Bless This House

In this society of broken homes, where can people turn to, to see the reality of God's love and the picture of a stable home? What they see, should show them that it will take more than our carnal human love to repair brokenness and instability. 

 

As women of faith, we need to respect and honor the people we live with, pray for them daily and show the power of God's love working in our homes.  A home that honors and respects love, faith, commitment makes a great impact on others...because the world is watching and looking for some serious answers.

Remember always, that if you say that you are a devoted Christian, then you are of the house of God.  Nothing should seperate you from this!  You are called to bless your house, and the residents in it!  They too are to know that they are of the house of God, and nothing less.  If we establish this type of foundation, it makes living easier when our children / family members step out of our homes.  They can stay focused because they know and understand where they come from and what legacy to carry on.

It is your responsibility to pray this fervently over your children, over your family, and over your house. 

 

2 Samuel 7:28-29 (The Message) - "And now, Master God, being the God you are, speaking sure words as you do, and having just said this wonderful thing to me, please, just one more thing: Bless my family; keep your eye on them always. You've already as much as said that you would, Master God! Oh, may your blessing be on my family permanently!"

Blessing Builders:

• How does your faith make your home different from the homes of some of your neighbors?
• In what ways can you encourage each other (in your household), to carry on the legacy of Godly principles?

Living with Unmet Desires - Week One

What is Jealousy?
Envy, covetousness, resentment, suspicion, distrust; jealous resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself; mental uneasiness from suspicion or fear of rivalry, unfaithfulness, etc., as in love or aims; vigilance in maintaining or guarding something; a jealous feeling, disposition, state, or mood: to be zealous, in a bad sense or envy; to create, to procure, jealousy, as of a husband, or an enemy, malice, emulation, envy, fervent mind, indignation (annoyance) to be hot and fervent.

 

According to our workbook (Living with Unmet Desires), jealousy is defined as the following things:

 

• Symptom of a broken heart
• Symptom of a deeper heart issue
• Unbelief that beckons jealous thoughts through the doors of our heart
• We are unable to think well of others
• Pure devastation in our relationships

 

The four core issues of a jealous heart:

1. God, can I trust you? This question is not do I trust you, its can I? This is much more personal. It’s like telling God that you have heard of all the great things that He can do and has done, but can you trust Him with your life? Specifically, you! Trust is a big issue for us because we have been broken and burned so many times that our trust radar is always up and on alert. We just cannot afford to go through one more hurt, right? We play this game with God as if he is just a regular friend of ours; which we share a secret with or some story and we start off like that… friend, can I trust you with this?

 

Trust defined: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something: one in which confidence is placed

 

If we cannot place our trust in God, then we cannot believe anything that comes from Him. Trust and faith are joined together. They are both something that you cannot rely on your own strength for.

Our trust in God is something the enemy would LOVE to steal from us…. Psalm 22:9 tells us of when our need for trust began and with whom. Exercise on lower page 14 is what happens when our trust in someone is broken. These emotions that we feel is something that the enemy is looking for…because when we feel alone, rejected, and confused…then, he decides to come in with the lies.

  

2. God, do You love me? – LOVE – have to have it, right? This is something that most, if not all of us, yearn for…single, married, dating, whatever…. We all want to love, and to be loved.

 

5 different types of love:
Eros is a passionate love, between a man and a woman with sensual desire and longing. The Modern Greek word "erotas" means "(romantic) love". However, eros does not have to be sexual in nature. Eros can be interpreted as a love for someone whom you love more than the philia love of friendship. It can also apply to dating relationships as well as marriage. Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself.

 

Phileo, which means friendship in modern Greek, a dispassionate virtuous love, was a concept developed by Aristotle. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality and familiarity. In ancient texts, philia denoted a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers. It is as the affection between two people drawn together in a relationship based on common interests.

 

Agapē means "love" in modern day Greek. It is the unfailing, selfless love that every single one of our hearts longs for. Agape is used in ancient texts to denote feelings for a good meal, one's children, and the feelings for a spouse. It can be described as the feeling of being content or holding one in high regard. The verb appears in the New Testament describing, amongst other things, the relationship between Jesus and the beloved disciple. This kind of love always considers the other person’s interest. The only way we can love this way, is if we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

The problem with this is that we come to God with the understanding of what we have experienced love to be from the world…because that’s all we know. And so when God tells us He loves us, we have a hard time grasping the concept.

