FREEDOM RINGS! My heart sings! Is there nothing our God cannot do? I smile as I echo what we know from His Word: NO, nothing! Each new day presents its own set of
challenges and opportunities, and yet God is right there at the onset of dawn
(or whenever we first step out of our bed!).
He provides us with a new portion of His strength and grace, His
discernment and peace, His encouragement and favor. Once awake and moving, we often walk into
circumstances that attempt to diminish our spiritual freedom. Others may try knowingly or unknowingly to
dampen our spirits with judgmental attitudes or critical comments. But … our God is right there – in those
moments. He comes with the promises in
His word that wash over us like a flood of healing, comforting balm! The discouragement, the fear of the unknown,
the nagging hurts … He comes to lift them from us and remind us that while they
may come, we do not have to keep them, own them, or hang on to them! He wants us to release them to Him – and He
will dash them into oblivion. The more
we make conscious choices to let these small things go that will grow into huge
monsters that chomp away at our peace of mind, the greater level of freedom we
can live in! Free to be used of
God. Free to serve for His glory. Free from what binds us. Free to be more and more what He planned for
us to be on any given day – not just at the very end of our life when we think
we might have finally learned enough to be of use to God! And please know that whatever I share with you,
God is already working on me in that same arena of my life. These past few weeks God has given me
appointments that I never dreamed I would be scheduled for! That’s why I consider them to be
“God-appointments”. On my own I would
have pulled back, thinking that I did not have what it took to show up for
these opportunities that seemed so far beyond my expertise. But then when I gave each situation over to
God and depended on His empowering, His wisdom and His words flowed straight
into my heart, mind, and soul. It was as
if Someone else was speaking through me.
And that’s the way I always want it to be. Whatever we feel we lack on our own, God is
more than able to step in and give us what we need so we can be His mouthpiece
… His hand extended … His heart shared. And
then we see things begin to happen. In us! And for others. Getting our spiritual walk right between God
and us is a most important prerequisite to helping anyone else. Are we ever perfect? Do we ever always get it right? No way.
But if we have a seeking heart and longing desire to be as much like
Jesus as we can be, when we begin to veer off the right track, God pulls us up
short with that knowledge. He will
reveal to us what we need to know before we pass it on. In those moments when the struggles are so
deep and we are trying to peer out of the darkness, it is good to remember
this: “An arrow can only be shot by
pulling it backward. When life is
dragging you back with difficulties, just imagine that it’s going to launch you
into something great!” (unknown) When life is swirling dark clouds around us,
we need to just stop. “Be still and know
that I am God.” (That’s what God
says!) We need to take a deep
breath. We need to believe. We need to believe that with our God all
things are possible! When we believe,
things will happen that we never dared to dream before. Things will come into place that we never
before expected. You know why? Because when we believe, we DO dream. And when we believe, we DO expect. When we believe, we begin to WALK in the
supernatural freedom that Christ offers.
It’s there for us! We just have
to claim it and walk in it, even when we don’t see it – or feel like it. We could call this our “freedom marathon” –
it takes a huge commitment, a lot of dedication, and tons of good-old-fashioned
spiritual sweat, blood, and tears. But
when we cross that finish line each time, and ultimately that final finish line
from earth to heaven, we will know that it was worth every strained muscle as
we fought the good fight! Do you see
it? I see the victory – and feel the
freedom!
IN A NUTSHELL . . .
OUR SPECIAL
THANKS to Wayne and Verla who are ever and always so faithfully serving
God in so many capacities here at Elevation North! Your labors of love do not go unnoticed, and
we pray God’s abundant blessings upon both of you!
TODAY, JUN 23:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP
10:30 A.M. - KIDZONE CHURCH
SAT, JUN 29:
7 A.M. - NOON - RELAY FOR LIFE table at the Farmer's Market/Central Park
If you can help with making hand-made items, bring home-grown or home-baked items, or work at the table, please contact Wayne & Verla! This is our last Saturday for our fund-raising effort ... let's join together and be a part of reaching our goal!
NEXT SUNDAY, JUN 30:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE 7 WORSHIP / SPECIAL PATRIOTIC MESSAGE
10:30 A.M. - KIDZONE CHURCH
ELEVATION
NORTH SPOTLIGHT!
This week we
would like to highlight our Prayer Chain!
We want to remind you that we offer this prayer connection to stand in
the gap for each other as we share both spoken and unspoken prayer requests
within our church family, asking for others to come along side us in
prayer. You can call Tina at 213-4577
and share the request and she will activate the Prayer Chain via phone and
texts, alerting many in our church and calling them to prayer! So often our needs seem to be of such huge
magnitude that we sense the need to enlist the prayer power of God’s people
along with ours – so we encourage you to utilize this ministry!
REMEMBER . .
. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in
trouble. Therefore we will not fear …
The Lord Almighty is with us.” ~ Psalm 46:1-2, 7
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
