Rejoice in the Lord!
How is your week going? It’s really cold here in central Texas—they say the coldest winter in a decade! And it is also the winter we moved into the tent! The Lord has such a sense of humor! Brrr…
I am writing to remind all you wonderful people about our upcoming revival beginning this Sunday, Jan. 10th. We have some wonderful special guests that will be ministering in the evenings. Ps Dean and Jane Bearden from Journey Church in Corpus Christi, TX, Ps Melvin and Machelle Smith from Cedar Park, TX and Ps Mike and Vicki Hankins from Rockwall, TX. These dear folks are seasoned ministers of the gospel and you aren’t going to want to miss one service. It is going to be a powerful week of ministry and impartation! Will you just go ahead and pencil next week on your calendar, “appt. with God!” Revival runs Sunday-Friday and the services are nightly @ 7:00 pm. Come warm, casual, and comfortable and let’s press in as we are in the early stages of Fasting and Prayer in our Vision Month here at CWC. I believe God wants to speak to you personally and to all of us as a church. It’s gonna be awesome!
Early this morning, we were up spending time with the Lord and He took us to a very familiar passage of scripture;
Philippians 4 says—
4Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!
5Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is coming soon].
6Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
7And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
9Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.
Several things that jumped out to me—“gladden yourselves in Him”. In other words, don’t wait for someone else to stir you up—stir yourself up! Get happy! It’s up to you!
“Don’t fret about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by PRAYER AND PETITION (DEFINITE REQUESTS)! In other words, be specific. And do it with Thanksgiving!
And God’s peace will “garrison and mount guard”. Church, what a promise!
Verse 8 says, “think on and weigh and take account of the things that are true, pure, lovely kind, gracious, virtuous and excellent”. In other words, don’t dwell on the things you that you didn’t do…dwell on the things that you did do and that the Lord has blessed! We all “coulda, shoulda, woulda”!!! But we can’t dwell on that…we have to rehearse the past victories and dwell on the wins!
And last but not least, Paul says we are to, “practice what you have learned.” In other words, “stay with what you know”. Don’t keep looking for the next new thing. Someone once said, “Dance with the one that brung ya!!!” And that is still a very good piece of advice! Many of us have been raised on the tenets of faith, trust and reliance on God and folks, we better stay with that!
During this season of prayer and fasting—why don’t you join us these next Wednesdays for prayer and praise in the cabin? I promise you—you will not be disappointed! The anointing of God is so powerful and you can feel Him changing you from “glory to glory!”
Friends, have a blessed week. We would love to hear what the Lord is doing in you or saying to you during the fast. Why don’t you take a moment and drop us a line with praise reports? It would be a blessing to many!
Another year of blessings,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team