Faith- Part II

It is so amazing all that has happened to challenge my Faith since my last post.  It would appear that Satan was just saying OK let me see if you really know what you are talking about? Let me briefly share some with you.  On Thursday 8/25/11, my 38 week pregnant niece realizing that her baby was not moving went in to see her OB/GYN. 14 or so ours later she delivered a stillborn baby  7lbs 5 oz.  The following day my husband and I went to Maryland to help our daughter move , our son drove down to help us the following day, after a very busy day moving and getting wet with rains from hurricane Irene we set out to go back home to Delaware, my son was driving by himself ahead of us about 5 minutes.  My phone rang and my son’s voice was on the other end- mom I was in a bad accident, I am getting ready to call the police, I lost it for a moment, and then I started to pray, his car was such a mangled mess, but he walked away without any obvious injury.  In the midst of ever thing happening, our car would not start, it is raining and Triple A could not give us a time that they would be there, one of the 3 police cars that responded to the accident gave us a jump start and we started on our way home. We were happy to get home 1.5 hours before the state of emergency went into effect in Delaware.  Emotionally and physically tired  we sat down to eat something , then the lights went out, so our sump pump could not work, we bailed water from our basement  until 6 am that morning when we stopped totally exhausted, our basement of course completely flooded. With my tired and weak voice I burst out in singing “I have the victory hallelujah” I am still waiting on my electricity to be restored and a call back as to when someone can come to assess the damage to our basement, but I refuse to let my Faith be shaken, because God is faithful and promises that what the enemy means for bad He will turn around for our good. As bad as things seem, I rejoice because it could have been worse.
What is Satan throwing at you to shake your Faith in God? Is it your job, your children, your marriage, your finance, whatever it is, stay anchored and know that God is able to bring you through.

     As mentioned previously, Without Faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and it was also established that as Christians we have all been given the measure of Faith (Romans 12:3).
However, If we look at Romans 10:17 it says: Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (NIV).  What is this message that we should be hearing in the word of God?  The message I believe is the good news of Salvation and all that comes along with being born into the family of God, and being an heir of God’s Kingdom, joint heir with Jesus. The word of God is necessary for our faith to expand. The more knowledge that we have of his word the more our Faith should grow. So I do believe that instead of praying for more Faith- we need to be more focused on getting to know God’s word.  Knowing God’s word is also knowing God. The more we know someone the more we are apt to trust them.  Could this be a reason why it is so difficult for some of us to trust God?
Faith is also a mentioned in Galatians 5:22 as a fruit of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith (KJV). Paul use fruit not fruits, which suggest that this is like a cluster or like a tangerine -one tangerine has many pegs, therefore this kills the argument of person saying I have peace but no faith, or I have love but no peace. We all have this clustered fruit.
The subject of Faith is a very big topic, which I have just dented, however I do hope you have gotten the picture of why this is important as we pray for and with our children.  Sometimes it would seem that nothing is happening as we pray, but do not look at what it seems instead see it happening in the spirit. Call things that are not as if they were. Romans  4:16-18  ¹⁶Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, ¹⁷(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were (KJV).

In my bible study class we have been looking at the first 3 chapters of Ephesians and I would like to share with you a portion of this. I found it so reassuraing, and I hope you will find it so as well.
Ephesians  1: 15-23 ¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.   

So here's our prayer today:
Father, I thank you that your word contains all that I need to know about who you are. The more that I read your word, the better that I know you and the more I realize that I can trust you completely. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord so that I may be enlightened in order to know the hope to which you have called me. Thank you for your incomparable great power, the same one that raised Christ from the dead. Help me to call those things which be not as though they were as I wait for their manifestation. In Jesus name Amen.

In His Service

Vilma

Oh - my lights are back on Praise the Lord !!!!!!!!!

Faith- What about it?

For today’s post I want to focus our attention on the word FAITH.  It is important that when we pray for our children that we pray correctly. This may not feel comfortable to some people, but most of us when we pray; we fail to do so according to the word of God.  We pray contrary to God’s word or we tend to ask God to do things that He has already done and has given us the power and authority to do.  Sometimes we pray and we say all the right things and at the end of it all we start to speak negatively about the very thing we just prayed and ask God for.

