by Suellen | Uncategorized
So how do you rate your relationship with God? Do you know Him? Do you talk to Him? Do you hear Him speak to you? Do you get up in the morning with exhilaration over another day to spend with Him?
I’ve walked with my Creator for many years now and there is one thing of which I am certain: all of us have room to grow in our relationship with Him. Whether you are a beginner or a teacher of many there is always more to learn about Him and there is always a deeper fellowship to be obtained. (more…)
![Are You Settling For The Norm?]()
by Suellen | Uncategorized
My grandson, Charlie, sat on my lap and, with wide eyes, began to tell me his story. Spiderman, Batman, Pink Venom, Black Venom, and Green Goblin were having a “spend-the-night party.” He animatedly continued to create this adventure, which eventually led to a gi-normous (that’s bigger than gigantic or enormous alone) box falling on them and they had to fight it off.
All of us hearing the three year old elaborate enjoyed listening to his imagination on steroids. What a creative mind!
Later, in a quieter moment, I began to think how we adults lose that creativity. What happens to it? Why are we always so methodical and logical about our visions? Why do we always settle for the “norm?”
If everyone “settled for the norm,” we would have none of the cutting edge technology, space travel, or medical wonders of our generation. So some are not settling, but how about you? How about me?
The Bible says that faith is the substance of things “hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” The “hoped for” is the thing I want to talk about today. The hope is like a blueprint in your mind of what you are believing for. If you don’t have a picture in your mind of what you are believing for, then how can you have faith for it? You can’t! (more…)
by Suellen | Uncategorized
Do you know someone who is an extravagant believer? I mean someone who holds back nothing as they expect God’s hand in their lives. I don’t mean someone who is foolish, but someone who knows that God can accomplish what we can never do on our own. Are you such a person?
The Bible has lots of stories about people who believed extraordinarily. There were those around them who believed … sort of, but these people believed in ways that seemed extreme. One such story is in Luke 8:43-48.
I want you to put yourself in the story – in the crowd. There was a huge throng of people following Jesus as He walked through the street. He had no body guards as He walked with His disciples. The crowd was pushing and shoving, trying to get closer. They wanted to get a good look at this unusual man, who was becoming famous.
Suddenly, Jesus turned and said, “Who touched Me?”
His disciples were confused. “What do you mean? The whole crowd is pushing up against you.”
Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I felt the power going out of Me.” And He turned and looked at the woman who was touching the hem of His garment.
In the crowd, there was a woman who had been sick for a very long time. She had a hemorrhage of blood which had lasted for 12 years. She had spent all of her money going to doctors, and no one had been able to cure her. In fact, the Bible says that she had just grown worse.
Yet that day, when she saw Jesus, she was inspired. She had heard about Him and she thought, If I can just touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made well. And that’s exactly what happened. When she touched Him, the flow of blood stopped, and just like that, she was well.
Jesus then said something very different from our mindset. He said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
Let this picture sink in. Jesus didn’t even know that the woman was there until He felt the power go out of Him. Her faith had put a demand on the power within Him, and she received her healing.
Let’s fast forward to today. Our Savior is alive today. There is a crowd of people all around us, some believing in Him and some not – just like when He walked the earth. Within the crowd of “believers,” there are a few – maybe just one or two, who really believe. They are the ones who see His hand in their lives more than the norm. They are the extraordinary believers, and they see things happen that the others don’t.
So how do you fit in? Are you willing to believe for miracles in your life? In your health? In your family? In your finances? Don’t look around at the crowd. They probably aren’t believing that much.
If you would like to be extraordinary, but think that you just honestly can’t muster the faith, don’t be discouraged. Start reading the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and let the reality of Jesus be burned in your heart. He is looking for super believers to show Himself strong.
I want to be an extravagant believer, don’t you?
Forever Upward!
by Suellen | Uncategorized
In I Corinthians 12: 12-27, Paul explains a significant aspect of our Christian walk. He compares our natural body to the body of Christ.
“For even as the body is one yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit we were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many.”
