I am SOOOO tired at the moment, but I just want to let all you avid readers know that I plan on blogging at some point tomorrow about the events of the weekend, so if any of y'all need a good laugh, be sure to come back and check it out...
grace,
H
The following are excerpts from a preach back in February of this year given by Pastor John Chacha
The Year of the Breakthrough -
How to Breakthrough into God's Will for Your Life
Myths and False Mindsets
Running the mile in under 4 minutes used to be a barrier, until someone broke through that barrier. At one time, no one thought it could be done, and now even kids in high school are running it.
As long as your mindset and mentality is programmed wrong, then it stands between you and your achievement, and the fullness of God's plan for your life.
Fear and the Chicken
When fear (especially fear of change) and intimidation ensnare us, we start acting like chickens.
If you're going to be a chicken, at least decide that you're not going to be a pie - that instead you're going to fly.
Try challenging your own ways of thinking and decision making. Rock your boat. Change things up. You've been timid, all tied up in yourself far too long and you will never be what you were born to be as long as you are pecking around on the ground, eyes always looking down in the dirt, with that itty bitty chicken perspective. Kick that chicken out of you! If you hold on to the chicken mentality you will end up in the oven.
Did you ever eat an eagle for Sunday dinner? No.
Have you ever had chicken?
Put your past behind you...
Allowing the past to contaminate your future is just bad programming. Reboot! Our backgrounds are designed to equip us for His calling, to bring experience in particular areas and to push us through difficult, 'tight' spots, so that when we pop out on the other side trials, we emerge with victory and authority in that area. God wants US to be the stronghold, so that when the devil looks at us he thinks; "I can't break through that."
Lack of knowledge
My people perish for lack of knowledge. What part of the newspaper do you read? What books are on your shelf? What channels do you watch on TV?
Educating yourself is key in today's world, so that you aren't brainwashed, led astray or just left behind.
In the same way, spiritually educate yourself by seeking out the will of God for your life, discovering who you are in Christ, and asking Him what He thinks about you. Have knowledge of these things, then, when anything contrary comes to you, then you can brush it off, readily disagreeing and dismissing it, because you'll know that it's not the heavenly truth about you.
Breakthrough the stronghold of ignorance. When we are ignorant of the truth about ourselves, we are poor, because the devil will come and steal what is rightfully ours, but we won't see it because we don't know what is ours.
Elisha was bound by lack of knowledge - he was a farmer and thought that was his destiny until Elijah stopped by and Elisha had a revelation - he stopped short and said 'what am I doing behind these cows?'
Immediately he began changing things in his life, because he had knowledge of his true destiny.
You know, I think that I could blog for weeks on quotes and events of weekly cell group...the young
people are so eager just to be together and have fun, it both energizes and encourages me!
Last night, Jesse and I had cell with 5 boys, aged 6-10. We ate pancakes and pudding, played games and had paper airplane launchings off the front porch. We laughed, we talked, we drank crazy, sugary, purple kool-aid.
We had a great time - which is good, because church should be a good time!
My highlight spiritually though, came out of the mouth (and heart) of Jimmie, right before we ate dinner. We were talking about why we would say 'grace' before we ate. The answers ranged from:
~God just likes it when we do that
~If we didn't it would just be rude
~We are saying thank you for the food we get to eat
~We are happy to be together
~To bless the food
But Jimmie topped them all with: 
~I think that when we pray we are meeting with God and with Jesus, and they like that.
Sounds about right to me.
grace,
Heather
At cell group on Saturday, while we were drawing pictures, one of the boys drew this (above).
He drew it because he was impacted by an event.
You see, earlier on in the afternoon, after we had shared lunch together he had been distracted by a stray cat laying outside our door in the grass. Since he loves cats, he wanted to check it out. So he and I crept carefully out the door, towards the cat.
He was the first to notice that the cat had blood coming out of its eyes, and as a sensitive little boy, he was greatly disturbed by this.
It was obvious that the cat had been in a fight with another cat, and that's where the bloody scratches had come from.
Now, to be honest, I don't love cats, (don't blame me, it's a generational thing!) but the poor little boy was distraught. Could we bring him in? Could we give him a band-aid? Could I pet him?
Yikes. Umm no, no and definetely (shudder - pet a bloody outside cat?) no.
