ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

PEOPLE GIVE SHOUT-OUTS TO OTHERS EVERY DAY!  “You ROCK!  You are AWESOME!  That is AMAZING!  How INCREDIBLE!  Wow … you are THE BEST!”  And on and on!!  I am sure you have shouted out your own accolades to others that you appreciate – and received some accolades of your own from others that want you to know how they are impacted by you!  And hey, I am all for patting each other on the back and gifting others with uplifting affirmation.  If more people lived by the rule of sowing positive words into the lives of others, not only our nation, but our world would be such blessed places.  And why?  Because those who walk among us and around us would be blessed by the value that we speak into them!  That principle is scriptural, after all.  People are starving for godly attention/affirmation.  Children are tossed aside … and they just want to hear at least once in their young life that someone loves them, cares, and believes in who they are – that there is something good in them.  Who will they hear it from? 

Deuteronomy chapter 11 gives us some powerful instructions that we would do good to heed, especially in these days we are living in!  Starting in verse 18. we are told that we “shall do something”, which is “laying up God’s Words in our minds and hearts, and entire being”, and then we are to “bind them for a sign upon our hands and as forehead bands between our eyes.”  The scripture goes on to tell us in the next few verses:  “And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up.”  Doesn’t leave a lot out of how we are to live and pass the truth of God’s Word on to our family and each generation who follows us, does it?  Oh, but there is a bit more:  “And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” and then comes the promise attached to what happens when we do these things!  “That your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth,” … and there is MORE!  Hold on!!

WAKE UP AMERICA!  That is the theme of this year’s 65^th Annual National Day of Prayer which will be held in the next few days on May 5^th.  Listen to the theme scripture verse:  “SHOUT IT ALOUD, DO NOT HOLD BACK.  RAISE YOUR VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET … ” Isaiah 58:1a (NIV)  We really need to read and digest the entire chapter for this to get into our hearts like God would like it to.  This is in all actuality, a call to repentance!  In America, it is so easy to call ourselves Christians; to think that we are so holy and righteous and that we are doing what God wants us to do.  In all reality, God is calling us to truly repent … to truly fast with a  condition of heart that He wants us to have – which you will discover fully if you read the entire chapter!  Then “our right relationship with God will go before us and the glory of the Lord shall be our rear guard.” The verses are filled with promise after promise of what God will do for us and through us – and don’t miss the last verse (read it below)!

WAKE UP AMERICA! Wake up, born again Christians!  I know you are election-weary, confused, frustrated, and feel like there is no point to anything anymore.  But we must remain steady and true to God’s Word and engage in shouting the call to repentance aloud, not holding back; we MUST raise our voices like a trumpet – lest we lose our voice in the fray!  We cannot give up!  Billy Graham’s son, Franklin, is not giving up.  He is traveling to each one of the 50 states and sounding the call for believers to PRAY.  VOTE.  ENGAGE.  Dare we do any less?  Back to Deuteronomy 11, now in verses 22-24a:  For if you diligently keep all this commandment which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him – then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.  Every place upon which the sole of your feet shall tread shall be yours …”.  You see, God says that He has set before us a blessing and a curse:  a blessing if we obey His commands – and a curse if will not obey them!  America is where she is at because we have NOT obeyed God’s commands.  Only our decision to wake up and act … to repent and obey … to pray, vote, and engage our rights in Christ – will save us from utter destruction on this soil in this year of 2016. Let’s decide TODAY to place the soles of our feet solidly upon the Word of God, so that wherever we tread we can lay claim to for the Kingdom of God!  The choice lies before us ~ WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE TO DO, children of God?  SHOUT IT ALOUD!

REMEMBER . . .

“Then will you delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you to ride 
to the high places of the earth,

and I will feed you with the heritage (promised for you) of Jacob your father;

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

Isaiah 58:14  

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

IS THIS THE DAY YOU ARE WAITING FOR?  “The day that your waiting meets God’s promise?”  Think about it for a moment.  First of all, define what you are waiting for.  Think about how long you have prayed … and waited.  But let me ask you this:  have you ever in your praying and waiting season aligned your longing with a promise from God?  Have you marked your asking and waiting with God’s promise?  I believe that God has tagged our needs with His promises – but are we connecting them together? We have forgotten how to position our prayers with the promises of the Living God.  And so we wait … and that day of victory all too often seems so distant and unattainable.  It’s so easy to chalk it up to our assumption that either God doesn’t hear … or care … or plan to bring us to “THAT DAY.”  And we go on with our lives, feeling powerless and forsaken.

