Volume 1: Issue 2 Summer 2006
Volume 1: Issue 2 – Summer 2006
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As the months pass by I grow more and more excited and amazed at what God is doing in our midst. The messages and studies we are involved in parallel so closely with what God is giving the church body as a whole. Revelation Chapters 2 and 3 contain several references that encourage us – even warn us – to listen to what the spirit is saying to the church. There’s a lot going on at Life Church and as Pastor Royal says, “Get plugged in.”
As I shared with many of you back in September, God has called me to a place of spiritual motherhood. And as such, I have both a sense of urgency and a desire for each of you to become all that God intended you to be – nothing less. I feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility for your spiritual growth and well being. Like a mother bear, I feel ferocity to protect you. Like a mother eagle I need to make you uncomfortable enough to want to get out of the nest and fly on your own. And like any mother, I desire you to grow strong and healthy with every possible advantage and opportunity available to you.
Some of you have joined Life Groups; our Friday morning group (1st & 3rd Friday at 9:30 a.m.) is growing. It’s a great time of sharing and we are truly “mining for the riches of God”. Quite a number of you faithfully attend the Wednesday evening (6:30 p.m.) Hour of Power prayer meeting, and the participation at our monthly meeting (4th Friday at 7:00 p.m.) is wonderfully encouraging to me. We also have launched the “18 to 20 something” group which meets every Friday at 7:00 p.m. I see so many of you getting curious about the things of God. I see you reaching, stretching outside of your comfort zone, even sacrificing to put your hands to the work, to dig deeper into the Word, and to seek after His will for your life. Through this I see you emerging stronger, energized with a new boldness and glowing with that inner beauty that comes from time spent in His presence.
Some time ago, one of my brothers planted ornamental pear trees along his driveway. I had never heard of them but they were beautiful trees. As we were talking he explained that they bloom in the spring but never bear fruit. They are purposely cultivated for their beauty. As I’ve been seeking God for our Women’s Ministry here at Life Church, He keeps bringing me back to that conversation. In March of this year we had a wonderfully successful Day of Beauty. Yes, we had many vendors presenting and demonstrating outer beauty tips and products to you, but the focus of our day – the thing we kept coming back to – was our S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences). We learned about how God has a plan for each of our lives, how we are each unique and how He has gifted us and is working in us and through us for His glory. 1 Peter 3:4 and 1 Sam. 16:7 tell us it’s our heart and our spirit that are of great price to God, not our outward appearance. We have been chosen by Him, we are called to bear fruit not to be like those ornamental trees; though beautiful to look at, they bloom in the spring with the promise of fruit (2 Tim 3:7), yet they bear no fruit (Luke 6:44-49).
I sense God calling the Women of Life Church to get serious about our walk, about the call on our lives. Dig into God’s Word; find out for yourself what the fruit is and how you can begin producing His fruit in your life.
God bless you as you seek Him.
Judy
To contact me:
860-482-8651 or 860-309-2484
Upcoming Events
Becoming Women of Faith Life Group
- 1st & 3rd Friday, 9:30 a.m.*
Women’s Ministry Meeting & Bible Study
4th Friday of every month at 7:30 p.m. (exceptions – Nov 17th & Dec 15th )*
18 to 20 Something Life Group
(Young women, whether married or single)
Fridays 7:00 p.m.
Women of Faith® - Contagious Joy
- National Conference
Aug. 11-12 - Hartford Civic Center
Becoming a Mentor
Fall of 2006 - - details to be announced
Christmas Craft Fair
Saturday, November 11th.
*All are welcome; bring your Bible and a heart for Christ.
Our Father Wants Us Healed
A Bible Study by Jean Redekas
III John 2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” Our soul is our mind, our will, and our emotions. What does it mean to have our mind prosper? When we gain knowledge, our mind prospers. When we meditate on the Word of God, our mind prospers. To the degree that our souls prosper, that will be the degree that we prosper in health.
Take someone who has never heard the Word. When he gets sick, the only thing he knows to do is go to a doctor. When the doctor can’t do anything more for him, he’s stuck. Where else does he turn to? Now take a person who has just been saved and he gets sick. His first reaction will be to go to the doctor because that is what he is used to doing, but now he will hopefully pray too and look in the Word for help. He may go to his Pastor for healing. If he believes, he will receive it. But you take someone who has been studying the Word for years. He knows the Bible. He knows the character of God; He knows the life of Jesus. If he gets sick, what does he do? He goes to the Word first. He knows that there is Power in the name of Jesus to heal. He knows that the Word says that “by His stripes we were healed”. He receives his healing. He will prosper more in his health than the person who doesn’t know the Word.