     I have been a Christian for a very long time, and I learned how to pray before I could read and had a very active prayer life, however it was not until over the last 10 years that I received some teaching about Faith and prayer through the Andrew Wommack Ministries, that started to open my eyes to a whole new level in my prayer life. I started out believing and praying differently, but because I was so accustomed to the old way of praying, in addition I kept surrounding myself with people who believed differently, my prayer life kept going back and forth like a yo-yo between my new teaching and the old way I was accustomed to praying. Over the last 2 years I was diagnosed with a heart condition, I decided to dig deeply into the word of God and scriptures pertaining to healing and began to listen to the Andrew Wommack teaching again. This truly revolutionized my life not only in my healing but it transcended to every area of my life. I must also give credit to my Pastor Morgan Ikonne who God brought into my life about 15 months ago. Whose teachings are similar to what God has being revealing to me.  Unlike some people who may hold on to a good thing I want to share it with you. I will not be able to give you all the information in this post but will continue in the next post and as time goes on I will share my full story with you.

Faith is extremely important for Christians. The bible says Hebrews 11:6- And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (NIV).
God would not keep something away from you when that something is a requirement for pleasing Him
I often hear a number of people saying things like “you have no faith” or he or she has more faith than I do. However I would like to disagree with statements like this. Here is my reasoning:
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
The measure refers to a specific unit of measurement or amount. If the Bible said a measure of Faith, then I could agree with you because it could mean that the amount of faith given differed according to what was used to measure it- a spoon, a cup, a glass or a bucket.. So why do some people seem to have more than the next person. I would say that the more one exercises his Faith the more his Faith grows in God. Think of 2 people going to the gym, one goes occasionally, runs on the tread mill and lift about 2-3 pounds when in the mood, the 2^nd person goes at least four days a week, and started out lifting  five pounds and gradually increasing the amount of weight that he lifts each time. Which of these two persons would look more rip?  I believe the 2^nd person would.  What am I saying? Your measure of faith will only grow as you work it.

So what is Faith?  Most people will quickly refer me to Hebrews 11:1 now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (NIV).

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (KJV).
What does this mean in our everyday language? When I think of FAITH, the first thing that comes to mind is Faith is something that I already have and must use or exercise in order to please God. I think of Faith as seeing in the Spirit the manifestation of things before they actually come to fruition. It is a confidence in knowing that what I am waiting for will happen, even if I do not understand what God is doing.

So because I already have Faith, I am not praying to God for Faith, instead I pray for the strength, willingness and determination to use or exercise the FAITH that He has already given to me.

Let me connect some dots: children are gifts from God, mothers are special to God, we must forgive those who have in the past hurt us and our children, there are many promises from God for our children, and the other dot is that Faith is necessary to please God. It is extremely important to know these things as we pray for our children. This certainly will affect the way in which we pray. Let me leave you with one other verse- Romans 8:32 says: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Not some things but all things.

Father, I thank you that you have given me the measure of Faith, help me to start exercising my Faith, trust and confidence in your word, because without Faith it is impossible to please you. Help me not to be confined by my five senses instead to transcend to the spiritual level in Jesus name Amen.

If you have been blessed, please share this site with someone. Please feel free to make comments.

In His Service,

Vilma

Promises in the Word for my Children

I have established in my previous posts that children are a blessing from the Lord, I also showed how very special mothers are to God, I have shown where regardless of the circumstance in which our children were born they are still blessings from God as the Devil does not give life. I explained why we need to let go of un-forgiveness and move forward. If we do not forgive the ones who hurt us then we cannot expect God to forgive us for our transgression.

For this post I would like to look at some of the many promises that God have concerning our children. This is important because if we know what these promises are, it will help us when we pray to pray according to God’s word.  Let me hasten to say that knowing the promises is not enough; we also must fully believe these promises. Another word that we can use to replace believe happens to be another “F” word –FAITH.  We will discuss this more in our next post.

The apostle Peter in speaking to the multitude (Acts 2) that had gathered around them told them to first repent then to be baptized and that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and in verse Acts 39 he told them -For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call. What was Peter saying? I believe he was saying that the promise of the Holy was also to our Children.

Here are some promises concerning our children.

Deut. 29:29 "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the Words of this Law.

Deut. 30:6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

Deut. 7:13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land--your grain, new wine and oil--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you.

Ps. 8:2 "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger."

Psalm 25: 12-13   Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

Ps. 37:25-26. 25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. 26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed."

Psalm 112: 1-2   Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands. His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Psalm 115: 14 May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children.

