is who I am and what I have in Christ.

Prescription:
Expand on your character sketch. Look at different areas of your life. If I was healthy, how would I eat and what activities would I be doing? Claim health, strength, skill in each area of your life.

Nut shell for whole series:
It's not that we have to go to God to get those things we need. They have already been done for us. We have everything we need in Christ. It's what we believe in our hearts about ourselves that stops us from having what God has already given to us through Christ. We must change our heart beliefs to line up with God's word and then we will be able to receive those things God has given us through Christ.

Each Season passing gives new opportunities to learn and change. Saying Goodbye always means saying Hello to new experiences and offers a chance to be stretched and to grow. 
OUCH, HALLELUJAH!