RESURRECTION MORNING!  Is this the day that Jesus’ disciples were waiting for?  Did they even know what to expect?  They had heard Him talking about this moment … but somehow they just could not seem to wrap their minds around His words.  Much less – understand what those words meant!  In these days before His death, the scripture records in Matthew 16:21 – “From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”  Did the disciples get what He meant?  Well, Peter immediately rebuked Jesus and indignantly stated, “Never, Lord!  This shall never happen to You!”  He thought he was being brave and protective, but listen to how Jesus replied:  “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”  (verses 22-23)   Wow!  Jesus brought Peter up short with His words – but He wanted Peter and the other disciples to understand that as long as they perceived only the earthly way of thinking as people do… they would never “see” or comprehend the things of God.  Let me ask you this:  don’t you long to see what God sees in you?  And what He wants to do through you?  Don’t you want to understand His ways so you can live in oneness with Him rather than being on the outside trying to look in?

And this same abrupt reply from Jesus applies to us today.  We will never fully experience the Promise held in the Resurrection of Jesus that Sunday morning if we do not filter all our thinking and beliefs through the mind of Christ.  Yes, did you get that?  WE have the mind of Christ – well, we CAN have, if we desire it.  God’s Word says in I Corinthians 2:16 – “For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge?  But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.”  Knowing that and looking at people and circumstances and choices with the mind of Christ instead of our own will – in God’s time brings us to that day when our waiting meets God’s promises!

As the women on that first day of the week went early to the tomb of Jesus … His words dimmed in their focus on His death and their task at hand:  to prepare His body for burial.  When they did not find Him in the tomb, suddenly they were frightened by angels who asked them a most poignant question:  “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  Luke 24:5b Then comes their explanation in verse 6:  “He is not herel He has risen!  Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’  Then they remembered His words.”

WE, TOO, LOOK FOR JESUS IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES.  We search for Him in the dead places of our heart; in the shattered dreams; in the broken pieces.  In the empty tomb of our lives.  Like the women, we need to remember the words of Jesus.  HE IS RISEN!  He has left all the dead places – so why do we still search for Him there?  He is all about keeping His Word.  His promises!  You see, remembering God’s words keeps us focused on Him and His power ~ not on us and our limitations!  The day we finally grasp this truth is the day that our waiting will meet His promises!  What are we waiting for?  HE is Risen!  He IS Risen!  Yes, He is RISEN!  My prayer is that each of us will live in those RISEN places that His Resurrection brings to us each new day!  He is ALIVE ~ and He lives in YOU and in ME!

REMEMBER . . .

“As Jesus stepped into the garden, you were in His prayers.

As Jesus looked into heaven, you were in His vision …

His final prayer was about you.  His final pain was for you.  His final passion was you.”

~ Max Lucado  

Joyfully Serving Christ . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

NOTHING YOU DO IS POINTLESS!  Well, that is, nothing you do is pointless when you are part of the kingdom of heaven.  Because when you are, everything is for a SPECIFIC PURPOSE!  ~ (thanks to a quote by Dani Johnson!)  When our lives are about more than us . . . when our lives are lived in pursuit of pleasing our Lord, then everything we do has reason and purpose.  Our waking moments will be defined by the early morning prayer that rolls off our lips and is sent heavenward:  “Lord Jesus, just take my life and DO SOMETHING with it today!”  Pray that.  MEAN that.  And be amazed at the things God will DO with your life on any given day!  Our everyday lives will be more than just the hours we spend at our jobs.  Those hours will be bathed with the very presence of the living God!  And your conversations, actions, work ethics, and relationships with co-workers will be opportunities to live out God in ways you never thought possible.  You won’t have to figure out ways to share Jesus … the doors will swing wide open and words will flow from your mouth almost before you realize what you are saying!  You will catch yourself walking away and looking up with this huge smile on your face as you say, “Wow, God!  That was SO You just now!”  Pointless?  No … on purpose!  With purpose … for a greater purpose:  God’s purpose!  I believe this is how God meant for His church to live out their faith in their everyday lives.  We must choose to be in training daily at His feet so that we will be ready when He chooses those precise moments to DO SOMETHING with us!   

Are we needed?  Yes . . . more than we can know!  Just step back - and look around.  Just be quiet – and listen.  You will see the heartaches, the brokenness.  The cries, the tears.  You will hear the despair, the hopelessness.  The fear, the anger.  Look at people’s eyes and hear their voices.  They are asking if there is anyone.  Any One?  They might not even know you.  And many have no idea that HE is the ONE!  And when these lost souls or disillusioned Christians are in crash and burn mode, the stark reality is that they need God.  But often, they don’t know that or are not ready yet.  So God sends us as a forerunner to His save-and-rescue arrival on the scene.  We get the privilege to help prepare them for His voice and His divine intervention.  They hear His voice through ours, gentle and compassionate.  Some respond to His love through ours.  Others don’t want to face reality or believe that they can rise above their present state.  At those times they need to experience a tough love that demands they pull up their bootstraps and climb out of the muddy pit that is pulling them under.  They’ll soon learn that we will get in that muddy mess with them to help them out, because that is what Jesus did for us.  And we will love them too much to just let them go back again and again, because that is how Christ loves us.  We will battle the enemy with them and declare victory over their circumstances, because we have the Word of God that is powerful and sharp enough to execute the win!  And when we’ve done all we’ve been called and trained to do, our God shows up!  Actually, He has been there all along, with us and in us and flowing through us by His Spirit.  But now He comes to do the impossible … the supernatural … the miraculous!  We witness heartaches – healed.  Brokenness – mended.  Cries silenced and tears dried.  The despair bent on destruction – thwarted.  Hopelessness - giving way to God’s plan for a hope and a future!  The grip of fear is disabled, and anger dissipates and is no more.  Each person God brings us to has a story that grips our hearts, but His grace re-writes the outcome of each soul.  Are we needed?  Yes!  Are all these “forerunner connections” pointless?  No!  When we see the scales of eternity tipped from “lost” to “saved” ~ and from “hell” to “heaven”, we have no doubt but that God has us on a mission for a specific purpose!  May God give each of us a renewed passion to see God reverse the many types of captivity that the enemy has thrust upon us and others.  We declare that the chains of sin and evil will fall powerless at the Name of Jesus, and that complete freedom to live redeemed, restored lives will be claimed and experienced through the shed blood of Jesus!  Let’s get outside our comfort zone and set some people free!  Jesus did it ~ still does it … and says we can, too!  So let’s not be shy, dear people!