Psalm 127:3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

Psalms. 128:3,4 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD.

Proverbs 20:7 The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Isaiah 44:3-5  For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, 'I belong to the LORD'; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, 'The LORD's,' and will take the name Israel.

Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD.

Isaiah 61:8-9 For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed."

Jeremiah 33:16-17 This is what the LORD says: "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD. "They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future," declares the LORD. "Your children will return to their own land.

Matt. 19:14 "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Acts 16:31-33 " And they said, Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house... And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway."

Although these promises speak specifically of our children, all the promises in the word of God also apply to our children.

So how do I pray?

Father I thank you that you have so many promises fin your word that apply to my child/children as well as for their children. I thank you that according to what you have promised my children will be saved, and that your word will not depart from their mouth. I thank you for pouring out your spirit upon them and your blessings on their descendants. I rejoice Lord, in knowing that the secret things which are revealed by you belong unto us and to our children forever.  Father I thank you that regardless of what may happen, my children will never beg for bread. I thank you that as I train them in the way they should go, they may stray but help me to remember that they will not depart from these teachings. I thank you for this reassurance In Jesus name Amen.

In His Purpose

Vilma

Letting go of Un-forgiveness

8/9/11

In my last post I discussed the fact that regardless of the circumstance, in which we conceived and had children, they are still God’s gift, because the devil, does not give life he only comes to steal, kill and destroy. Remember Christ comes to give Life and to give it more abundantly. Choose Life that you may live. Start to see your child or children as God sees them “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Not as illegitimate as we sometimes call children born out of marriage. They are real children, not imitation or carbon copies; yes they will need salvation just as you and I and the President, the Queen or your Pastor, but they are just as loved by God. We will defer this for another post. You get my point.

As mentioned previously moving on is difficult for a lot of us to do, however difficulty does not translate impossibility. Today, let us talk about letting go, letting God and moving on. Let us talk about the big “F” word FORGIVENESS. When we harbor un-forgiveness in our heart it hinders our prayers from being answered by God. Un-forgiveness decreases our potential to be great parents.  When we allow un-forgiveness to remain with us, it will become a root of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15). Think about weed growing in your flower garden, what does it do?  If left to grow, it eventually chokes the flowers, it takes up their space their water, their oxygen and in a little while the flowers wither away and die. What am I saying? Un-forgiveness will choke our peace, joy, our strength, our faith, our spirit, and in no time you start to die spiritually, emotionally and physically. Many times when we find ourselves with ulcers, stomach pains, headaches, anxiety and depression, the cause may be stemming from our un-forgiveness. It is necessary to pluck it now than wait until you have no energy to do so. The man that you are holding un-forgiveness towards, has moved on, is enjoying his life and has no twitch of conscience and possible will not understand why you are mad at him. It is not worth it!

Forgiveness is a process, but you have to start the process and continue to forgive daily if you stop in the middle or turn back, you will not get to the end. In the model prayer we are taught “forgive us our debts (trespasses, sins) as we forgive our debtors “(Mathew 6: 9-13). Why?

V 14-15: For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
So when we pray to God about and for our children ask you the question, Is he hearing my prayers? Is there un-forgiveness in my heart?

Some maybe saying I have forgiven him once twice three times, he told me he would do better but he still has not gotten his act together. Let us look at Mathew 18:21-22
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

What Christ talking necessarily to forgive 490 times, I do not think so, I believe the lesson is to forgive as many times as you have to- ouch! Let me hasten to say that forgiveness does not mean you allow yourself to be taken for a ride each time. No it means you move away from the situation and Ask God for strength not to repeat the same mistake. You hold the key to free yourself from the prison you have put yourself in, use it. Watch God use for God what they/him meant for evil.

So how do I pray?

Father, I confess before you my hurt and bitterness towards (insert name). I forgive him for what he has done to me and his children. It is a difficult thing for me to do, so Father I need your strength to do so. I want to focus my energy to care for my children, something good that has come out of this relationship. I need to do so with Joy, and peace. Take away the anxieties that I have, thinking I will not be able to do a good job without his (their) father. I thank you that as my father you love and care for me so much that I do not need to fear. I thank you that as you said in your word, you will never leave us or forsake us. I also know that you will supply our needs. Father when days come, when the un-forgiveness seem to be coming back, help me to remember that I confessed and you forgave me and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I thank you father that you have the whole world in your hands- great big strong hands and hence you have me and my child/children (insert names) in your hands as well. I move forward this day with all the power you have given me and I will not stop or look back until I have accomplished my goal. In Jesus name Amen.

