Renounce the Natural to Invoke the Supernatural

II Chronicles 20:12 - O our God wilt thou not judge them, for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.

Knowing the Power of God

With enemy forces breathing down their necks, the people of Judah were in the thick of trouble.  Jehosshaphat, the King, was afraid.  He became so fearful that he turned all his attention toward seeking the Lord in his life as he began to pursue God more intently than he had ever done before.  Jehoshaphat knew to fast before God was the best way to show his complete helplessness and humility before God.

He renounced the natural to invoke the supernatural.

Fasting is calling on God for His strength and His power!  We are powerless in and of ourselves.  One of the gateways to God's supernatural intervention in our lives is through fasting and prayer.  Fasting is tapping into God's power in a supernatural way.  Church it is time for us to CALL A FAST.  Let us call a church fast, we need to tap into God's power in a supernatural way.

I desire to see the Power of God move in a great way upon the lives of the people of God.  Hearts healed.  Marriages restored, Afflictions removed, single women being blessed with saved men that love them for who they are, ministries stablized and blessed with all of the necessary functioning tools.  To see the Power of God saving lost souls and reclaiming the backslidden hearts.  There is nothing too hard for the God that we serve.  We must learn to renounce the natural in order to invoke the supernatural strength of God to break every yoke in our lives, to move mountains, to kindle that spiritual fire in our lives, and to give us a more dedicated mind to look towards He who is the author and finisher of our faith.

Our strength is nothing but a mirage in the desert.  Mirage is an optical phenomenum that creates an illusion of water.  Our vision without prayer is nothing but a mirage - looks like we see something, but what we see is not really there, we see what we want to see, but it is not what God wants us to see.

Let us come humbly before God.  Joel 1:13 - Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests, howl, ye ministers of the altar, come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God, for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the House of your God.

The Ministers of God must humble ourselves and call out to God with a renewed zeal.  Shut ourselves into the House of God all night and pray that the Lord will bless the hearts of his people, that they will have a willing mind to bless God's House.

Psalm 107:17 - Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities are afflicted.

A fool in a fix is such a person that feels that they do not need the Lord to intervene into their lives.  We will never get away with ignoring the Lord.  We will never get away with living our lives according to fleshly desires and passions.  

Fools can be tampered with by an Almighty God.  Circumstances come into our lives bringing much distress, hardship and afflictions.  Sometimes we are hurting because we simply will not submit to God.  We can be afflicted in more ways than one.  We can be financially afflicted, mentally afflicted, afflicted by a bad marriage, afflicted by a nagging irritation, afflicted by vicious words spoken by the mouths of others. 

Humility:

• King David said, II Samuel 7:18 - Who Am I, O Lord God.
• St. Matthew 23:12 - And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.  Note:  It is no great accomplishment to be humble when the circumstances of life bring us to our knees.  But to choose a humble spirit when we are praised is a rare occurrence, and impossible in our own strength.  This is why it is a good thing to give God the glory for all things.
• Psalm 84:10 - For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand, (days outside of thy courts) I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.  The psalmist stated tht one day in the courts of the Lord is better than a thousand days outside of the court.

Living in Obedience to God

II Chronicles 31:21 - And in every work that he (Hezekiah) began in the service of the house of God, and in he law, and in the commandment to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

I truly believe that in every work that we lay our hands upon we should service the Lord with a willing heart.  Let us serve the Lord with a renewed excitement. Be happy to teach the Word, Be glad to encourage your sister in Christ, Be grateful to do whatever it is that you do in Jesus Name.  When we put our whole heart into the service of the Lord, he wil put his whole heart into blessing our lives.   The Lord can prosper our lives as we render our entire  lives to his Glory.

Pastor Sharon Therese Spencer

Let Us Go into the City Together

Acts 1:12 - Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.

As the disciples left Mount Olivet to journey back to the City of Jerusalem together, we too need to make that journey together to the city of New Jerusalem.

Let us go on into the City together.