REMEMBER . . .

“At that time I will bring you in; yes, at that time I will gather you, 
for I will make you a name and a praise among all the nations of the earth
 when I reverse your captivity before your eyes, says the Lord.”

~ Zephaniah 3:20  

Joyfully Serving Christ . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

     THE NEW YEAR HAS DAWNED … and held within the newness of its days we’ve already come face to face with the complete spectrum of good and evil.  Time has wasted no minutes.  These first weeks of the year typically provide strategic places of the heart where battles are fought and won as we feel called to fast and pray.  And this year of 2016 is no different – other than perhaps more intensified.  Well, let’s say it like it is:  way more intensified!  This new year just took the battle zones up by several notches.  And actually, these battles are won only when fought in a warrior’s stance:  on bended knee.  There’s no time for sitting around and ignoring the sounds of attack.  Within us must arise an impassioned battle cry that curdles the blood of the prowling enemy.  The time has come to ask ourselves the pointed question that demands an honest answer:  “am I battle-ready?”  The battles are here, dear ones – the time has come for us to become trained warriors in the army of God for one reason!  Victory!  It is victory that equals our very survival.  While we must be trained and alert, we need not fear!  God’s angel armies encamp around us, and they are standing guard, poised to help us in this good fight!

     As the battles have been flung in our direction and in the direction of our family and friends we hold dear, we realize that we MUST KNOW WHOSE WE ARE!  That defining knowledge of the heart will make us or break us.  If we know … we will make it!  If we do not, we will find ourselves adrift and we will crash on the perilous rocks of life.  We will experience either victory or defeat.  Perhaps you have felt this way in recent days – we want you to know that you are not alone!  There ARE answers that bring us spiritual strategies for victory in any battle that comes our way!

I said … I CANT GO ON … but Jesus said, I WILL CARRY YOU.

I said … I AM TOO TIRED … bus Jesus said. I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

I said … IMPOSSIBLE … but Jesus said, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

I said … I AM STARVING … but Jesus said, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.

I said … I AM DEHYDRATED … but Jesus said, I AM LIVING WATER.

I said … I AM GOING TO DIE … but Jesus said, I WILL RAISE YOU UP.

(credit to online site, AMEN)

     Our God tells us that we are HIS; that we are NOT alone; that He will give us everything we will ever need to not just survive in these days, but to flourish!  How we respond to the battles – determines whether we will win or lose. 

     As my husband and I began our corporate 21-day fast at Elevation North this year, he suggested that we choose one family member to focus our prayers on for an entire day, along with whatever else God led us to seek His face for as we entered our “war-room” of prayer.  I know he was inspired by God to have us implement this strategy of prayer, because as we near the end of the fast, what has occurred has been so precious and priceless that we do not intend to stop!  While any fast comes to completion for a season, we will continue praying for our family in this way.  We let each of them know that THIS DAY IS THEIRS for us to pray over them all day long and we ask them for anything specific we can include in our prayers.  The answers to prayer have come in God’s way – not always by our wishes … but the spiritual connection that has been raised up between us across the long distances that separate us has drawn us closer than ever before.  While we do not see each other for months and months, praying for our family this way renders any distance powerless to keep us apart.  We are engaged in prayer all day long, knowing what they are needing from God and desiring to give to Him … and we feel ever so closely connected!  We share the tears of struggle, the longing to be more than we are, the battles that need to be won, the personal cries for victory in many arenas of our lives, the opportunities put before us for ministering to others within and without the church walls … and so much more!  And now we have put into place the power that comes from praying as a triple-braided cord rather than by ourselves.  (Ecclesiastes 4:12)  Now our prayer strength cannot be easily broken … we hold each other up, accountable and encouraged through the hope that Christ brings to us new and fresh each day!

