Taking Possession of God’s Power and Promise!
I know there are times when regular visitors to the site must think I sound like a broken record, but despite that, I just have to say it again…I will never cease to be totally amazed and blown away by God’s awesome power of confirmation! When He has an important message for us, or when we ask Him to confirm something, He NEVER lets us down – and He makes sure we get the point loud and clear!
I had a difficult time getting to sleep last night, because the Lord had laid something on my heart so strongly that I finally had to send a message of support and encouragement to my husband, even though it could prove embarrassing if what I was sensing was wrong. But I did get confirmation about it this morning and found out that one of the fellowship members also had a difficult night – in fact, two of them did. But the Lord provided so much encouragement and confirmation this morning that it’s almost impossible to believe it’s real!
First, I loved Joyce Meyer’s TV broadcast message, You’ve Got What It Takes – Part I, this morning and felt it really spoke to the situation I was concerned about so I decided to use it with my SOF post today. And then I listened to tomorrow’s message, You’ve Got What It Takes – Part II, and decided to include it as well.
Then I received email confirmation that what the Lord had put on my heart last night was true, and then a call from the member who had posted a prayer request on the ladies site early this morning, which I hadn’t read yet. But which was just further confirmation of our absolute need to take possession of God’s power and promises, especially as we stand for the restoration of our marriages. So I was already pretty impressed with how I saw the Lord working when one of the ladies sent me a link to something she wanted to share with the member who had posted the prayer request early this morning, because she didn’t have her email address. And when I checked out what she sent, it actually made me cry, because of how much it tied into the message I had sent last night and because of the encouragement I knew it would provide. And since it is SO encouraging, here’s the link to Be Like and Eagle. And one reason it made me cry is because I always encourage my husband with Isaiah 40-30-31 when he’s discouraged, because he has always loved eagles! Now that was certainly a “God thing”!
And just as I finished reading the above message about eagles, one of the ladies called and shared Marsha Burns’ Small Straws in the Wind message for the day, which says:
“Remember that your affliction is for the moment, and do not overreact to temporary stress. Instead, look up and rise above your difficult situations into the realm of the Spirit where you will find peace. It is vital that you maintain an eternal perspective. Refuse to be drawn into conflict in times of mental and emotional tension, says the Lord.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
That was pretty amazing because it was perfect counsel for the situation I was concerned about and I’ve been sharing Marsha’s messages with my husband for over a week now, because they have been so consistently on a similar theme – just hang onto the Lord, because He has you covered and the end of your struggle is near! That’s my paraphrase, of course! And I also felt this would be very encouraging for the member who was in such distress when I talked to her earlier, all of which I shared with the member who shared what Marsha Burns wrote today. But as if all that wasn’t enough, the same woman called me back a little later to share what Glenn Jackson wrote today in his Exhortations from the Father message, which says:
“It is never a matter of My children having to “earn” My blessing. It is a matter of them being in “position” to allow My blessing to overtake them and rest upon them; and it is perfect obedience to My Word and the voice of my Spirit alone which will cause My children to be in that position which shall bring them forth into the fullness of the rich inheritance I have given them in Christ.
The only way for one’s “emotional” needs to be met is for them to have their “spiritual” needs met first – through a revelation of My Word [Love].
+ Real faith is the product of a deep and clear revelation in one’s heart of “abiding” in Christ.
To the degree that My children rely on My Word, it is to that degree that they are “in Christ” – in any given moment. Therefore, the continual exercising of faith and obedience, moment by moment, day by day, will ensure their appropriation of the “fullness” of their salvation.
Feelings of unworthiness and insecurity in My children are a product of believing a lie. For if one is not believing the truth, in faith, then they are exercising “natural” faith [fear] in the reciprocal lie of the Evil One.”
So the same message just kept coming through from every source – God gives us everything we want and need, but it IS up to us to TAKE possession of it! And we do that ONLY through total reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God!
And, finally, a little later in the day, the member who had shared the messages from Marsha Burns and Glenn Jackson called to let me know that she had posted a message about overcoming fear and how it keeps us from the promises of God on the ladies’ site and she wanted me to check it out. When I read what the Lord had put on her heart, I knew it was something many of us could relate to, so I’ve edited it just a little bit to make it more appropriate to share here, and I know everyone standing for marriage restoration will be blessed and encouraged by her experience and the word of her testimony as follows, for which I greatly appreciate her permission to share here!
“I have been reflecting on my experiences this week and God has really showed me some things that I hope the Holy Spirit will bring across in this post. Judy’s message today had a wonderful example of what I want to talk about, here it is:
Circumstances or Perspective? by Randy Alcorn
“One night a man heard a noise nearby and thought there was a burglar in his backyard. The stress was so great he died of a heart attack. Did the burglar cause his stress? No. /There was no burglar./ What caused his stress—and cost him his life—was not reality but his faulty perception of reality.
To overcome stress you must either change your circumstances or your perceptions. You can change some circumstances, of course, but many you cannot. Our perceptions, much more than our circumstances, are the building blocks with which we construct our lives.”
In all that I struggled with this past week, one of the things that made it so easy for me to believe that my husband had rejected me by pursuing a co-worker, was that I have lived with that fear and expectation for all of our married life. Growing up with abuse, and feelings of low self-esteem, from day one in our marriage, I had waited for my 2 worst fears-to be rejected and to be abandoned. When we had trouble in our marriage as a result of my insecurities and fears, I realize looking back that my affair culminated for 2 reasons: 1) rebellion and anger against God for not “fixing” my life the way I wanted it and 2) anger borne out of the anticipation, the certainty that my husband would ultimately reject me. And so to preserve my fragile ego, I was going to reject him first. I am not proud to admit these things but it is my hope that by addressing my issues of fear, some others can be spared unnecessary pain and can gain a greater sense of trust in God.