 

Storge means "affection" in modern Greek; it is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring. Rarely used in ancient works, and then almost exclusively as a descriptor of relationships within the family.

 

Thelema means "desire" in modern Greek; it is the desire to do something, to be occupied, to be in prominence.

  

3. God, are You good? The question in the book is “what do you do when the person who we believed has disappointed us the most in the area of being good to us is God Himself? This is a great question! Then the other part of this question deals with the presence vs the presents of God. Is God good only when we get things from Him or is He just a good God all together? How much do you and I equate the goodness of God with our personal happiness and comfort?

 

4. God, are You just? You know we look at our lives and compare it to the lives of others and we start asking God if certain things are fair….are they just… etc.

Read 1 Sam1:1-8

 

Making the choice to leave the pit. How do we get out of it? With God’s help, of course. First we need to recognize who God is, and secondly, examine our feelings and emotions…and see if they agree and accept God for who He is.

 

This is the battle in our minds.

Self Builders:

• Are you honest with yourself that you have once in your life asked one of those 4 questions?
• What has been the outcome?

I AM fixing the broken things..

Forwarded by Treva... Some of us (@ our various churches) are participating in a 21-day Daniel fast. This should help encourage us :). And even if you are not participating in a fast, apply your situation to this story. *********** Hello, I just wanted to share a personal experience that I had today with each of you to encourage during the fast. I have had a CD stuck in my CD player in my car since 2008. I have pushed, prodded, tried to trick it to release the CD over the past several years. This morning after dropping my son off at school, I was trying to push the FM button and accidentally pushed eject. (I had stopped intentionally pushing eject, because I had given up on the CD EVER coming out!). To my amazement, the eject button worked and the CD came out with ease. I wish someone was there to take a picture of my face. If you understood the struggle I went through on my own trying to get the CD out, you would understand.(lol) The CD player operated just like it was supposed to and I was stunned. I was ready to scream with excitement about that when I heard in my spirit "I AM fixing the broken things." Things in our lives we have toiled over, worried about and pushed through are going to be fixed and ejected out of our lives with the anointing of ease! Sickness-ejected! Doubt-ejected! Debt-ejected! I was trying to push the FM button and a book I am reading refers to FM frequency as the "Faith Mode". We must stay in "Faith Mode" during this fast and expect God to show up. Now I believe He is even going to do some unexpected things just because He loves us so much. When we change our mindset to "Faith Mode" we also have choices! Now I have a choice of what CD to listen to in MY car! Praise God! When we are whole we have choices. Healing opens up choices. Finances open up choices. Situations you thought you would NEVER come out of are going to be fixed. I just have the faith to declare it! Choose to listen to the voice of God and eject the old voice out! (change the CD playing in your mind that says doubt, fear, discouragement and put in conqueror, fearlessness, encouragement) My CD player operates correctly now. Command your body to operate correctly, your finances to operate correctly! It's the season! I was trying to fix the CD player on my own, I never took it to a specialist. During this fast we have the ear of 'The Specialist'. Take those things to him that you had given up on and stopped believing and praying about. He can fix in a moment what we have been trying to fix on our own for years. Be encouraged, Joshua 3:5 says "Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow I will do wonders among you!" We are sanctifying ourselves through fasting and prayer. Be on the look out for the wonders!! Sister in Christ, Michelle Brown

Invite Him In

There is a famous scripture that many people have heard in the context of an invitation to know Christ, as Savior. Rev 3:20 (Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in)". God does not force Himself upon us. He is quite a gentleman :) He knocks, and waits for us to ask Him in. There is an initial step, the first step of this, which we call salvation. We hear Christ knocking and we open our hearts to Him as Savior. It is the first turning. But the principle of this "knocking and waiting for permission to come in" remains true, well into our Christian life. We all pretty much handle our brokenness in the same way - we mishandle it. It hurts too much to go there. So we shut the door to that room in our hearts, and we throw away the key....but that does not bring healing to our souls, not at all. It might bring relief - for a while but never healing. Usually, it orphans the little girl in that room, leaves her to fend for herself. The best thing we can do is to let Jesus come in, open the door and invite Him in to find us in those hurting places. He knocks through our loneliness, through our sorrows, through events that feel too close to what happened to us when we were young - a betrayal, a rejection, a word spoken, a relationship lost, He knocks through many things in our lives, waiting for us to give Him permission to enter in. The question is, will you let Him heal you? Will you give Him access to your broken heart?