     How many spiritual breakthroughs will take place in our families … in our churches … in our own lives as the season of this new year’s fast comes to a close?  Only God knows!  I believe that the outcomes will go on and on producing continued results and fruit for the glory of God!  It is time for us as the people of God’s church to not be still or stagnant, but to get up and MOVE into the places of victory that God is preparing for us.  We will never experience and receive them if we do not get up from where we are at – and MOVE forward!  I love the message that Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina shared during their recent recording of a new worship album.  In part, this is what his challenge was:  “We can’t stay here – we’ve got to go!  We’ve got a charge to keep; we’ve got a God to serve!  We’ve got a gospel to preach.  We’ve got broken hearts to bind; we’ve got hurting people to heal.  MOVE, CHURCH!”  I echo his anointed message.  “People of Elevation North in Owatonna, Minnesota … let’s go!  We’ve got a God to serve!  MOVE, Elevation North!”   

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

One of the most empowering words of love that I know of is “CHOSEN!”  How does it make you feel when someone says, “I CHOOSE YOU!”  Or, “I’ve CHOSEN you to be a part of my wedding, my party, my team!”  And one of the highest compliments another person can give you is to tell you, “I REALLY needed someone to bare my soul to, someone who would just listen to me and pray with me; and because I know I can trust you, I CHOSE YOU!”  Chosen.  Being chosen by someone else pours added value into our spirits.  It awakens a part of our heart and soul that God designed to be filled and fulfilled.  And what happens to anyone who does not feel chosen?  And more importantly, what happens to those who ARE chosen, but they don’t see it, know it, or believe that they are?

With this beautiful season of the celebration of Christ’s birth, I have been drawn to the thought of many of God’s choices in how He would bring His Son into this world and in how He would present Him as the Hope of the world.  I love how God CHOSE ordinary people to be His vessels of CHOICE for carrying out the birth of His Son!  I see a precious and powerful correlation between the word “chosen” and the event of Jesus’ birth that would forever change life for us on this earth – through His subsequent life, death, and resurrection.  Every prophecy, every person, every part played was a fulfillment of God’s choices for His Son.  The innocent, pure, young girl who would carry the divine seed of the Holy Spirit and become the mother of Jesus.  The young man of integrity, Joseph, who would raise Jesus as His own.  The prophecy that this Baby’s name would be “Jesus” – and the act of obedience that would cause this name not only to tumble off the lips of His family and friends – but to be the Name above all others. The stable, the manger, the swaddling clothes wrapped around the Baby.  The animals that hovered close by. The Star that lit up the world that night. The angels announcing the Birth in resounding hallelujahs. The shepherds who nearly fainted in fear but picked themselves up and followed the Star to the stable.  The wise men who traveled from afar with only a special Star as their compass in quest of the Child who they purposed to worship.  The townsfolk who witnessed it all and shook their heads in awe.   All were a part of God’s amazing plan to bring salvation to us.  He CHOSE this amazing GIFT for US, people! 

God chose this course of action to put into place His plan that would carry His Son o’er dusty paths for the next thirty-three years, taking Him from the splinters in that wooden manger - to beautifully carved pieces of woodwork by His own hands in Josephs’ carpenter shop – all the way to that old rugged cross on Calvary.  You see, the Chosen Gift became our Sacrifice.  Jesus was appointed and hand-picked through the will of His Father in heaven.  Royalty, yet chosen to suffer a most unfathomable death.  For who?  Sinners – that’s us, you and me.  Sinners, chosen to receive something special, eternal – if we would just say “yes” to His gift.  Saying “yes” makes us His choice children:  worthy, excellent, superior, fine, select, rare, uncommon, valuable, precious.  In ourselves?  No!  But by His standards of seeing us through His shed blood, He calls us “CHOSEN!”  Being chosen by God means that we are the object of His choice and divine favor – because of our acceptance of His Son - and thus showered with attention and special gifts from His hands to our hearts.  We are chosen for a special purpose. 

And just like for Jesus, sometimes the choices of God for us include suffering for a purpose greater than ourselves and our own wishes.  Somehow I think that when we truly grasp the joy of knowing we are chosen by God, and we more fully understand our place in His pleasure – that we are loved and valuable, hand-picked and preferred, appointed and favored - we finally find ourselves in the place of triumph and victory.  For we finally “get it!”  No matter where life takes us, we find ourselves in the powerful frame of mind that believes the very Word of God which tells us that “no weapon formed against us shall prosper!” (Isaiah 54:17) We find ourselves in the place of capably achieving victories on battlefield after battlefield when we successfully tear down the strongholds that set themselves up against us. (II Corinthians 10:4) One at a time.  Each time.  Yes, we are CHOSEN.  But we must make the CHOICES that will enable us to live as God’s CHOSEN people!  In this amazing season of Christ-centered celebration, may YOU see yourself as God’s CHOSEN royalty, bought with the precious, priceless blood of Jesus!  Let’s live like we KNOW it and BELIEVE it, dear ones!