Then he goes on to remind us that the foot, hand, eye, and ear are all important to our functioning in much the same way that the many parts of Christ’s body are important. Each part is different, but each part is essential. All of the parts need each other to be healthy.
In Ephesians 4:16, he gives even more insight. He says that the whole body is “fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” That’s a mouthful, for sure, but an important one.
If we look at the whole scripture, we see 1) each part effectually working 2) fitly joined together and compacted 3) by that which every joint supplies, and 4) making increase of the body, building up itself in love.
The joint represents the joining of the parts. The major substance comes, not from the parts, but from the joints. In Christ’s body, the substance comes, not just from us as individuals, but from the relationships when the parts come together. If we will allow ourselves to be “fitly joined together” with others of different gifts, the substance, the anointing, will begin to flow to a greater extent than we have ever seen it.
We know that this is true with our natural bodies. We also recognize this in the local church, as we appreciate the many gifts necessary to run a church. Now it’s time to take it to the next level. God is calling for us to join with other believers, of many walks and many doctrines, not compromising, but finding the common ground in Jesus Christ.
We come together in our camp and worship God in our special way. Then we find the time to join with others who worship in a different way, so that we might be fitly joined together to appropriate God’s plan for our communities. As we pray together, we will shake the heavens.
We are the body of Christ. One body; not many. Remember, the stones that you use to build the bridges that unite, will come from the walls that divide. As we humble ourselves and allow God to fitly join us together, we will see a great awakening in our nation.
by Suellen | Uncategorized
There is a common phrase which is often used to rally troops to a project. “United we stand; divided we fall.” This is true in natural war, and it’s true in spiritual war.
The Word is full of this truth.
In Matthew 12:25 Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”
He also prayed in John 17:21 “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.”
John 17:22, “That they may be one, even as we are one.”
John17:23 “That they may be perfect in one.”
Ephesians 2:14 Paul wrote, “For He (Jesus) is our peace, who hath made both one, hath broken down the middle wall between us.”
In Ephesians 4:3 “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:13 “Til we all come into the unity of the faith.”
The resounding theme is united we stand and divided we fall.
Sometimes people feel that if they seek too much unity, they will have to compromise, but that’s not the case. A perfect example of the church in unity would be the 12 tribes of Israel. The tribes had different land, different leaders, different banners, and different customs. Some were more spiritual than others. But when it was time to go to war, no longer did they just go as their tribe. They went as children of Israel to defeat the common enemy. They went as one man.
Today we have many different tribes in the church. When we are wanting to be on the cutting edge of God’s plan, it’s easy to see ourselves as the “latest and greatest,” and not to appreciate the attributes of others. But God is calling for us to humble ourselves and seek for the common ground with others. Only then will we be able to destroy the enemy in our territories.
Unity doesn’t mean we deny any of our doctrines. It means that if someone believes that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He was crucified and rose again from the dead, then they are our brother and we will honor their contribution. They may be honoring God in a different way, but we still honor them and stand with them.
The Lord spoke to me and said, “The stones that you use to build the bridges which unite will come from the walls which divide.” So who will go first? Who is willing to remove the first stone from the wall that divides and cross denominational lines to develop relationships that unite?
The way you add fractions is to find a common denominator. That denominator is Jesus Christ. It’s His church and His body. I encourage spiritual leaders to form prayer groups with other leaders from different churches. We as leaders must set the example. If we will do this we will change our communities and usher in the great awakening we all have been talking about.
by Suellen | Uncategorized
Recently, the Lord has been speaking to me concerning the body of Christ. There are so many divisions; so many walls. There are denominational walls, racial walls, gender walls, and cultural walls. It’s as if His body is divided into many pieces with no connections, and it grieves Him.
Why is this so? Why have we allowed satan to divide us? God has some answers for us. We are all believing for a great awakening, and there are some keys to our preparation for it. One of those keys is humility. (more…)
So how do you rate your relationship with God? Do you know Him? Do you talk to Him? Do you hear Him speak to you? Do you get up in the morning with exhilaration over another day to spend with Him?
