Who Am I? I Am Blessing God's Name!

Praising God Scenario 1:  Thank You God for the challenge I am facing.  The devil is really attacking me.  Thank you Lord for the strength to get through this.  

Praising God Scenario 2:  Thank you God.  As your child, I am an overcomer, because you are greater in me than the devil and this situation in this world.  (1 John 4:4)  With God all things are possible.  (Matthew 19:26) When I speak to the situation before me, it moves! (Mark 11:23-24)  Thank you God.  Because of who you are, and what Jesus has done, I am more than a conqueror! (Romans 8:37)  

PSALM 100:4  Enter into his gates WITH THANKSGIVING, and into his courts WITH PRAISE: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Entering into God's Presence in prayer and thanksgiving, what is your heart condition?  Is it focused on fear? (much lke the  Praising God scenario 1 above)  Is it full of pity or a woe-as-me attitude?  Sound like your overwhelmed and drowning in the circumstances?  Do you hear violins playing in the background as you speak to God?  (Does this bless God's name? Ps 100:4)

The Word of God not only renews our minds (straightens out our thinking), but it gives us the words to say.  No matter what happens in life, whatever crisis or predicament we find ourself in, ask, "What does God have to say?"  This is our stance. (Like Praising God Scenario 2) This is our thanksgiving and praise. (This blesses God's name!  Ps. 100:4)

As believers, we address all that is around us from a very different reality, a very different perspective, that those of the World.  We are to give thanks to God IN EVERYTHING, not FOR EVERYTHING.  (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

"1 Thessalonians is not talking about giving thanks to God for everything—it’s talking about giving thanks to Him in everything, and that means something different altogether. In other words, you would not thank God because your baby is sick. You would thank Him in that situation, because it’s another opportunity to exercise faith and receive from Him."  Kenneth E. Hagin

What can you give Thanks and Praise to God for right now, today?  Bless His Name! 

Who Am I? I Am Receiving the Call.

Receiving the Call

The most common question I am asked, both in Asia and back home in America, is, "How do I know I am called by God as a missionary to Asia.  Some even ask why I cannot do the same thing in my own local community.  Why do I have to go to Asia to spread the Gospel when so many need it in America?

I do not remember a time when I did not know I am a missionary, even back in the B.C. days of my life. Over the years, I do wonder how that could be, because the path in front of me did not seem to point in that direction (at least in the natural) for so many years.  Even though I did mention it to others a few times, I knew my children was  a priority, and I was very content with owning and running a daycare (JoyfulWorks Childrens' Discovery Center), ministering to families, and assisting church planters in the various places in which our military lifestyle took us as we traveled overseas and in the USA. 

photo credit:
http://www.asiaonline.com.au/regions.html

To make a very long story short, in 2005 I distinctly heard that it was time to prepare to go.  I did not know where at that time, and had actually thought maybe Honduras or Spain would be the direction.  Through doors that only God opened up, I attended to Rhema Bible Training College in their Missions Group for the preparation. 

Just before leaving to attend RBTC, my daughter and I visited a local zoo in Nashville.  There standing in front of the Red Pandas from China, I immediately knew that God was calling me to Asia.  Honestly, I did not know how to react.  I previously had created a list of potential places I desired to go that I knew my kids would like to follow me.  Asia was not only not on the list, it was allocated as one of my "no, don't want to go" places.  

Photo Credit:
Photo by Greg Hume http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RedPandaFullBody.JPG

I did tell my children, but I had decided it best to shelve this information, and take a wait and see approach (like God was really going to change His mind...LOL!).  As a result, I decided to share only the plans to attend Rhema in preparations for full-time ministry.  

While at Rhema in the mission’s program for two years, my Pastor (a female) married.  I did not really know the new Pastor, however my children quickly came to know him because of their relationship with their children..  

A few months before I graduated, I wrote a letter to the explaining that I was called and planning to
go to Asia.  I did not know the Pastors had just been asked by one of their connections in Sweden if they had someone who would like to help them start a bible school in Asia.  When I came back, they told me about it, and I said yes.

The waiting process as I finished putting "my house" in order so I could make the move proved difficult.   I did not belong there anymore, because my place is among the people of Asia.  This is where I properly fit  into the Body of Christ.  It is where I belong, where I am happy and at peace, where the anointing (gifts and calling) on my life are at its best.  

My home is Asia.  Yes, I miss my kids. Yes, I miss my granddaughter.  Yes, I miss the families that I invested my life into as a foster parent and with the daycare for all those years.  However, I know without a doubt that my home is here with the Asian people. 