REMEMBER . . .

“ … you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, God’s own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

~ I Peter 2:9  

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

“NOW GO; I WILL HELP YOU SPEAK AND WILL TEACH YOU WHAT TO SAY.”  How I love it when God speaks to me in such personal ways!  I rolled over in bed this morning, curled up for a few more lingering moments before needing to exit the warmth beneath the covers.  What was on my mind was a yet unspoken prayer that God would give me HIS message for this blog yet unwritten.  Before my feet touched the floor enroute to the kitchen to prepare Communion for my morning time with God this day, my eyes rested on a beautiful post painted by a friend.  I had just asked my husband to pray for God’s anointing on me so that His words would be given to me as I wrote.  Within seconds my eyes rested on this beautiful message straight from the heart of God to me today … though it had been spoken first to Moses, so long ago recorded for us in Exodus 4:12:  “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  There, I had my instructions. 

Now it was time to offer my first portion of the day in thanksgiving and praise to my Lord, remembering “why” He came to earth and gave His life for “me”, as I celebrated His life and death and resurrection.  It is a powerful time between the Creator and His created – it is intimately personal.  Partaking of Communion helps us remember the priceless sacrifice of Jesus giving His body and shedding His life’s blood for us, so that when we say “yes” to Him we have the gift and assurance of life with Him in heaven for all of eternity.  But it holds yet a deeper dimension of what Jesus wants us to remember.  I wholeheartedly believe that celebrating Communion allows us to bring the remembrance of “why” He did what He did for us – for this day.  For this moment in time.  For these circumstances we face – today.  For these people we are praying for – for their  needs.  For our needs.  For us to ask for cleansing and purging and forgiveness.  When we look at our lives in the here and now in the blazing reality that Christ came so that we might have overcoming victory today … right now … for such a time and circumstance as this … it changes everything about how we live our lives before God and with Him!

My eyes fell on such perfect scriptures for today and for the days we are now living in, as I purposely turned to specific portions in God’s Word this morning.  Over the past few days the news alerts have jumped off the pages and screens … screaming fear to whoever will receive it.  Paris attacks kill 130 people; Mali massacre; terrorism alert levels raised to “serious and immediate threat”; US citizens urged to exercise caution, especially in large crowds; Brussels (Belgium) placed on lockdown;  and the headlines just continue on in horror and disbelief.  But these things are happening, we cannot deny that.  And because they are, that demands a response from us. 

What will we do?  Initially, we will experience the human emotions that flood o’er us.  But then … we MUST remember WHO is in control, and WHOSE we are!  I would encourage you to grab your Bible and open it to Luke chapter 24 and read it slowly and carefully.  Receive its message – take it in its truths.  It is powerful!  It was then when it was written – and it is just as powerful on this day in November, 2015 when our world is falling apart at the seams, seeming to destruct at the hands of all the evil being unleashed.  When the events of Luke 24 took place, the disciples’ emotions were wandering all over the place.  Their Jesus had been crucified.  Now the tomb was empty.  They felt alone, abandoned and lost.  Though the women came and reported to the disciples the words of the angels that “He was risen” – the disciples thought it was just an idle tale – nonsense.  Later that day, as they walked and talked, Jesus caught up with them and engaged with them in their perplexed conversation.  He even explained it all to them, from beginning to end.  But they just didn’t get it.  When they urged Him to stay with them since it was almost evening, He did.  And amazingly, it was during His sharing of the bread, praising God, giving thanks, asking a blessing, breaking it and giving it to them – that their eyes were instantly opened and they recognized Him!  It was in that moment that they believed He had risen and appeared to them!  There are two very powerful verses here that we need to grasp and understand.  “Then they (themselves) related (in full) what had happened on the road, and how He was known and recognized by them in the breaking of bread.  Now while they were talking about this, Jesus Himself took His stand among them and said to them, Peace (freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as a result of sin) be to you!”  (verses 35-36)  Did YOU get it?  Did you see the power of revelation that Christ brings to us as we sit in His presence and remember why He came to do what He did for us?  And do you see that He came back to their midst for the purpose of speaking peace to them!  I love the description of the peace that Jesus brings as explained in the Amplified Bible:  freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as a result of sin!  In today’s world, that pretty much covers it.  We are in days of distress due to sin and evil – and our Lord comes to speak peace to us!  For today, dear ones.  For each day.  One day at a time!  I encourage you to receive these words of peace and speak them to others!  God has given us the Words!  

Joyfully Serving Christ . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

                                                                                                                             

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

A VITAL NECESSITY.  Just when does God become a vital necessity to us?  Somehow even the air we breathe that keeps us alive can become a thing taken for granted.  But remove the availability of air – and we will have no life.  So how vital is that necessity to our physical lives?  And WHO gives us that gift and provision?  None other than the One who also longs to have us understand that His presence in our lives is as vital a necessity to our spiritual well-being as the very air we breathe!  More so, actually.