Many years ago I had a dream. In this dream, my husband and I lived in a “fear world”. Everything was shades of black and gray. We had overseers, taskmasters that were like vampires-thirsty for blood, and full of hate. We knew we had to escape from this world and in the dream we got into this ski lift contraption and moved upward into a peaceful world. In this world, we were one again. But this new world scared us too. It was such a deep desire of our heart; it was so beautiful that we were afraid we would lose it. So we made the choice to go back to the fear world; it was what we knew. But as soon as we returned to the fear world, we cried out “What have we done??” We knew that we would die in this place if we didn’t find a way to escape again. At this point I awoke from that dream, sweaty, and scared. It wasn’t hard for me to interpret the dream. Just a few months prior, my husband and I had had a “false start” to our restoration. God brought us together and it was so wonderful, but we were so afraid of losing it-why? Because it was a deep desire of our hearts, and for all of our lives, both of us had suffered severely from fear of loss and fear of failure. We were afraid to lay hold of the promises. When I awoke from that dream, I remember I cried out to God, so burdened to pray that He would show mercy and again deliver us from that fear world. I prayed that He would make us people who could receive his promises; his good plans. The very next night I had another dream. In this dream, I opened my door and welcomed in the prophet Daniel and many others. In the dream I was so glad for their help and I brought them into my house. Daniel walked by my husband who was asleep in the middle of the day; asleep even though the sun beat down through the windows. Daniel marveled that he was asleep and asked me how long it had been that way. In bitterness of spirit I replied, “Too long.” As the dream progressed, I was in the kitchen, being dressed in robes of white, then linen, then blue. As I was being dressed; I was told that I was being dressed for work. Daniel moved to a corner of the room and began praying for us. His prayers were so fervent; so strong that I could feel the power of them ascending to heaven. Not long after that, my husband stumbled through the doorway, with tears on his face. He was like a little child, praising and thanking God for waking him and restoring him. When I saw him, I cried out; my knees were weak and we moved to hold one another as we both thanked God and we both knew in our spirits that everything was going to be alright.
Well, two dreams – both from God. One a warning; an admonition to pray-revealing to me our spiritual states. The second; God answering my prayer and confirming to me that He would step into our lives; that He would reach out and with his own arm work out our healing and restoration; that he would prepare me for service to him. (I also want to mention that later I had a dream in which I was sitting on my husband’s lap and in a mirror I saw that he and I were both dressed in the same clothes-white, linen, then blue.) Again, the Lord was confirming His plans and promises to restore us and to bring us both into service to him. But which dream have I been living in? God gave me the promise, but haven’t I been allowing myself to be stuck in the fear world? I did not have to endure the pain of last week. It was not God’s will for me to do so. It is not God’s will for me to remain in the wilderness. No, I am to come out, cross over, go up into my Promised Land. If I had been living and believing in the second dream, I would have spared myself unnecessary pain. Yet I thank God for this experience because now I can share this with each of you. Each of you can go forth in your own promises; each one of you can prepare for your journey to your own land. Each of you can be on guard against the spirits of fear and disbelief. Each of you can pray for your trust in God to be renewed. Each one of you can be spared the pain of disbelief. And that is my earnest prayer right now. Please take these words into your hearts, and examine your hearts. Allow God to show you those areas in which fear might have a hold. Ask God to remove that fear. Feel free to share with me or others in the fellowship that fear so that we may all be in prayer and fasting and vigil against it. I commit myself to each of you and Linda, and the men too. I commit to praying against fear. I h…a…t…e… it. My God hates it and He is giving me a zeal to come against it; not only for my sake or my husband’s sake but for the sake of my brothers and sisters. I have firmly decided that I want the abundant life that Jesus promised. Fear has no place in the life I want for myself or my children. It has no place in my restoration or my relationship with God. I want it gone and I know my God is working right now to break that yoke of bondage in us.
It’s like the story of the man who brought his son to the disciples (Mark 9), so that the demon would be cast out from his son. He cries out to Jesus, “If anything can be done, please save him!” How does Jesus reply? He says, “If I can? Everything is possible to him who believes.” The next verse (24) says “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!” Our faith is never perfect, and God understands this. And he makes a way, despite our unbelief. But we want to be people of faith, knowing that this pleases God. And we want to be free of unbelief, because it keeps us from living God’s best for us.
I love each of you and I thank you for the love and support I am shown. As I was reading God’s word this morning and praying for the men and women of the fellowship, I happened upon Psalm 71 and the Holy Spirit spoke to me in the following verses and told me to claim this and to share this because He desires others in this fellowship to pray and claim this same scripture (20-24): “Though you have made me see troubles many and bitter, You will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. I will praise you for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you-I, whom you have redeemed. My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.” (Name of member requesting prayer this morning omitted), I read your post before I had a chance to write this and I can tell you that that scripture is for you especially sister. Receive it, you are redeemed.
True heart love to each of you…(Name Omitted)”
As I read the above testimony and considered all of what these awesome messages the Lord brought our way today, Deuteronomy 30:19-20 seems to sum it all up best, because it says This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So it is my sincerest hope and prayer for everyone reading this, that you WILL TAKE POSSESSION of the power and promises of God as you live your lives for Jesus and stand for the restoration of your marriages and families; that you will NOT be afraid, because 2 Timothy 1:7 says For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.