Bishop's Blog

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

People won’t know that we belong to God because of how much Scripture we quote, how loud we can pray, or many times we go to church.

They’ll know that we belong to God by the love that we have for one another. It’s the goodness of God the brings people to repentance not exploiting the faults that they are well aware and many times hate about themselves.

Who did you love today? Who did you smile at today? Who did you tell that God loves them today?

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.

It can be easy to be distracted by bills, circumstances, bad relationships, and negative things. When we find ourselves discouraged, it is because of a lack of vision. If you live life like you have nothing to live for, then you’ll perish with an unfulfilled assignment. The King James Version says that “where there is no prophetic revelation, the people cast off restraint.” In other words, vision determines your actions. If you forget that God showed you you’d own your own business, you’ll make bad decisions and “cast of restraint” like you’ll never have it. If you forgot that God showed you that your family will be saved, you’ll stop praying for them and they’ll perish. God allows us to enter places of frustration in order to give us revelation. 

If you feel like you are in a stagnant place, that might be a good place to be!! That means God is trying to speak to you and remind you of the vision. Once you get it, write it down. When discouragement comes your way, which it will, you then can go back to what you wrote and say this isn’t what God promised me, so that must mean that I’ve got to keep on pressing on.

Apply these keys in the first 6 minutes of everyday and watch how much more you accomplish for God’s glory!! Either life will happen to you, or you will happen to life!

1. Face your fears. They aren’t as bad as you think they are. Facing your fears increases your confidence and builds your faith. Fear is absence of the right information not necessarily a lack of faith. You receiving God’s love in your life will cast out fear.
    
2. Forget the pain of your failures. Learn from them, but don’t live in them. Avoid making the same mistakes again but don’t limit yourself by assuming you failed before so you can’t succeed this time. Try again because now you’re wiser and stronger.  Don’t be trapped in the past! Your windshield is a lot bigger than your rear-view mirror. Failure is really just a stepping stone to success. Better to fail with $5000 than to fail with $500,000,000!! Live. Learn. Live Better.
    
3. Know what you want and ask for it. You deserve for your dreams to come true because you are a child of the living King. God delights in the prosperity of His servants. Christ is your source and not man.
    
4. Reward yourself when you succeed. Make small achievable goals and reward yourself once you accomplish them. If you desire to be debt free, celebrate paying off one bill. It may not be the total goal, but it’s a step in the right direction.
    
5. Over-Communicate. We often make assumptions about a situation or person which are not true. Your attitude and behavior can be negatively affected, so if you have any doubt or question ask and don’t assume you know why or how.
    
6. Don’t be defeated! Try something else. Don’t be defeated by one failed attempt? Everyone fails before they succeed. All you need is a different approach. Reposition yourself to approach your goal from a different perspective.

Leviticus 26:9 
For I will be leaning toward you with favor and regard for you, rendering you fruitful, multiplying you, and establishing and ratifying My covenant with you.

Remember the old hymn We’ve Come this far by Faith? It goes on on to say “leaning on the the Lord and trusting in His holy Word. He’s never failed me yet.” To lean on simply means to rely upon for strength. You can’t lean on yourself, you must lean on the Lord. But isn’t it great to know that the Lord says that you’re not just leaning on Him, in return He is leaning toward you and making you fruitful in the things that you do.

One day of favor is worth ten years of labor. God has the heart of the king in His hand and there is nothing that is too hard for Him. God’s covenant with us is established when He blesses and increases us and we do our part through obedience to Him. When God leans towards you, all of heaven does as well.

Start everyday saying, “Lord, you are leaning toward me with favor and regard.” When you begin to speak that, you will feel things turning for your good. Stay positive and be willing to move with God. You’ve made it this far by faith leaning on the Lord and now the Lord will lean toward you. 

1 Samuel 14:6-8 ⁶And Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For there is nothing to prevent the Lord from saving by many or by few. ⁷And his armor-bearer said to him, Do all that is in your mind; I am with you in whatever you think [best]. ⁸Jonathan said, We will pass over to these men and we will let them see us.

You need people in your life that will support you in the things that God has ordained that you do. We must understand that people serve a purpose in our lives and when we find that purpose, we must thank God for it and no longer walk foolishly concerning it. How often do you pray for your friends and the people that are around you?

How often do you pray for a spirit of discernment to know whether they are helping you fight or planning your defeat? You need people that are going to tell you that God can do anything but fail. You need people that will encourage you no matter how big or small your problem is. But you also need people that will tell you the truth and not say things just to please you.

People that are always speaking doubt and always telling you what God can’t do aren’t the right people to listen to. A real friend will be there for you in the thick and the thin. Most importantly a real friend will tell you the truth and not care how it makes you feel. Sometimes you need to hear things from another perspective. You can only see from one angle, while others have a different advantage.