Why is it that people forget to “breathe God in” when they feel as if life is sailing along quite smoothly?  When everything is falling into place?  When things are going their way?  When all is laughter and the struggles of life have been placed on the shelf of denial?  Could it be that we are raising our own abilities above our desire or need for God?

And why is it that in the moments that take our breath away, we finally pay attention to the fact that we cannot breathe without God alive within us?  That we cannot survive if He is not alive in our hearts?  When our most precious ones disappear from our sight and leave this life behind … we can barely breathe.  When crushing disappointments come from any angle … we feel like the life is being squeezed from us.  When relationships lack love, honor and respect, or turn cold and sour ... we feel as if we cannot even muster another breath to go on.  But it is in these very moments that we finally give in and cry out to God for “spiritual air” so that our faith stays alive.  That’s all well and good – but “what if” we learned the life-giving technique of “breathing God in” - in every circumstance?  How much different would our lives really be?

Listen to this scripture:  “Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29:13, The Amplified Bible)  Somehow, that tells me that when I choose this “breathing God-connection” and apply it to every part of my life, I will discover how God meant for me to live!  Every day.  Every hour.  Every moment.  In every circumstance.  Whether in joy.  Or in sorrow.  Whether I have plenty.  Or not enough.  His Word says I need to “require” Him.  That sounds pretty mandatory to me, and for good reason!

Let’s see if we can make clearer sense of this.  Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verses 29-30 share the same message as the above verse in Jeremiah.  It helps us clarify the fact that WE, ourselves, have much to do with how this breathing thing turns out.  We can either hyperventilate and suck for air, or we can purposefully choose to breathe in God as the vital necessity that He is.  IF we seek God, inquire for God, and require as VITAL NECESSITY our Lord God, then we WILL find HIM – IF – we really, truly SEEK HIM with ALL our HEART and MIND and SOUL and LIFE!  That leaves nothing out.  You see, if air is needed by our body to keep living, then all the more God is needed by our heart and soul, our very life … to keep living.  As believers, we should be just as concerned about maintaining our spiritual lives as our physical lives.  About breathing in God, more than breathing in air.  Breathing in God will renew us, refresh us, and bring us to the lives of victory and triumph that most people just wish for.  You see, breathing in God should not be an option for His children.  His Word says that it is something we must do; it is necessary.  Vitally so.  It should be a spiritual compulsion.  We should experience the need to breathe in God as an urgent desire, until we awaken to the realization that there is no other way to live.  Not if we want to live in obedience to Him.  What was that verse again?  Let’s memorize it, dear friends, and live it … breathing God into every part of our lives.  Every part!

REMEMBER . . .

“Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity)

and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

~ Jeremiah 29:13  

Serving Christ Joyfully . . . 

Pastor Doug and Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

TUTELAGE.  That sounds like such an old-fashioned word, doesn’t it?  In most everyday circles we likely do not hear many people using this word in their everyday conversation.  But as I’ve prepared to pen the words of this long overdue article for our church blog, I heard God say that one word to me.  I looked up some definitions of the word and I guess with what has been going on in my spiritual journey since I’ve last “chatted” with you – it makes sense!  This is a specific place of learning that I have come to anticipate daily not only as I sit at the feet of Jesus, but as I walk through my day.  But it is truly what I soak in and come to understand in the quiet times that allows me to practice and act on in the real living that takes place when I leave my “desk”. 

Tutelage actually means the teaching or instruction of an individual student by a teacher.  That would be me, of course, as the student, being taught one-on-one by the Teacher.  Yup, you’ve got it.  The Teacher that I’ve sat under in tutelage in recent weeks has been none other than Jesus! A deeper meaning of the word is that it is an act or process of serving as guardian or protector.  And that is exactly what I have received from my Teacher; He has totally looked out after me in all of the circumstances that have been flung my way and He has guarded me like no other one could.  I’ve known I was safe from any and all attacks of the enemy of my soul, no matter what form he would choose to come in.  When I sat at my “desk” or on the floor of my “war room – my prayer room” … He tutored me personally and imparted knowledge and skills to me as I opened His Word and drank in the truths.  What I didn’t understand, He made clear – a bit at a time.  Sometimes I had to live it out for real before it made total sense. 

In this time of daily coaching, I have begun to realize that I am being conditioned:  conditioned to believe and to receive everything that God sends my way … and conditioned to be strong enough to not receive anything that comes my way that is not from God!  Did you get that?  Go back and read it again!!  Responding to everything in my life that way has been nothing short of life-changing!  It becomes a cry-of-the-heart prayer that transforms into a way of life that brings liberty and freedom.  This is truly how God meant for us to live!  Yet, even as believers, it takes most of us a lifetime of taking on the weight and the shackles and chains of captivity thrust upon us by the enemy – before we are ready to be done with that once and for all! 