Please feel free to make your comments or ask questions.

In His Purpose

Vilma

A gift from God?

In this post I will attempt to answer a question that I believe many mothers are asking after reading the previous two posts, A question that is reverberating in their heads but no one else seem to be hearing it. As a matter of fact they prefer not to say it, because they are afraid that they will seem too simple, too different too human. Over these many years I have learnt that if one person has a question, more than likely a number of people have the same question. So I will ask me the question on behalf of Jane, Jean, Jennifer, Janice and Joan. Are children still considered gifts from God, if you were raped, or perhaps you were not raped, but un-married, what if he was married but to someone else at the time, What if it was a “one night stand”, what happens if I was tricked into believing he loved me, but after the baby came he found the exit sign? Are you saying that these children are still gifts from God?  As painful as this may be I must say yes they are.  Let us look at two key verses. The first of these verses we looked at in an earlier post.

Psalm 127: 3-5 (NIV)  ³ Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.  ⁴ like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.  ⁵ Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

I have read this verse in various translations and none of these translations had “some” before the word sons or before the word children. Hence these children are not set a part they are all inclusive.  The second verse that I want to look at is:
John 10:10 -The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly. (NIV)

The devil cannot give life, he can only destroy it. Satan cannot create he will try to make imprints of what is already created, the gift of life is something that he will never be able to do
To fully explain let me take you back to Christmas time. You have just completed all you’re shopping. Your gifts are wrapped neatly and hidden in the closet. Perhaps in Jane’s situation the intended person for the gift she had wrapped so nicely became so anxious that he just could not wait until Christmas morning and before you know it he peeked at the gift. Maybe in Jean’s case before she could get the gift in the closet some body grabbed at it and ripped the paper off without thought or care then walked away and left it exposed. For Jennifer, perhaps you both decided, why wait until Christmas day, let’s do Christmas earlier and together you opened your gifts. OK Janice, I get your situation, you both opened the gift before Christmas, but when he saw it, he decided that was not the gift he really wanted. Or perhaps in your case Joan you waited until Christmas morning, together you both carefully un-wrapped the gift and are both excited with what you see. Anyway somewhere along the line things started to become a bit tiresome, you did not realize that it would take so much work to maintain the gift, maybe you have to mow the lawn, do some painting, pay the bills and one person gets so tired and then decide I can’t do this anymore and walks away leaving you alone to take care of everything. In all these scenarios the fact that they were all gifts has not changed.  Consider this, these gifts themselves are inanimate objects, unable to talk, plea or refused to be exposed. They were completely defenseless.

 In the case of Jane and Jennifer, this could equate to a person who had a child before marriage, In Jean’s case this could be seen as a person being raped or an incestuous relationship. With Janice’s case it could equate to two people agreeing to have a child and not being married but after the baby came the father walks away because it was not the boy he expected, or the color he wanted. In the case of Joan, she got married and they both had a baby but along the way, the father decided this is too much work, not what he anticipated, your marriage starts to fall apart and then he asks for a divorce and you are left all alone.  I could come up with so many other scenarios all in essence causing anxiety, bitterness, disappointment, guilt, unhappiness.  But let us think about it these babies had no voice, they could not make a decision, they were defenseless.

Moving on is easier said than done. You however must move forward and start to reprogram your mind and ask God what is the purpose of this gift. How can these situations work for the good?  In my next post I will address the process of forgiveness, because we cannot effectively pray for our children with hearts full of un-forgiveness and bitterness.

So, ladies you may now exhale, the question is asked and the answer is clear. I cannot add or subtract from the word of God. His word is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.  ⁴ like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.  ⁵ Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

So how should I pray?

Let’s try this: Father I thank you for this gift of motherhood. Forgive me for doubting your word. Help me to reprogram my thinking so that I will see my gift as innocent and not a contributor to how it was handle and the condition in which it arrived.  Help me to focus on caring and correctly using this gift in such a way to bring you glory and honor. Forgive me of the many times that I try to take out my aggression on these innocent children. Help me stop saying- “you are just like your no-good father” but to see them in your image as being fearfully and wonderfully made.  I ask for wisdom to grow them in such a way that they will not repeat these scenarios when they get older. Grant me the patience to move forward in Jesus’ name Amen.

In his purpose

Vilma