This is what I heard this morning while spending prayer time with Jesus:
"Rest My child. Do not fret. Do not fear. For My right hand upholds you, sustains and protects you. Don't miss our daily dance because of your worry. I am here. Let nothing distort your view. For just as a moon is not clearly seen on a restless sea, so My ways are not clearly seen on a restless heart."
Stacy and I are so pleased to announce that Brian Cannon has accepted his invitation from the elders of Grace Church to once again be an elder! Brian’s humility, servant’s heart, and genuine love for people have always been a great strength. He has been with Stacy and I from the beginning of Grace Church, and is truly a great friend and Kingdom comrade. We are so delighted that he believes God has ‘graced’ him to serve in this capacity.
Be sure and join Stacy and me this Sunday as we begin the brand new series, "The Price of Pride!" If there was ever a series that, "Hurts so good", I am thinking this is the one! But honestly what I love about being a part of Grace Church is that we truly do want to grow, mature, and allow Jesus to be seen in us. And if pride is something that blocks HIM being seen through me (and it is), then I want to be able to recognize it and not participate with it. Below are just a couple of my thoughts that the Holy Spirit will reveal in this series!!
Pride knows no kindness. It refuses to put itself in another person's shoes. Thus every wrong is taken personally which works to justify feelings of resentment and bitterness. The only problem with that is, there is no single thing that wreaks more havoc on the human mind & body than hidden resentment.
God's kind of love, the opposite of pride, does not take into account a wrong suffered (1 Corinthians 13:5). If we begin to think more about the person that hurt us than we think about ourselves, it will take the 'sting' out of our pain. With it comes the revelation, 'hurting people hurt people.'
Women can sometimes be more susceptible (than men) in allowing past hurts and grudges to linger because in their wiring/design they are not only life-givers (at birth) but also life-nurturers/sustainers (they are the breasted ones). Women are built for nurturing, sustaining, and feeding things. This is awesome if it is a baby, it is disastrous if it is a past pain, hurt, or offense. Ladies must guard their hearts each day and make sure they are not 'nursing' old things God wants them to let go.
Pastor Steve Eden
By Pastor Steve
1. Wake up. Renew your mind. Be your New Creation self.
2. Be kind. Romans 2:4 (1 Pet 3:15 says w/ gentleness & respect)
3. Be Generous. (Pr 11:25) Mindset of more than enough
4. Treat others how Jesus treats you. He loves you and forgives you.
5. Be friendly at church!! Approachable, kind, considerate to one another & guests!
6. Care more about the sinner than the sin.
7. Rely on the Holy Spirit! No one comes to the Father unless the Spirit draws him.
8. Lead peep to the cross rather than condemn them 2 it. (how? Be humble)
9. Be good listener. Your speech is not more important than their problem.
10. Pray. Serve. Give. (Find your niche). There is no sacred or secular anymore.
By Pastor Steve
"If you mess up, simply fess up. Do NOT identify yourself with the wrong behavior and sit around and say "Well, my behavior was bad so I am bad." Simply understand you got out of step with your true identity which is in Christ. The real person you are in Him is righteous, pure, considerate, kind, and full of love & good fruit. The truest thing about you will always be what God has done in you and what God and His Word say about you!
2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations… Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”. Make every thought that comes to your mind, which is the doorway to your heart, check in at the Holy Spirit front desk first. And if the thought does not line up with who God says you are, then don’t let it stick around! No vacancy!
By Pastor Steve
Who is the source of the thoughts & ideas that form what you believe about yourself? Is it TV? Magazines? Your Career? Friends? The government? Do those thoughts & ideas free you or limit you and our potential? I am convinced after 43 years of living as a human being that our value, worth, potential, and purpose should originate from God's word & God's voice and nowhere else. He knows us best, He made us. Unless TV made you or some magazine editor, there are a whole lot of things they do not know about you and your potential.
Colossians 1:16 says, “Every created thing was made by God and for God.” This means that in your very design you are made FOR GOD! This is why humans prove every day that money can’t satisfy us, alcoholism, drugs, other people, or pornography. Man is too great of creation to be satisfied by anything but God; and that’s how God designed it! Gas in the car, oil in the lamp, Christ in the human.
By Pastor Steve
I really believe many people today are in a season where God is teaching them to see. Not with their eyes but with their heart. The Spirit of God desires to reveal to all of us how He sees us and our potential, which is many times the opposite of how we see ourselves. In Jeremiah chapter 1, after Jeremiah gave the Lord his excuses as to why he couldn't use him to do great things, God asks Jeremiah, “What do you see?” Then Jeremiah suddenly sees not with his eyes but with his heart (a budding almond branch). The Lord's response?
Jeremiah 1:12 NKJV - Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, I am ready to perform My word." I find this fascinating that the pre-cursor to God performing His Word through us is “Can we see what He sees?” Think about that: God desires you to see what He sees so He can release you into your destiny and purpose! Take the limits off! If you can see it, you can be it! Dare to believe all God says about you no matter how good it is!