Photo credit:
http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/07/timing-is-everything.html

I write this today, because maybe you are one of the ones who needed to be patient and wait for the right timing to step into God's call for your life.  This does not discount the time you spend in preparation now.  

However, you may know you are called, and want to jump now.  Don't jump until He says it is time to jump, regardless of how simple or how difficult the call.  Do not move until He says move.

When you do so, in His perfect timing, the pieces will not only fall into place, but you will be within the grace and the anointing necessary to fulfill the call.  

*Today's Who Am I? DailyDevo is from "Tales of A Modern-Day Missionary,"  a blog designed to share Joy's ministry in Asia with those around the world.

Receiving the Call

The most common question I am asked, both in Asia and back home in America, is, "How do I know I am called by God as a missionary to Asia.  Some even ask why I cannot do the same thing in my own local community.  Why do I have to go to Asia to spread the Gospel when so many need it in America?

I do not remember a time when I did not know I am a missionary, even back in the B.C. days of my life. Over the years, I do wonder how that could be, because the path in front of me did not seem to point in that direction (at least in the natural) for so many years.  Even though I did mention it to others a few times, I knew my children was  a priority, and I was very content with owning and running a daycare (JoyfulWorks Childrens' Discovery Center), ministering to families, and assisting church planters in the various places in which our military lifestyle took us as we traveled overseas and in the USA. 

photo credit:
http://www.asiaonline.com.au/regions.html

To make a very long story short, in 2005 I distinctly heard that it was time to prepare to go.  I did not know where at that time, and had actually thought maybe Honduras or Spain would be the direction.  Through doors that only God opened up, I attended to Rhema Bible Training College in their Missions Group for the preparation. 

Just before leaving to attend RBTC, my daughter and I visited a local zoo in Nashville.  There standing in front of the Red Pandas from China, I immediately knew that God was calling me to Asia.  Honestly, I did not know how to react.  I previously had created a list of potential places I desired to go that I knew my kids would like to follow me.  Asia was not only not on the list, it was allocated as one of my "no, don't want to go" places.  

Photo Credit:
Photo by Greg Hume http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RedPandaFullBody.JPG

I did tell my children, but I had decided it best to shelve this information, and take a wait and see approach (like God was really going to change His mind...LOL!).  As a result, I decided to share only the plans to attend Rhema in preparations for full-time ministry.  

While at Rhema in the mission’s program for two years, my Pastor (a female) married.  I did not really know the new Pastor, however my children quickly came to know him because of their relationship with their children..  

A few months before I graduated, I wrote a letter to the explaining that I was called and planning to
go to Asia.  I did not know the Pastors had just been asked by one of their connections in Sweden if they had someone who would like to help them start a bible school in Asia.  When I came back, they told me about it, and I said yes.

The waiting process as I finished putting "my house" in order so I could make the move proved difficult.   I did not belong there anymore, because my place is among the people of Asia.  This is where I properly fit  into the Body of Christ.  It is where I belong, where I am happy and at peace, where the anointing (gifts and calling) on my life are at its best.  

My home is Asia.  Yes, I miss my kids. Yes, I miss my granddaughter.  Yes, I miss the families that I invested my life into as a foster parent and with the daycare for all those years.  However, I know without a doubt that my home is here with the Asian people.

Photo credit:
http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/07/timing-is-everything.html

I write this today, because maybe you are one of the ones who needed to be patient and wait for the right timing to step into God's call for your life.  This does not discount the time you spend in preparation now.  

However, you may know you are called, and want to jump now.  Don't jump until He says it is time to jump, regardless of how simple or how difficult the call.  Do not move until He says move.

When you do so, in His perfect timing, the pieces will not only fall into place, but you will be within the grace and the anointing necessary to fulfill the call.  

Who Am I? I Am Blessed. I Choose to Be Blessed!

Continuing with yesterday's Who Am I? DailyDevo Post, We read in John 5:8 where Jesus said to the man at the pool of Bethesda, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  

The man chose, made a conscious decision to be blessed, to follow the words of Jesus, and immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his bed and walked.

"Learning to arise on the inside isn't always an easy process, but it can be done."  (Jerry Savelle, Every Day A Blessing Day) 

Everyone faces decisions every morning to get up out of bed, prepare the kids ready for the day, drive to work, run errands, pay the bills, attend church services, and so on.  We make the choices throughout the day everyday that effect our lives.

You make the choice to be blessed.  "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:"   Deuteronomy 30:19

How to choose blessing?  Speak it.

Listen for a day or two to every word that comes out of your mouth.  Take note, "Do these words speak life or death, blessing or cursing into your life?

