You are currently browsing the daily archive for March 12, 2012.
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: Acts 2:14
i love this.
peter, the hotheaded fast talking disciple.
peter, who rashly promised to die with jesus, but couldnt stay awake in the garden.
peter, who denied jesus.
peter, who jesus loved and jesus restored and jesus forgave and whom jesus called.
peter, whom the Holy Spirit filled and transformed, who became bold by the power of God and stood up as a leader amongst men and a spokesman for God.
your failings yesterday don’t need to hold you back.
find grace. find Jesus. find hope. find tomorrow.
Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanour, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use. Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation. 1 Timothy 4:11-16
SPEAKER: Jenni Catron – Leading With Your Life @ JustONE Virtual Conference at LEADING AND LOVING IT
interestingly women speak over 20,000 words a day, compared to men, speaking 7000 a day…
so as women we should really pay attention to WHAT we say and HOW we say it
our WORDS can speak life or death to someone, hope or hopelessness, courage or destruction
choose your words wisely
we can easily camp on how destructive our words can be, the negative side of choosing our words wisely: gossip, negativity, anxiety, fear
as leaders we are often very careful/fearful of the words we use
James 3 – Our words can be a spark of destruction or a spark of comfort.
fire can bring devastation eg a housefire but it can also bring warmth and comfort eg in winter time
our words can be a fire that brings destruction or our words can bring comfort and warmth when our words are appropriate when used rightly
our words can do amazing things, and can influence for good!
we can inspire people with our words
we can bring hope with our words
we can bring encouragement with our words
we can celebrate people with our words
our words can be so powerful for good
- Therefore encourage one another and build each other up 1 Thessalonians 5:11
- Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:19
- Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24
- The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. Psalms 37:30
i want to be someone who utters wisdom, and speaks just words, whose words bring life and courage, and draws people to Jesus
i am a words of affirmation person, so words, especially encouragement, so impact me and influence me
there are some compliments that i’ve lived off for a month!
in fact i got an email the other day from a wonderful chick in our church which i think i’ll live off all year! it reminds me who i am in Christ and how God sees me – through HER words God SPEAKS to ME!
When we know our identity before we jump into activity, we don’t have to guess how to handle the vicious lies of the enemy. Because in God we are loved, accepted, and whole. Oh, may this statement straight from God be inscribed, engraved, and tattooed in the most permanent of ways on our hearts: “Well pleased … well pleased … well pleased.” Lysa TerKeurst
its good to have things like that on hand – be it emails – a tweet – a prophetic word – a verse from the bible – that can speak to our heart on days that are dark and difficult. i carry in my bible a letter that an older woman wrote to me, well anonymously at a women’s event – we all had to pray and write something for “someone” on a beautiful piece of paper, which was then handed out to us – and mine so “fit me” – it was God’s word to me – not just for that day but in times to come. when one of my housegroup guys was killed in a car accident a month later that letter reminded me that God was with me and for me and through me, that God would provide everything i needed for my day and for my ministry. i still read that letter at least once a month.
we can probably all write a list as long as our arm of put downs and negative things that someone has said, even if it was 25 years ago and in the sandpit at school. words can so shape us. the influence how we see ourselves and thus, how we step out and how generously we live our lives.
lets be generous with good words, generous with life giving words, generous with hope and encouragement.
lets lead with our living and lead with our words
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2: 1-4
i love the Holy Spirit and His work in me and to me and through me and for me. i love how God chooses and uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things for His fame and glory. i live to know Him and make Him known. i feel very blest to live in an age where the Holy Spirit was given to the believers, all believers, not just holy prophets or leaders, but common ordinary every day believers.
one of my most favourite verses in the bible is 2 Corinthians 4:7 – But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
the all surpassing power of God IS GOD – IS the Holy Spirit who lives within us!
Ephesians 3:20 puts it this way: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…
the Holy Spirit lives in me. wow. that’s huge. audacious. awesome!
He lives in me as a guarantee of the promises of God for eternity and He’s in me to empower me to serve God and shine for Him. He is the potter and i am the clay and He is in me shaping me and transforming me and making me who God dreams me to be. He’s in me to enable me to walk with God and know God.
again another most favourite passage:
But as it is written:
“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-11
i love the BUT GOD HAS REVEALED THEM TO US THROUGH HIS SPIRIT.
The Holy Spirit reveals to us who God is – His ways, His heart, His love, His guidance, His comfort…
But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. John 15:13-15
a few months ago i was priv’d to hook in with these awesome women of God and watch from my living room the JUSTONE virtual conference. and they’ve archived all the sessions on their website LEADING AND LOVING IT. also am very excited to maybe very likely (aka just working out the details) be leading a LEADING AND LOVING IT virtual group starting up soon. its for women in ministry and pastors wives and will be once a month online, a great opportunity to connect and support one another in God’s call and life. i will let you know more about it as the details get worked out.
thursday in our house is ballet day and yesterday evangeline’s class had an exam of the different ballet positions they knew. they all got a wee trophy at the end and were so excited. it was the cutest thing out. evangeline did very well and was so graceful! and of course my mother heart welled up with pride and joy!
in the weekend out church had 2 tents at the Botany Community Day. Botany is our local shopping mall. We had tshirts for the team and gave our WATER FROM THE RIVER and balloons and also had nail art and tattoos for the kids and a win an ipod touch comp. great way to connect with people and promote our church. had some awesome and some interesting convos with people and even got to pray for a young guy with busted fingers. such a fun day! made esp funny also by the fact that a complete stranger thought that me and my friend were the same person. we get asked a lot if we’re sisters… and we were wearing the same clothes!
i saw this first on fb and was captivated. have watched the other parts too. its beautifully crafted, but more importantly, it powerfully captures the heart of hosea and God’s heart for the lost and rebellious. ka pai to the film makers. Hosea 2, Hosea 3
totally loving pita bread at the moment. we used them on friday to make our own individual pizzas for dinner – my daughter is dairy free so she has homebrand spaghetti and ham as her toppings, my son has just spaghetti and cheese, and me and antonio have pizza sauce, cheese, ham, capsicum, tomato and whatever else i can find! delish. then the next night we had my MIL over for dinner and did BLT – with pita breads, bacon, lettuce greens, capsicum, cucumbers and tomatoes… yummy!
and as always. i love Jesus with all i am and all my heart and all my soul and all my days. For His glory and the building of His kingdom and the rescue of the lost.
so what are you totally loving this week?
… check out what other peeps are loving whatever day of the week it is over at Paisley Jade
the world is moving and morphing at warp speed and the meaningless, dead-end chatter and enemy-crafted banter is piling up online like rush hour traffic. Christ is being discarded. biblical values are being marginalized more and more. influence is the currency and increasingly, Christians are broke. if you choose to roam aimlessly and blend into the online world, some pay perish – eternally. @stickyjesus
blend. blend in.
ugh.
when i read that, distaste rose up in my heart!
i dont want to blend in!
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2 MSG, AMP, NKJV
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