We settled on bringing the cat a dish of milk so that it wouldn't be hungry. It was SOO funny/cute, because the little boy just would not leave that cat alone, in fact he dragged a lawn chair over so that he could sit right next to the cat and watch it eat, chatting to it in a high-pitched little boy voice.
The cat was SO not into it, and soon fled, little boy running close behind, his chubby little legs pumping as fast as they could go.
Needless to say, the cat got away.
The boy came inside to draw a picture of it all. He drew the cat. He drew the blood and he drew the dish. All self-explanatory.
Then he drew the cross.
I also noticed that he put Rob's name at the top of the paper.
"Great picture," I said, "but what does it mean?"
"That's the cross and it means love, and I love this cat and want it to get better, and I love Rob too, he's my best friend."
Theology from a 6 year old (thanks Rob)...sounds bang-on to me.
First off, props to Fiona M for being the first to comment on her chosen fast from yesterday's post...check the comments section and then why not leave your own input as well...
This morning my husband called me a grace-monger.
He meant it in a good way, so I'm pretty sure it was a compliment.
I have to admit, that the more I think about it, the more the title grows on me.
I might just put it on my business card.
(!)
grace - noun; the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God; the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them; moral strength as in, the grace to perform a duty.
monger - noun; Chiefly British; a dealer in or trader of a commodity
GraceMonger signing off...
There are a lot of jokes in the Army about the fact that we are definetely an 'eating' Army...so the idea of fasting can be a bit foreign for us on some fronts.
Except, the deal with fasting is that it's not just about not eating, it's about denying ourselves in other ways as well.
I came across this excerpt from a sermon from St. John Crysostom that challenged me, so naturally I thought I'd share it.
Read through, and hey, just for the fun of it, why not pick one (eyes, ears, hands, feet and so on) and just give it a go and fast for a day? You never know what you're capable of until you try...then drop us a comment and let us know how it went.
Do you fast?
Give me proof of it by your works.
If you see a poor man, take pity on him.
If you see a friend being honoured, do not envy her.
Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear
and the feet and the hands
and all the members of our bodies.
Let the hands fast, by being
free of avarice (definition - insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth)
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by discipling them not to glare at that
which is sinful.
Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and
gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.
For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes,
but bite and devour our brothers
and sisters?
May He who came to the world to save sinners,
strengthen us to complete the fast with humility,
have mercy on us and save us."
You don't witness pain and not share the cure
You don't behold poverty and not become poor
You don't say 'I'll pray for you' and not cry out each day
You don't say 'be a hero' without showing the way
You don't see injustice and not fight to defeatYou don't preach 'love your neighbour' without compassion on the street
You don't proclaim spiritual war and neglect the front row
You don't ask 'Whom shall He send' without saying 'I will go'
You don't exhort humility and not wash another's feet
You don't move as His body without a heart to His beat
You see their tears, you shed your own, for four full years, You've shown us Home...thank you Jesus
~A.W.W
My friend Mia, not her real name, was writing in her journal on my porch and I asked her what she liked to write about. She told me it was her journal and that she liked to write about her life. She is a recruit in one of our cell groups and one of the most talented teen-agers I have met. Her journal entry was about how she is now homeless 'cause her Mom smoked too much crack and could not pay the rent-man. She told me she keeps asking her Mom why she chooses Crack over her kids, but never gets an answer. She told me it would just be easier if she was never born, then she wouldn't be homeless and unloved. Mia is 15 and in grade 10, a straight A student and in love with animals, her dream is to be a Vet. Today when she went to her Mothers boyfriends house she just got yelled at, she was told that she was a s--t and that she was pregnant, that she was going to end up just like her Mom. She sat there crying saying, Im not, I do not do those things, Im even a virgin, but no one will believe me.
Mia has been staying partly with her Aunt and partly at our girls War College dorm, where she is being discipled and loved, and I know that's enough, that Jesus is enough, but what scars are put there by a mother who curses her daughter with death. Mia is saved, she is in love with Godly community and worship and Jesus. And that is amazing.
The hard part is that Mia may only be around for a short time, weeks or months. Can there be enough seeds planted in 6 months to carry her through the next 6 years ?
Yes God can, he has imperishable seeds, ones that last forever ! It still hurts watching them grow through thorns of death. I hate what God hates more and more.
Come LORD Jesus come.