You are blessed because Jesus was willing to give His life and become a curse that you might become blessed.

Learn about blessing, (I recommend Jerry Savelle's book, Every Day A Blessing Day) and choose to walk in it.  

Who Am I? I Am Whole!

"....Thy faith hath made thee whole." Mk 10:52

Lying near the Sheep Gate by the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-24) were the blind, the crippled, the deaf, the paralyzed, the lame, and the sick; many of whom had their eyes upon the pool. Imagine watching or hearing, as an angel of the Lord came at a set time or season to stir up the water. Were the people frantic? Were they fighting, pushing, or shoving their way to the pool in hopes of being the first one to receive their healing? As I read these verses, I can almost see the stronger of the sick people trampling over the weak in a desperate effort to reach the pool, jump in first, and be cured.

Jesus walks by and notices a sick and helpless man. He knew the man had been like this for a long time. He asked the man, "Wilt thou be made whole?", or in other words, "Do you want to become well?" However, the lame man did not answer Jesus' question but gave an excuse for not receiving his healing. I picture him hopelessly looking at the pool and justifying to himself why he had not been healed, as Jesus stood there listening. This man's eyes were focused on the obstacles in his way rather than focusing his eyes on the Healer right in front of him.

Notice Jesus did not call those around to help the man in the pool first, nor did He carry the man to the pool Himself. Jesus told him, "Rise up and take thy bed, and walk!" Once this lame man's eyes and actions were moved off of his obstacles and unto the words of Jesus, immediately this man was made whole.

Photo Credit:
http://www.generationword.com/jerusalem101/51-bethesda-pool.html

*Today's Who Am I?  DailyDevo is an excerpt from "Healing According to the Bible" by Joy Neasley.

Who Am I? I Am Anchored.

   "Are you ready? What for? That you may move and be moved by the mighty power of God that cannot be moved and so chastened and built up till you are in the place, it doesn’t matter where the wind blows or difficulty comes, you are fixed in God.

   Are you ready? What for? To come into the plan of the Most High God, believing what the Scripture says, and holding fast that which is good, believing so that no man shall take your crown."    --Smith Wigglesworth  

  "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."  James 1:6

Doubt is the opposite of faith.  

James is speaking to the people in James 1:5 telling them to ask God if they lack wisdom.  He was talking to people struggling with how to go through trials, and he tells them these trials test their faith (notice he did not say God caused the trials.)

It is in the middle of difficulty we can become unsure and lose sight of who God is and His Word.  We may be tempted not to trust Him, rely on Him, and we forget He is a PRESENT and ACTIVE God.

Photo Credit:  Joy Neasley

James describes doubt as being "like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."  

This sounds like a ship that is not anchored.

An anchor prevents a ship from drifting away due to the water currents or tide.  Therefore, the ship aimlessly is tossed to and fro with no direction or guidance, and it is influenced by the circumstances around it (the wind, the current, the weather).  

In difficult situations we can lose focus and let our anchor (God) go.  We may even struggle with whether faith still works.  As doubt enters, it replaces faith and we become influenced by everything around us rather than what we know as truth.  

We must walk by faith, not by sight.  Stay anchored tightly to Him, trusting His Word is True and that He is ever present.  

Researching how an anchor works, I discovered the anchor itself is only part of what keeps the ship from drifting aimlessly, securing the ship.   

  

When anchored, the ship lays the anchor together with a length of its iron cables on the seabed.  The length to be released is determined by many factors (the situation and circumstances surrounding the ship).  

It is not the weight of the anchor, but the weight of the huge iron cables connected to the anchor that "secures" the ship.  The anchor plays a very important role in grounding the cables, and hooking the cables to the seabed, but the usage of the proper length of iron cables plays an equally important role.

God's Word and the Holy Spirit are the iron cables firmly attaching us and keeping us connected to the anchor.  John 8:32 tells us that it is the Truth that we know that makes us free.  

Photo credit:  unknown

We can anchor to God and trust Him, but if we do not know who we are IN CHRIST through His Word, we cannot stand on the promises of God during troubling times of difficulty.  If we are to walk by faith, not by sight then we must know what faith is through His Word.  

A ship properly anchored is held to a circular area surrounding the anchor by way of the iron cables.  The radius we circle around the anchor is determined by the length of the cable released.  

God's Word keeps us focused with our eyes on Him during potentially stressful situations.  It ties us to Him, and keeps us circling around Him, unable to drift too far away.  

*Today's DailyDevo is an except from Discovered Treasures Bible Study by Joy Neasley."