We find that it took one day for the disciples to get to their destination.  The disciples could have split-up afater they saw the ascention of the Lord.  One could have went here, one could have went there.  One could have went here and there.  Yet, they went into the city together.  It was Jesus who had come and gave them a special relationship with each other.  They did not yet realize that they were Christians.  The name Christian had not yet been born. Yet, these believers had a special bond that connected them, and that bond was their faith in Jesus.  The bond that connected them and motivated them to go on into the city of Jerusalem together is the same bond that connects each and every one of the saints of God that are born of the spirit, born of the water.  It is a bond of unity and togetherness.

The bond that  had  connected them together and motivated them to do what the Lord instructed them to do is the same bond that we have which connects us together and motivates us to continue to daily strive to do what the Lord is saying unto us to do, and that bond is faith.  Praises unto your name sweet Jesus.

Have you experienced a kind of faith that CONNECTS one to another?

The disciples had faith in Jesus, and it was their faith that connected them together, during that time, the Holy Spirit had not been given as an abiding saviour.  Faith connected the people of God together during that time, and faith was stong enough to keep the people together as a body of believers until the Holy Spirit was given to empower them for service.  Their faith in Jesus was stong enough to form the beginning of a church in the Upper Room of someone's home.

The faith that we have in the Lord Jesus as our keeper, as our comforter, as our saviour, as our shepherd, as our healer, as our power, as our guide, as our teacher, as our leader, as our deliverer, has brought about a special relationship that we have within the church and with each other.  It is our faith in Jesus that is so powerful that it formed the beginning of a new church in the back of a home.  It is our faith in Jesus which keeps us striving together despite what comes up against us.  It is our faith in Jesus that motivates us to desire to be an outreach mnistry in His name.  It is our faith that has us catering to the homeless population and making endless sacrifices for the benefit of others.

It is our faith in Jesus that keeps the church doors open, it is our faith in Jesus that mends shaky relationships within the church.  It is our faith in Jesus that causes us to love one another enough to care.  It is our faith in Jesus that stimulates us to come together one more time and gather in his name.  It is our faith in Jesus that encourages us to work with one another, and it is our faith in Jesus that keeps us with one another rather then fleeing from one another.  We should have  a need to stay close to the spiritual family that the Lord has placed you with.

Faith without Power has no Engine!

When the disciples left Mount Olivet and journeyed back to Jerusalem we must bear in mind that they did not have the Holy Spirit.  They had faith in Jesus.  The faith that they had was enough to bind them together until they received power from on high.

When there is togetherness in faith there is power in what we can do in his name.  When there is togetherness or united faith there is power in what we can receive through faith and prayer.  Eph 3:20 He is able to do more than what we ask or think.  It was our faith in Jesus that brought us together when the church opened, and it is the spirit of God who connected us together like the parts of a human body.  This is powerful.  What God has joined together let no man put asunder?  This scripture is against a third party interfering in the relationship of a God ordained marriage, thus it is in the church, as we are married together to Christ through his Spirit, we are also married one to another as a spiritual body of believers in Jesus.  

Let us go into the city together!

As the disciples went on into the city together to wait on the Lord.  We too ought to wait on God so that we can go on into the city together.  These believers did not quite understand that they were the beginning of something new.  Neither did we understand when we first came together that we would be working together to formulate the beginning of a new church. The disciples were the church...yet, the real connecting force of their relationship was missing...and that connection was the Holy Ghost.

This is why they were instructed to wait on God.  They had faith...but faith without power has no engine.  They needed the MOTOR of the Holy Ghost to get them going so that they could do the work that God called them to do!

Today we have an advantage over those disciples during that time, we have the faith and we have the power.  We can wait on God for daily directions, but we do not have to wait in order to do what we know we should be doing for the Lord, because he has given us power to do a work for him and live the life for him.  Glory!!!

When we look at ourselves today as a church, we are connected together through Jesus.  Ephesian 2:21 - The scripture says that we are fitly framed together.  Just as Jesus connected the disciples together before  he departed.  It is the spirit of God who has put us together to fulfill his purposes.