1 John 3:14-16 14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in Him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

The Bible calls hatred murder. Sometimes people can hurt you so badly that you can be tormented by the thought of them, tormented when you hear their name, and tormented by the thought that they might get away with what they did to you. When people hurt us, we must know that nothing happens that God hasn’t permitted. The book of Job teaches us that it doesn’t mean God necessarily causes all things to happen to us, but it can’t happen unless He approves it.

Secondly, we must know that we have to forgive people. You can be so angry with people that it ends up causing you to develop hatred against them. To hate is to murder. Not only do you murder yourself by losing joy and losing hope, but most people end up sharing their hatred of someone with others thus murdering their influence with others. God has forgiven you for great things and now you must turn around and do it for others. Forgiveness means that you release them from what they did to you and from your desire to punish them for it. It doesn’t mean a rekindling of a relationship or friendship and doesn’t even mean fellowship with that person.

Vengeance is the Lord’s, not yours and when you forgive someone you are releasing them and any “punishment” for what they did back to God.

Spiritual Authority

by Joyce Meyer - posted July 15, 2011

Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you], for they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare, as men who will have to render an account [of their trust]. [Do your part to] let them do this with gladness and not with sighing and groaning, for that would not be profitable to you [either].
—Hebrews 13:17

Our modern society is absolutely filled with rebellion, and rebellion keeps us from hearing God. I have observed that many, many people have trouble relating to authority. This is true in marriages, families, schools, businesses, civic activities, and throughout our culture. Submission to spiritual authority is practically nonexistent.

Often when a pastor tries to bring some kind of correction, people tend to become upset and want to leave the church—and that is not right. Paul corrected people often; that was part of his job as a spiritual leader and it remains a responsibility for spiritual leaders today. Paul said: “Not that we have dominion [over you] … but [rather that we work with you as] fellow laborers [to promote] your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24). If we will understand and believe that spiritual authority exists to promote our joy, we will embrace it and when we do, our joy will increase—and so will our ability to hear God’s voice.

The spirit of rebellion that is at work in the world today is the spirit of the antichrist according to 2 Thessalonians 2:7–8, one that is willing to submit to no one. People today say they are demanding their rights, but in reality they are often only resisting any authority but their own.

God’s word for you today: Be submissive to authority as a service to the Lord, and He will bless and prosper you. 

It can sometimes be difficult for us to fully understand the love that God has for us because often times we see love within the confines of what we can comprehend. Most of us love conditionally and were loved by people whose love would come and go depending on what we did. The love of God is probably one of the greatest mysteries for humans. It’s not a mystery because God doesn’t explain it; it’s a mystery because we can sometimes think that we don’t deserve it. If you have a poor self image then you will doubt that anyone, let alone God, could love you. That is why many people end up making bad relationship decisions because they don’t think that they deserve to be loved because of their appearance or because of their personality flaws.

God’s love is not limited to your appearance or your flaws. In fact, God made you and when He made you He broke the mold. He didn’t make any mistakes. Love who God has made you to be and know that whatever personality flaws you have, God and only God has the ability to help you correct them. He doesn’t stop giving His love because you are too big, too small, too dark or too light or whatever else. You are precious to Him. Another reason that someone may have trouble understanding the love of God is because they don’t take God at His word. If your word is no good, then you will think that everybody’s word is like that including God’s. 

We have to learn that God’s word is no lie and that when He says that He will love you and care for you no matter what mistakes you’ve made, you must believe Him. Mistakes are not love stoppers for God. In fact in 1 John 1:9, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. He doesn’t withhold His love and He’s not standing over you wanting to ”strike you down”. That doesn’t mean that there are not consequences for your actions, but He is waiting on you to return to Him standing with open arms ready to forgive you and restore you.

One of the last reasons and the biggest reason that we can think God may not love us or care for us anymore is if you were raised by someone that didn’t love you unconditionally. Maybe it was a demanding father or a condescending mother that always extremely critical you when you made a mistake and always made you feel ostracized. Your challenge is to first forgive them and release them for their actions. Many times parents do the best job they can with the information that they have. Most families have some type of dysfunction.

Next, you can’t view God through the eyes of your parents, you must view Him in the eyes of the Bible and the Bible teaches us that He loves you so much that He died for you and conquered death for you so that you could be victorious. God will never stop loving you ever for any reason. According to Romans 8:35-40, nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even you!!