We all need to get to that point. It’s great to go to the Pastor or someone else for prayer, but if you’re sick in the middle of the night, what do you do? Do you wake up the Pastor or do you know the Word yourself so you can receive your healing yourself?
Take our children for example. When they are babies, we feed them and cloth them. We do everything for them. As they get older, the more they can do for themselves. By the time they are adults, we expect that they can take care of themselves. We don’t have to feed them anymore. They can eat by themselves. God expects us to grow up too. When we are new babes in Christ, we can go to the Pastor for healing and we will receive it by faith. But there comes a time when we have to mature and receive of the things of God for ourselves, whether the Pastor is there or not.
God is willing
John 6:38 “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”
Jesus came to the earth to do the will of the Father. No other reason. He didn’t do what he wanted, only what God told him to do.
Matthew 8: 2 & 3 “And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”
John 8: 28 – 29 “Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.”
If we want to know what the Father thinks about something, look at what Jesus said and did. He only did what the Father taught him to do. If Jesus went about healing sick people, you know that that is the will of the Father. Jesus only did what pleased our Father.
John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” God is a God of abundance and life. Satan is the one who kills and destroys. Satan is the thief, NOT God.
Psalms 89: 34 “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips.” God will never break His covenant with us. Jesus paid for it with His blood! God is not about to break it. What is the Covenant? Look in II Samuel 7: 9-16 and Deuteronomy 28 for starters.
Acts 10:38 “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
Jeremiah 30: 17 “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds…”
Hebrews 13: 8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” If He was willing to heal back then, He is still willing to heal today.
John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Just a side note here: so many people have said that they were sick because God was trying to teach them something. That is totally wrong. God did not make people sick to teach them anything. Gods will was for them to be healed. According to John 14:26; it is the Holy Spirit who is the teacher of the church, not sickness and disease. If only we would listen to that still small voice, it would save us a lot of trouble.
God’s will is that we have a long abundant life.
Psalms 91: 14-16 “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.” I have heard so many people say that God does not promise us tomorrow, but according to his word, His perfect will is that we have a long life, that we have a tomorrow. That is the promise, but there are conditions. In this verse, the condition is that we set our love upon Him, that we know His name, and that we call upon Him. What is His name? Jehovah. We have studied that with Pastor Al. We need to know the names of God. Also, the Bible says that Jesus came in His Father’s Name. Look in the Book of John. It’s all throughout the book. The name of a person tells a lot about them. For example: In clothing, a lot of times people will only buy clothes that are name brand because they believe there is quality in the name. When we have character and integrity in business people will say, “Oh, Gary Redekas, I’ll do business with him, I’ve heard of his work, he has a good name.” People may not even know him in person, but they feel like they do because he has a good name. Well, Jesus has a name that is above every name, and when we know Jesus, we know the name of God and we need to call upon that name.
Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
(Continued on page 3)
God Wants Us Healed – a Bible Study, continued from page 2
According to this scripture, He says that our day will be prolonged and it will go well with us. The condition is that we honor our father and our mother.
Exodus 23:25 “And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfill.” Condition- Serve the Lord; Promise- He will bless our bread, our water, & He will take sickness away from us and He will satisfy the number of our days.
This is a good scripture to stand on if you’re pregnant too.
Proverbs 4:10 “Hear, O my son, and receive my saying; and the years of thy life shall be many.” Condition: Hear and receive His sayings. Promise: the years of thy life shall be many.
I hope you can see through all these scriptures that God loves us and wants us healthy and He wants us to have a long life. We are His hands on this earth. As long as we are alive and well we can do more for God. He won’t benefit by our being sick or dead.
Book Review by Diane Westcott
Digging the Wells of Revival By Lou Engles
Did you know that every prayer you pray is kept before the throne of God? Did you realize that when other Christians pray in agreement to those prayers, the “prayer of agreement” is at work, even if it has been 500 years?
Matt 18:19-20 "Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."
This book is not only a testimony but proof positive that the Word of God is true and that God hears and answers prayer, in His Time.
After reading a particular portion of this book, knowing some history about what Lou was writing about, I saw this in action. What Lou and other intercessors were moved to see and pray, God fulfilled before my eyes. It had been over 80 years of prayer before the agreement came forth and God fulfilled His purpose, but what a powerful move of God it is.