Wonders, Day 1

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Due to all of the fan fair this week with Martin Luther King, JR Day and the Inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow....I think we should take a look at the greatness of our God....for He above all is Holy......

1 Corinthians 2:3-5 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much
trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith
would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

WONDER (definition from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wonder)
1 a: a cause of astonishment or admiration : marvel b: miracle
2: the quality of exciting amazed admiration
3 a: rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience

Third Day: God of Wonders




Heavenly Father ~ I pray with all of the excitement and grandeur of this weeks honoring of men that we take time to honor You....Our God....

Pray for Bonita E this week.

Also, I have updated our Forum...if you are interested in sharing something or asking questions or just wanna leave a note, scroll down until you see the button on the right that says "Forum". We love to hear from you. We are really looking forward to some good book or movie reviews. Maybe a testimony you would like to share would be great too.

Power, Day 2

I have a question for you....Do you live with the knowledge that you are on the winning team?

Sometimes, from my own perspective, it seems that we very rarely live life with the mindset that our God has overcome the world. (John 16:33"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." )

There is no doubt that life can leave a sour taste in our mouths. It is tough, and it is getting harder to find people that aren't struggling with something. Finances, marriage, family, children, drugs, alcohol, anger; do I need to say more? As a believer how do you find focus when things are getting out of control? Do you proclaim to love Jesus with all of your heart and all of your mind, speaking His testimony to those around you? Do you show your loved ones, your community that there is power in the Almighty Creator of the Universe? Or, do you react the same as everyone, with self-doubt and pity?

You need to find strength in Our Father, Your neighbors need to know that there is Hope beyond the things that they see in our world. I don't want to get preachy and start giving you a how-to with your life. I do want to challenge you to reevaluate the things you proclaim as power in your life and then take a good look at the things that have power in your life. If words and your actions don't line up, it may be time to makes some changes.

Romans 8:35-39 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO
DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE
SLAUGHTERED." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him
who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Please Continue to pray for our ministry, Women
of Worship, this week

Freedom Day 3

Because of Adam, we are all born to sin; death. We are separated from God

Because of Jesus, we are a new creation; alive. We are in relationship with God.

What is Freedom in Christ? Christ paid the price for you. He is the living sacrifice. You have been given the opportunity to live a life filled with the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead.

Romans 8:1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

Romans 8:3-4 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

Do me a favor today, look at your life and ask yourself if people that see and know you believe you live a life of freedom. It is easy for some to believe, it is easy for some to have knowledge, it is even a gift to trust God for provision. In our world of to-do and need-to-succeed, even our Christian walks become competition. We spend days in prayer wondering what God wants us to do and how he wants us to respond. Although this is important, sometimes it takes away from the confidence we should have in our Savior.

Look at the highlighted scripture above. 1st says that we are no longer slaves, "freed from tyranny". AMEN!! Second says to "embrace what the Spirit is doing in us". Freedom isn't about what you are doing, how you are serving or how successful you are at your Christian life. It is about what the Spirit is doing.

Okay, for all of you that are wondering how to do this, I don't have that answer for you. I think it is a very personal experience. In my own life I embrace the Spirit in times of worship, in praise and thanksgiving. When I am acknowledging God's amazing grace, my perspective is transformed. My freedom in Christ isn't about how I feel when I get up everyday or how I end the day. For me, it is about knowing my God has conquered the world (John 16:33). I try to focus on things bigger then my struggles. Part of me refuses to live my life consumed by the bumps in the road when I know that in the end I will be with the Creator of the Universe, my Papa.

Heavenly Father, Your beautiful words from Romans 8 reminds me of Your sacrifice and my need for You in my life. You know my heart Lord, overwhelmed by Your grace and desiring nothing more then to live in response to You. Forgive me when I loose focus and cloud the freedom You have given me. Show me Lord the fruit of an embraced Spirit in my life. Some days, I am so human and desire the how-to's and the to-dos. Remind me today that it is our relationship, my reaction to your love that keeps my perspective focused on the things of you. ~Desiring more of You in your Precious Name.

Please continue to pray for Julz Y this week. Tomorrow is Friday so send in your Prayers and Praises to share. If you have a testimony of how Christs gift of freedom changed your perspective toward a situation, we would love to hear it. Please email us at womenofworship1@gmail.com or simply add it to the comment section. God Bless

Mind

Day 1

Mind collectively refers to the aspects of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination; mind is the stream of consciousness. It includes all of the brain's conscious processes. "Mind" is often used to refer especially to the thought processes of reason.

Romans 8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Day 2

"...be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

I was in high school when I first heard these words. It wasn't because I heard it in a great sermon and it wasn't in a bible study. A Christian family that volunteered with my youth group had taken me under their wings, so to speak. One Sunday afternoon at there home they told me plane and simple that I could have all the hope in the world to change myself. But, if I didn't make a conscious effort to change the way I thought, things would never truly change for me.

I was 16. I had recently said the sinners prayer. I had been involved in "church" for just about a year. For the 15 previous years of my life I hadn't known what being a Christian even was. Many of the examples that had been set, the patterns of living were already part of who I was. How do you break free from abuse, sexual immorality, anger, self-indulgence? You have to renew your mind, focus in on the things you want for your life. For those of you who don't think teenagers are listening, they are. I heard the words spoken to me and it took me almost 8 years to understand what they meant.

The renewing of my mind was a process of understanding how truly great my God is. Trying to grasp the fact that his love is bigger and greater then all that I know. Now, each day I get up and focus my thoughts on Him and pray that my life be a response to how great He is. I keep God's word close to me, I fill my heart and mind with it. I trip up and wonder and make my mistakes but I know how to recognize the patterns I don't want in my life. My mind understands that when I mess up, I can turn to my God and be renewed.

Day 3
Romans 8:1-8
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

What did God do for you by sending Christ to die for you?

What things do you focus on that keeps your mind set on what the Spirit desires? (See Galatians 5:16-26)




Day4

Hebrews 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

This verse comforts me in so many ways. Weakness and admitting weakness is not one of my best characteristics. To know that when I am weak, at a loss for words, in so much grief and heartache that my own mind is too full to see clearly, I have a Helper. The Spirit, praying on my behalf, knowing God's true will in all situations is truly going to get it right.

I truly believe that our greatest challenge as Christians is to understand God's great love for us. If you read a little further in Romans 8 you come to verses 37-39,

...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How would your life change if each day you woke up and knew that you are a conqueror? You will never be separated from the love of God.

Day 5

Ephesians 5:15-21

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Give thanks to our Loving God for the sacrifice that has been made on your behalf. Take time sit with your thoughts, are they lined up with the Spirit of God? It takes time to mature in our faith and change our focus. I think it is easy as a new or mature Christian to focus on the things we should and shouldn't be doing verses the gifts we are given. I truly believe that if we can change our minds to focus on love, hope, joy, self-control, kindness our lives become living examples of our thoughts.

If you don't know where to start, your mind is muddied with lives wrong lessons, find a mentor. Find a strong Christian who you can trust to help you get started. Fellowship is an important part of your faith and so is accountability.

Heavenly Father, Your love is Amazing. Because of your sacrifice I am given a love that I cannot grasp. Lord I pray my life be a response to your love for me. Increase my desire for your Word to fill my mind and my heart. For all of the amazing people that read this Lord, I pray you place a person in our lives to mentor us, I pray you place a person in our lives that we can help lift up. Challenge us to trust the Spirit to pray on our behalf when we are weak. Thank you for all that you are, all that you have done, are doing and will do in our lives. ~In His Precious Name.