Just as the disciples stuck together after the Lord ascended..we too must srive to stick together in the Spirit of Christian unity and in the spirit of Christian love.  Let us to on into the City together.  That city that I am speaking of represents the New Jerusalem, and yet we understand in order fo us to go on into the city together, we are going to have to cointinue to help one another to make it in.  We are here to help one another.

I am here for you-are you here for me?

We are here to encourage one another, we are here to support one another, we are here to strengthen one another.  We are here to keep our eyes fixed on the saviour, just as those disciples did when he ascended.  We can not watch him ascend into the heavens as the disciples did...but we can wait on Him and together as a body of born again believers ascend.

A Place Called There

A Place Called There

Subtopic:  Being outside of the Father’s will is starving ourselves to death

There is a place called there.  It is not a neighborhood one lives in.  You can’t find it on a map.  Neither money, nor education, nor influence can get you there.  It is a place in life that all wise people seek.  It is the place where your soul can call a resting place, and your heart can say home at last.  The place where you sense this is where I am meant to be.    There is the place that God calls us to from the beginning, and most of us spend years, like rats in a maze trying to make it thorugh  all the twists and turns of life to get there. 

Where Art Thou?

Genesis 3: 8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Hiding Amongst the Trees when we should be Standing On a Rock in Heavenly Places.   Adam had stepped out of the Place called There.  There was where God had placed Him 

1. It is time to stop waisting your time missing what could have     been mastered – Hiding from Destiny 

2. Calling what could have been conquered – Hiding from Grace

3. Hoping what could have been had – Hiding from Power

The Only Solution is to Give Up and Give In to the Lord-Come out of the Woods.

Jeremiah 15:16

Acts 17:27

 Acts 9:3-6

Come from behind the tree that you grew in your mind to keep you from being EXACTLY THERE/WHERE he wants you to be with your spiritual family. Ephesians 2:21-In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:  22-In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

If you cannot figure out where you are you will never know where you are going.

Redirection begins with admission and then confrontation.  You must admit where you are and then confront what it was that caused you to not be where God would have you to be. 

Galatian 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

A Place Called There ----is Being in The Will of the Father. 

Pastor Sharon Therese Spencer

Our Impossibilities are God's Possibilities

Luke 18:27 -Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Our Impossibilities are God's Possibilities

Stop Disabling the Power of God from working in your life.

Many times as we live our lives here on earth we hear these words over, and over, and over again: Impossible, Possible, Impossible, Possible.  Listen to conversations all around you.  You will hear it over and over again, but it doesn't have to be impossible.  Even with the natural human sense, knowledge faith, sense realm, or head faith, whatever you want to call it, it doesn't have to be Impossible.

Impossible - NO - it cannot be done!

It was told the Wright brothers that they could not fly.  But they did.

It was said that there could not be a Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  It's here.

Engineers were told, you can't build Hoover Dam.  It's impossible.  There is too much water to control.  But, they did it.

When scientists began to talk about going to the moon and orbiting around the moon, newspaper articles said, I don't believe that we will ever go to the moon.  Whoever heard of such an idiotic idea?  Go to the moon?  But they did.

Unless we get hold of Possibility Faith from The Word of God we cannot change our destiny, we can't change anything, and we will be doomed.

Luke 18:27 The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.  

Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

St. Mark 11:22-23 -"Have^[a] faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

If we are living in Obedience to The Word of God through the Spirit of God we must learn to speak to our Hindering Mountains, be thou removed, and it can be done through God's Power and Grace.

Hindering Mountain of Loneliness, Financial Despair, Weakened Ministries, Debt Owed, Sicknesses.

St. Mark 11:24 -Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

God is not saying that it will be ours overnight, but in DUE season having faith in God can land us a harvest of the desires of our heart, if what we desire is IN HIS WILL for our lives!!!  We also need to understand that our faith will never be bigger than the will of God for our lives!


