Overcomer

It has been an interesting week so far... Crazy stuff happened from when I went to bed Sunday night(I went to bed early) to when I got up and Pastor Andrew was in the hospital and was not doing well. It took me by surprise when his health was so bad so quick. I immediately thought of Shawna and the family and then my thoughts moved towards the church. Before I heard about what happened I had read this in a devotional earlier that morning:

God does not play a game of counterattack with the devil — the devil does something bad, then God steps in to bring something good out of it. The truth is, when something bad happens, it is the devil reacting to something good that God has started. The Lord once told me, “Tell My people that if they want to understand what I am doing, just look at what the devil is doing and see it in reverse. That is what I am doing, multiplied many times over.”
I see this truth in the Bible. When Christ was born, soldiers were sent to kill all baby boys under the age of two in Bethlehem. The folks in Bethlehem then would have seen only evil. But there were those like Mary who saw God’s goodness. They knew that God had sent a Savior into the world! The killing of the infants was just the devil’s reaction to the gift of salvation that God had sent.

I thought of Pastor and our church. How God is doing amazing things here in every ministry. How we are impacting our community with E.G. W.I.N.S. How peoples lives are being changed every week. And the enemy is trying to stop what God is already doing!

But he won't succeed.

Psalm 27:1 
The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?

Isaiah 41:13
For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
 

Deuteronomy 20:4
For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."

Psalm 44:6-8
I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.

Luke 10:19
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

John 16:33
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Romans 8:35.37
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

There is verse after verse of God, who is our overcomer, fighting for us and winning on our behalf. I believe that this is an attack on our Pastor that wont work because God is our overcomer and we put our trust in Him! He is our fortress we run to and are saved! He is our healer! God is our rock! Jesus is our Prince of Peace! God is our protector! Psalm 3:3 says God is my shield! Jesus is our Shepherd! The Holy Spirit is our comforter! On and on I could write of who God is for us! Let us hold on to these truths that God is our overcomer and in Him we can do all things!

Jesse

Nerium Bracelet Pt.2

It's been a while since my last post. It's been awesome busy since my last post. I don't wear the bracelet any more but here are the rest of the holes. 

Nerium Bracelet Pt. 2

5. God thinks good thoughts about me. Most people believe the opposite, if they believe in God at all. People have this thought 'I trusted God for salvation but now God is sitting back wanting me to do it all and every time I mess up he gets upset and then has to forgive me again and I'm just a disappointment, etc.' To know what God thinks about us is a big deal. Do you want to live in that condemnation and shame all the time? We do when we don't recognize that Gods grace and love and forgiveness is for us in every situation. The cross makes it so that he is not angry with us any more and that this scripture can be absolutly true, 'How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!' Psalms 139:17-18 NLT God has so many good thoughts that we would never be able to count them all. About you. About me. He loves us and cares for us and those are things that God thinks about everyday.

6. God is the God of right now. So many times you hear people say 'I'm waiting on God' when in reality they are using that as an excuse. Either to procrastinate or avoid what God wants them to do but God is moving right now in our lives. God is moving in our church. God is moving in our city. God is moving in our nation and around the world. Right now!!! Right now people are being saved around the world. Right now people are being healed and restored. Right now relationships are being mended. Right now persecutions are happening and God is with them every step of the way. Right now!!! If I don't here a response? God gave me a brain to make decisions and I will use it to take action. The world is not changed by people who wait... It is by people who take action. God is here right now with me and with you and he is moving right now!

7. I am complete in Christ. This is actually a scripture verse. Colossians 2:10. Any thing I need is found in Christ. So many times in life we are lacking. We are broken. We are hurting. We need wisdom. We need help. We need life. It is all found in Jesus. He gives us what we need for every circumstance. In every situation. When something happens and we have the thoughts of worry, provision, fear, anger, loss, and brokenness, we turn to Jesus. Because in him we are complete lacking nothing that we would need to be over comers in every circumstance. 

8. My dreams are bigger than my excuses. Every one of us have had dreams absolutly crushed. Something didn't work out at work. Personal circumstances went down the drain. And our dreams seem to be just gone. 'There is no way that can happen for me'. Hope is lost. Attitudes turn sour. We have this mentality that nothing good is ever going to happen and we give up on our dreams. Here's the truth... Dreams are something God gives us. He puts them inside of us. Hope in our lives, expecting good things to happen, is part of what God is all about. What to hope for is not the question here. To be without it is to live life with no joy. If you are not expecting anything in your life except bad, you need to meet Jesus. Jesus is our hope and nothing is bigger and greater than God. So no excuse, no mountain, no circumstance, no enemy from hell is going to keep me from believing that Gods dreams for me are great and he wants them to happen. Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you. To give you hope and a future. 

Here is a recap:
1. God Unconditionally Loves Me
2. God is Good
3. Jesus is My Good Enough
4. Jesus is My More than Enough

5. God thinks good thoughts about me

6. God is the God of right now

7. I am complete in Christ

8. My dreams are bigger than my excuses