Under the tutelage of my Lord, I have been cultivated, prepared and readied for not only my todays, but for what lies ahead of me.  I have been developed, directed, guided, and nurtured.  I have learned and then I’ve failed again.  But my Coach picks me up and stands me up on solid ground and tells me I can do it.  He tells me to try again.  And when I succeed, He picks me up and swings me around in a celebratory dance complete with whoops and hollers!  Yes, Jesus gets excited about the progress His students make! And I have loved being a student in these past weeks more than I ever have in my past!  When morning dawns, I can hardly wait to take my place at His feet and listen and learn ~ and then go out and live it.  My favorite parts of the sessions are the dialogue we share.  I love when He invites me to pour out my heart in all honesty before Him.  I love knowing that I have His full attention, for after all, it’s just Him and me!  Sometimes I feel a little chided when He makes me aware of some tests I have to re-take so that I get it right – but He is always so tender and caring and patient with me.  I can tell He wants me to experience the best and the whole of all He has to teach me, even more than I desire it.  That makes me want to please Him, though, even more.  And I love when He smiles at me with those eyes that hold me in their gaze; for then I know He loves that I desire to lavish my love on Him each new day, making our relationship as life-giving as the air I breathe.

There are really no words to flesh out the spiritual intimacy between God and man – in this case, me!  Or ~ you!  But I know more deeply than I’ve ever known, that He wants us to come and sit at His feet for many reasons:  for fellowship, forgiveness, learning, love, receiving His good and perfect gifts, and battling the enemy in His Name so we can reject his attempts to destroy everything and everyone we hold close to our hearts!  And, dear ones, there is SO much more!  We’ve just barely scratched the surface about this journey under the tutelage of our Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit!  But let me tell you, when they Team-Teach, we can never remain the same!  How we live changes!  I’d love to hear your stories, because we are in this time of instruction for a purpose far greater than we can ever imagine.  Lord Jesus, have Your way in our lives, I pray!

REMEMBER . . .

“In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
~ Proverbs 3:6 

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .

Pastor Doug & Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

WHAT IS THE CHURCH SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE?  No, I am not talking about the exterior architectural design or the stately steeple pointing heavenward.  It’s not about how beautiful the stained glass windows of yesteryear were or still are; it’s not even about the color scheme or the cushiony, padded chairs.  On the flip side, it is not about how contemporary and non-churchy looking the building is to draw people in.  Neither is it about what the preacher looks like or how great or awful he is at delivering the message.  Nor is it about how professional the worship team is or how off-key they are when it comes to leading the people in those old hymns or newly written worship songs – you take your pick, because most people surely have a strong opinion, right?  I am not even talking about how fashionable the dress code seems to be of those attending – or how casual and flippant the choice of attire is.  Sorry, I am not trying to be sarcastic; I am just attempting to paint a picture of how we as the church are supposed to look!   And what I’ve just penned has nothing at all to do with how God wants us to look!

Here’s another statement to consider:  what DOES the church look like today?  Sad to say in many cases and places, the church looks like a group of people out-of-touch with the real world.  Many so-called Christians walk around looking like they have arrived … and they wonder what anyone less than their status is doing in their church.  They are horrified that the less-than-perfect newcomers will ruin their attempt to achieve perfection:  to be right … to look right.  But do they act right?  You see, how we ACT is a pretty accurate indicator of WHY we look like we do.  Our actions label us as “something” – whether we like it or not.  But the great thing about that is – we get to choose what we look like, with God’s help!

THIS is probably a more accurate description of a church that the Lord Jesus Christ would feel welcome and comfortable in.  Since the people are the church according to the Word of God, what God looks for is in the hearts of the people.  I see most of our world as filled with broken people.  The church is no exception.  And it is not just the sinners on the outside or inside who are broken; it is also all of us who call ourselves by Christ’s Name.  But, He takes one look at our brokenness, and He reaches out His nail-scarred hands and says, “Here, let me put all those pieces back together for you.  I want YOU to be whole again!”  He loves to see a church who looks as if they have been broken but who do not want to stay that way and allow God to do a spiritual surgical repair on them!  You get a church full of people who have allowed God to carve on them, removing the sins that so easily beset us – and you will see a church full of people who can love people right where they are at, because they themselves have been there.  You get a church full of people who were broken but who are desperate enough to cry out to God to be put back together again – and you will see a church who is powerful and strong, yet gentle and compassionate because they remember what the brokenness was like.  You get a church full of people who have been stubborn and judgmental and negative and they allow God to melt them into something redeemed and new – you will see a transformed church of radical, set-on-fire, positive people who can love others unconditionally.  You get a church full of people who are selfish and only care about their own needs being met and then God gets a grip on them and helps them die to themselves – you will see a church full of servants who cannot wait to give of themselves:  their time, their talents and gifts, their money, their worship, their BEST!  Are you getting the picture of the church that God longs to see?  When all the “old is passed away and we become new creatures in Christ” – not only will we look like Him, but we will see each other in a new way!  And the world will see us, the Church, as a powerful force to be reckoned with:  blood-bought warriors armed with prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit within us!  CHURCH, THIS is what God wants us to look like! 