Sometimes we need to be reminded of what real love is all about. Many people rush into relationships because they are burning with passion and with physical lust and they confuse that lust for genuine love. You’ve heard people say that they “fell in love.” The problem with falling in to love is that you may trip and fall out of love. Love is not a feeling or an emotion. The emotion associated with love is called compassion. Compassion is being moved to care for someone or something that you love, but love itself is a choice. The Bible defines love in several places, but 1^st Corinthians 13:4-8 AMPLIFIED is one of the most popular: ⁴Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. ⁵It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. ⁶It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. ⁷Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. ⁸Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (^[d]the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth]. When you say that you love someone, those attributes should come forth. Those attributes are the fruit of love. They are proof that you are walking in love. When you say you love someone, you are saying that you decide to be patient, you decide to be kind and sometimes that means doing things that the other person may feel are “too tough.”
Let’s be clear, love is not a doormat. It’s not foolish. It’s not ignorant and it’s not blind. In a relationship, if you find that someone chooses not to love you but rather abuse you, use wisdom. Don’t allow yourself to be dogged out in the name of “love.” That’s foolishness.

Shalom Everybody,

We pray that your week was filled with joy!! God is doing so many great things through the Harvest Christian Center and we are in awe of how God has shaped such an incredible church right here in a place where it’s estimated that less that 5% of people in the state attend worship services on a regular basis. God has called Harvest to be an innovator and pioneer in so many ways and we’re always striving to further the culture of the Kingdom and we’re honored that God has chosen us for such a time as this!

They say that the greatest and highest form of a compliment is when someone imitates what you do… pioneers have to be careful not to get angry when they see people attempting to recreate or reproduce something they saw them do…it’s the highest form of flattery and it shows that God wants to use you in a way to blazes trails opposed to just follow them… that’s the whole reason for pioneers. You create paths for others to walk down with the wisdom you learned on how to handle the obstacles that you faced when first confronting the new territory.

Pioneers have to deal with challenges and may not even get “credit” for blazing the path BUT we must all remember that every creative idea or though originated with the master pioneer Himself and since there’s nothing new under the sun, just enjoy that God is using you to further His kingdom and to help others along the way!! AND if you’re a person that’s using a creative concept that you saw or learned from someone else and are applying it in your life, in your ministry or in any other realm, follow Galatians 6:6 and share in all good things. You can do this by sharing a testimony of how what you learned blessed you and it’s not a bad practice to sow financially into that person or ministry either. Everything that’s freely given wasn’t given freely. This just means that it may be a free idea to you, but you don’t know what sacrifice and what cost it had to the one you’re getting it from! The messages that you may hear that revolutionize your life may only cost you a few dollars to purchase the CD, but it may have cost your pastor years of his life to learn. 

Take Over!!

Bishop

1 Samuel 30:6 David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

There are some days when it will seem that everything that could possibly go wrong does. You were late to work, the kids are acting up, and your money is so funny that it tells you jokes! Life sometimes has a way of throwing lots of challenges at us and some days it seems if everything has broken loose. 

We must learn how to cope with life. Not only do we need to pray and worship, but we need to find another way to cope. It starts with encouraging ourselves in the Lord. Your situation could be far worse. You could be living under a bridge or in a box somewhere. If you’re reading this email, that’s evidence that your life is better than that.

Maybe you need to take runs or go on jogs. Have a praise and worship service in your living room and shake the worries off. There’ll always be something to be worried about so why do it? Instead of stressing, find a way to encourage yourself.

Job 1:20 Then Job arose and rent his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped.

When things don’t go according to your plan, what is your first response? Do you pick up the phone and call your friends or do you call on God? Most everyone is familiar with the story of Job. The story of Job is so great because at some point in life, we can all relate to what Job went through. Job was able to be trusted with trouble. God never trusts you with trouble unless He has a far greater place of blessing in store for you.

Trouble is a bridge to get you from one place in life to the next. Job’s first response to the last messenger that came telling him that his life was in shambles, was to fall to his knees and worship. Our first response must be the same. It’s easy to get mad and angry when things go wrong, but that won’t get you anywhere. What’s the difference between Christians and non-believers? The way we respond to trouble.

We respond with worship because we know that if we’re in a trial, it’s because God has a place of promotion for us at the end of it.

Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.

Today, the Lord has gone before you and has fought every battle for you. So many times as Christians we want to go to battle and fight for the Lord, when really it is Him that is fighting for us. He does so by giving us the strength, courage, and wisdom to endure adverse circumstances.

What we should do is pray that God’s will is done, hold our peace and not let our emotions take control, but let the wisdom of God rule. Just rest in the knowledge that God is in control of your life because you’re yielded to Him.

One thing is for sure…in this world we will encounter various trials and tribulations. Jesus said that we should take heart, or in other words be mindful that He’s already overcome the tribulations on our behalf. We get to choose how we will respond to trouble. Since, Christ has already won for us, our tribulations can only be harmful to us if we let them. Choose to respond with a smile and a positive attitude. Whatever you’re seeking is what you’ll find. Negative people always find the negative. If He never sleeps nor slumbers, there’s no need in both of you staying up and losing sleep. Choose a positive response and say “My God has already overcome this for me, so I will rejoice!!”