St. Mark 11:12-14 - The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.14Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.

St. Mark 11:21- 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 22"Have^[a] faith in God," Jesus answered.

I take the cursing of the fig tree to be symbolic of the lives of a Christian that does not have faith to believe that there is Nothing Impossible with God.  When we doubt what God is capable of doing in our lives, we are no better than a Fig Tree with no fruit. We disable God's power to perform in our lives.

To have the type of Faith that the Lord wants us to have, we must have possibility faith.  ANYTHING is possible with the kind of faith that God has.   Possibility Faith is a faith that believes in your heart and says with your mouth, and receives what you believe in your heart.

Believe in your heart that Your Impossibility is Possible.
Speak with your mouth what God is ABE to do on your behalf.
Receive what you believe in your heart.

What is GOD'S POSSIBILITY FAITH?

Genesis 1:3 - And God said Let there be Light - AND THERE WAS LIGHT.

Genesis 1: 6-7 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it.  AND IT WAS SO.

Genesis 1:9 -And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." AND IT WAS SO.

This Possibility Faith can only begin to operate when we apply Romans 10: 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith must be SPOKEN INTO YOUR HEART and RECEIVED.

The Lord is trying to get something through to His People:
1.   It is not enough to hear it with your own physical ears.
2.   It is not enough for you to allow it to enter your two ear canals.
3.   It is not enough to let the sound vibrate off of the eardrums and all the little particles down in your ear where you are able to understand to to hear.

We must RECEIVE The Word of God through God's Spirit so that it can enter into the depth of our hearts and penetrate.

We must FOCUS and RECEIVE what we are hearing from the man or woman of God when they are ministering unto us words of LIFE.

Let us allow our hearts to be like a SPONGE when it comes to receiving Words that can Revive us and shrink Mountains in our lives.

With my prayers-

Pastor Sharon T. Spencer

Seasonal Transitions-Testing 1 2 3

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Seasonal Transitions

In order to move from one life season to another, change must occur.  Every transition should encourage our spiritual wholeness and growth.  This growth brings glory to God.  Isaiah 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Testing 1-2-3

In Order to be promoted in the things of God or to come into our best season, we must go through times of tempting and testing.  (1 Peter 4:12-13)  Think it not strange concerning the FIERY TRIAL which is to try you.

Think about it - At every grade level in school, we usually have to submit to a test or some kind of assessment that reveals, this is what I know.  This is what I have learned.  We need to be able to say, I can handle what is coming next.

Before we are promoted in God we have to be tested.  The test indicates to us how well we are prepared to go on, to move up in God, and to take on greater responsibility.

Ephesians 6:10 -Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil:

God cannot Use:

1. Weak-kneed people who run away at the first sign of danger
2. People that tremble at every oncoming trial
3. People who get teary-eyed and to fast to quit
4. People who are uncommitted
5. Or, The here today and Gone tomorrow type of people

JESUS EXPERIENCED SEASONAL TRANSITION

St. Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4

 1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.

 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

 5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

 6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

 8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  Before the healing took place, before the preaching took place, before Jesus opened blinded eyes and unstopped deaf ears, before He cast out demons and raised the dead - Jesus had to be tempted.

God was about to Use His Son.  So Jesus needed to demonstrate-human capacity,competency,ability,aptitude,power,efficiency and sufficiency to do the job.

Before we are birthed forth into our best season for ministry, we too must show our competency, our ability, our capacity, our aptitude, our efficiency, and our sufficiency to do the job that God has called us to do.    These abilities can be manifested in many ways, but the best way to manifest these abilities is when...............WE ACCEPT AND HANDLE THE SEASONAL TRANSITIONS IN OUR LIVES.

People are in different seasons.  Moods change, situations change, and circumstances change.  We need to be very sensitive to the changes in our lives so we can be in the proper flow of life at the proper time.  Much of our ability to experience inner peace and happiness rests in our willingness to accept change. 

Pay Attention to The Word of The Lord

Hebrews 2:1 - Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip.