So, with God’s help … what do YOU want our church to look like?  And does that desire match up with God’s plan and longing for Elevation North, according to His Word?  We challenge each of you to seek God and ask Him what He wants YOU to look like … for YOU are His church.  YOU label God’s church in this community.  How?  By your words, your actions, your everyday living, your availability, your dependability, your passion to share the God that you desire to reflect!  Dear God, please help us get it right!  We want You to LOVE coming to our church as we lift You up and exalt You and give You first place in our hearts and lives!  Then and only then, can we truly say, “World … look out!  We are not perfect, but we resemble the Jesus we love – and here we come to share Him with you!”

REMEMBER . . .

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

~ II Corinthians 5:17   

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .  

Pastor Doug and Debbie

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!  For such a time as WHAT, you ask?  For such a time as RIGHT NOW in your life.  Today … this summer day in 2015.  While our world seems to be spinning out of control and spiraling ever downward … the time is NOW!  Alright – I will get to the punch line!  We all honestly know and have to admit that it is never the perfect time for ANYthing!  Somehow, we are never ready or fully prepared for what is to come.  But it is going to come anyway, be it amazingly wonderful and joyous, or devastatingly destructive and sorrowful.  Somehow, we don’t quite know what to do with what we feel is out of our control.  We are not GOD, after all!  But I fear that in so many of our circumstances, we do not let God be GOD!  From personal experience, we think we have to help make it happen in just the right way … or we have to help fix it … or we have to solve it.  Is there any other way?  Well, yes, there is! 

We just need to let God be GOD!  But far too often we feel overwhelmed, overpowered, over-anxious, over-stressed, over-angry, even out of control … and we cannot get over anything!  NOW is the time to ask ourselves some reality questions.  What are we still hanging on to?  What are we letting control us?  And what is clutching at our hearts with a death-grip?  Why can’t we just let go?  Why do we take the control stick away from God and jump in and try to maneuver things the way we think best?  You know, our very best thinking just doesn’t get us where we want to be!  Does it have to be this difficult?  Actually, these are the perfect times to take our hands off the steering wheel and let God be GOD! 

Or perhaps you have this false notion that everything is exactly perfect at this time and place in your life.  From family to friends to finances.  From happiness to health to home.  From relationships to responsibilities to the routine.  From work to well-being to winning at life.  But you see, we live in a fallen world.  And the reality of life is – life happens!  And it happens when we least expect it.  An unwelcome diagnosis at the doctor’s office.  A job that ends.  An estranged relationship.  Loneliness that eats away at the heart.  An empty bank account.  Disappointments that crush the soul.  Words that cut.  Pain that does not go away.  Well, I’d best quit with this reality check before I have you in tears.

So how do we make this “letting God be GOD” thing work?  Well, all I know is what I read in God’s Word … and all I know in addition to that is what I experience in my own life!  So here goes . . .

The Bible talks about “for such a time as this” in the book of Esther.  When the lives of all the Jewish people in the kingdom were at risk to perish, Esther’s uncle Mordecai sent a message to her in the palace.  What he basically said was that she should not flatter herself assuming that she would escape where she had been placed as the Queen, any more than all the other Jews.  How I love the rest of his loving, but urgent message to his niece:  “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish.  And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?”  (chapter 4:14)  What place does God have you in right now where you can effect great changes if you will just let Him be WHO HE IS?  I urge you to pray and ask God to open your eyes to what you need to let go of so that He can do His work in the life circumstances you would like victory in!

At the beginning of this year, one word rang out clearly above all others in my heart.  It was “relationships.”  I wasn’t sure why.  It wasn’t that my life was filled with lots of broken relationships or that I lacked relationships.  Quite the contrary.  But in our human imperfection things can crop up that make us want to run to Jesus to make it good again … great, in fact!  At any rate, I just sensed that I was desiring more closeness and unity in all of my relationships.  God helped me recognize that I could not change anything in anyone else.  And He reminded me that the best thing I could do was to come before Him in all honesty and ask Him to let me see me as He sees me – so He could fix in me what would help make things like I longed for them to be.  Well, long story short, God must have done some amazing work in me.  I don’t know what He did in anyone else, but as the weeks and months progressed throughout this year, I would experience the most loving, affirming experiences within the relationships that I cherish and hold closest to my heart.  It was so noticeable, that I would actually stop and just look up and say, “Wow, God … that is amazing!  Only YOU could have done this!”  And you know what?  I am so glad that I got out of the way, and just let God be GOD in my relationships!  Are ALL of them perfectly wonderful?  No, there’s a few God is still working on me about.  But I am trying to stay out of the way, I am asking Him to keep changing me, and I am trusting that in His time, there will again be the connectedness I desire.  You know what?  It really is FUN inviting and allowing God to be GOD!  Amazing things happen way beyond what we could ever only dream of doing!

REMEMBER . . .

“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

~ 2 Corinthians 6:2b  

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .  

Pastor Doug and Debbie