We should pay attention to the Word of the Lord lest at any time we find ourselves in a lethargic state of mind.  Lethargic - a spiritual sleep...the body is present, but the mind is sleeping on the Word of God. 

Description of a lethargic Christian.  Disinterested during church services and bored concerning spritual matters. Too busy to pray.  To preoccupied to the affairs of this world to be involved with the things that pertain to kingdom building.  Do not have time to study The Word.  Fellowship with the saints is not what you are thirsty for.   Indifferent towards The work of God, or it does not matter one way or another.  Lack of interest during service, no participation, inattentive, mediocre, bored, and neglectful concerning the preached word of God.

This is one who disregards what has been spoken, or, gives little attention to the workings of the Holy Spirit within the confines of the church.  This person is either spiritually dead or in a backslidden (lethargic state).  Wake up sleepy one, before Christ returns.

Earnest heed is to have an intense and serious state of mind concerning the things of the Lord.  How can we obey the Word of God if we allow a lethargic state of mind to cause a leakage when it comes to retaining the Word of God in our hearts.

How can you be so annointed and loving the Lord but neglectful to the body of Christ - the church.  Sounds like you may be lethargic - sleeping.  If we feel that we are so annointed by the power of the Spirit - why not bring some of that annointing to God's headquarters - His Church.

Fellowship of the Unashamed

Fellowship of the Unashamed

I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Ghost power. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.

I'm finished with low-living, sight-walking, small-planning, colorless dreams, tamed-vision, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need prosperity, position, promotion or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by present tense, by faith, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-To everything there is a time and a season for every purpose.

John 16:33- I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Don't die in The Winter -

Everyone goes through a Winter Season of Life

Every living thing passes through seasons of change.  Some seasons are easy, even pleasant to pass through.  Others are very difficult. 

The Lord has designed our earth to be four natural divisions of the year, spring, summer, fall and winter.  Each division of the year is called a season, and it is characterized by certain changes.  There is a rainy season, the dry season, the planting season, the harvest season, the hunting season, and the hurricane season.  Our God is a seasonal God. There is a right time for everything, and everything has its season.  The secret to peace in the Lord is to discover God's perfect timing in your life.

Not only are there seasons in the natural realm, but we have seasons in our physical lives as well.  From the moment we are conceived in our mother's womb, a human growth cycle is set in motion, one that brings about  certain biological changes.  This growth cycle is separated into specific divisions like seasons.  Cells multiply which completes a season.  The multiplied cells become a zygote and then becomes an embryo and that is a season.  The embryo becomes a fetus.  There are bumps for the eyes and buds for the ears.  Arms and legs begin to appear, and fingers and toes become differentiated.  Every division of growth is characterized by certain changes until the fetus reaches a certain level of maturity and is ready to be birthed forth.  Psalm 139:13-13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  Our growth cycle does not stop with the initial stages of fetal development.  Every millisecond of our existence from birth to childhood, adulthood to death, we are constantly changing. 

• We are different in some way today from what we were yesterday
• There will be something different about each individual tomorrow that is not evident today
• 100 hairs fell out of our head yesterday
• 1,000 skin cells fell off of our upper epidermal layer this morning
• Most of us have more knowledge in our head today than we had yesterday.
• Our physical body is 24 hours older today than it was yesterday.

PASSING THROUGH SPIRITUAL SEASONS:

Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Many Christians are going through situations that are very difficult to understand.  But just as there are seasons and specific times of growth and development in the human body, so there are seasons or specific times of growth and development in our spiritual lives.

Luke 4:1-2- 1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and led by The Holy Spirit into the wastelands of Judea, where Satan tempted him 40 days. 

A wilderness is a desolate place.  Everything is dry, and parched.  The wilderness does not have a comfort zone.  It has no solace, rest, relief, or reprieve.  But Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. Sometimes we too are led by The Spirit of God into our own personal wilderness experience in life.  We want to believe that The Holy Spirit will always lead us beside still waters.  But, just like Jesus sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us into dry and desolate places where there is no rest, relief, or comfort.

Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.

The Lord also led Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones.  The place Ezekiel had to go was unpleasant, but The Spirit of God led him there.

The Spirit of God also led The Apostle Paul into his wilderness experience: 

II Corinthians 11:25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Description of The Winter Season of Life

It is COLD, and a DRAB  time of year.  Everything is bleak.  Negative things happen in he winter.  Cold sets in and winds blow.  The birds fly south and the bears go into hibernation.  The Spiritual birds can represent those that are too "spiritually unstable" to support you during your winter season.  The spiritual bears can represent those that hibernate in their homes for a season because of the cold (the cold represents their DRAB life situations-that swallow them up for a season) and they do not want to come to church.  They are unavailable to strengthen you during your winter season of life.  The leaves turn brown and fall to the ground.  The plants die, water freezes up, and fish travel downstream.  The sky gets gray, days get shorter, and accident rates go up. The crime rate goes up.  Bills get higher.  People get more depressed in winter because they cannot be as productive as they are in the summer.  A winter season is a season when everything that can go wrong will go wrong.  You may feel like the walls are closing in.

The Winter Season of Life.....

• Marital Problems
• Children acting Out of Whack
• Receiving a lay-off from your job
• Business drops suddenly
• You receive an eviction notice
• Your tenants don't have the rent money
• You receive a frightening diagnosis from your doctor
• It is a time of SILENCE from loved ones
• Depression is edging on.....
• The money is short even in The House of God - It is Winter
• Your enemy arrives in town
• The migraine headaches are back
• Your body is going from one physical distress to another..

II Corinthians 11:28 -Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. The Apostle Paul went through His Winter Season even to the point where he was pressured concerning the welfare of the churches.

1 Peter 5:8 -Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

The enemy will chose his time of attack when we are going through our winter season of life.

• He comes when everything is cold and bleak
• He comes when we have reached a spirituallow
• He comes when we are relaxed in our prayer life
• He comes when we are relaxed with God
• He comes when we are relaxed with studying The Word
• He comes when we are out of fellowship with The People of God.
• He comes when we are not buildt up in the Inner Man
• Dying in our seats-Songs we use to sing-we do not sing them no more
• We find ourselves hurting inside
• A Spiritual death has overcome us-and we use the energy that remains to cover it us
• Clapping fails to reach our hands
• There is no dance in our feet

THE NECESSITY OF SPIRITUAL WINTERS -

When the Spirit of God leads us into the wilderness, we may find ourselves in difficult places.  We are not always there becasue of sin in our life, or because of unwise choices.  Sometimes we find ourselves in the wilderness simply because the Spirit of God has led us there.

PURPOSES FOR BEING IN THE WILDERNESS:

1. Testing - so we can learn to endure
2. Trying - to strengthen our character
3. Tempting - to resist Satan

WHY WAS JESUS TEMPTED, TESTED AND TRYED?

1. Jesus being fully God and fully Man he had to understand what we endure in this life.
2. Jesus had to undo Adam's work.  Adam gave into temptation and consequently passed on sin to the entire human race.  Jesus by contrast resisted Satan and teaches us by example how to endure trials and testing and how to resist the temptation to sin.

Luke 4:4, 8, 12

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

You can make it through your Winter Season of Life:

1. Put on the Full Armor of God - Eph 6:13-17
2. Protect yourself with the Word of God Eph 6:17
3. Prepare yourself with prayer - Eph 6:18
4. Learn how to praise Him at all times - Phil 4:4
5. Submit yourself to God, resist satan, and he will run from you - James 4:7

A Prayer for you:

Father God in the Name of Jesus-

For the individual that has read this message I ask that you will comfort their heart, and bless them with the strength to endure their trial, tempting and test.  Bless them in their wilderness experience and enable them to look to you for help and courage to go through.  Do not leave them in despair, but I ask that you will bring them out of their time of trial and enable them to see the dawning of a new day.  Thank you Lord.