The following are words given by participants at the streamed meeting. 1 Corinthians 14:29 says that "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others weigh carefully what is said." 1 Thess 5:19-21 tells us not to despise prophecies, but to test everything and retain what is good.
Scripture Reading at beginning of meeting, Ezra 7 - "Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who dost dispose the mind of the king to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and who let me find favor with the king, with his counsellors and with all the most influential royal officials. I, therefore, took courage and with the hand of the Lord, my God, upon me, I gathered together Israelites family heads to make the return journey with me."
Scripture Reading Psalm 62:5-8 - "My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us."
Scripture Reading Isaiah 43:2,4 - "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. You are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you."
Word of Knowledge - Many of us are going through the desert right now and the Lord is saying, "You're not alone." We are not alone in that desert, he is with us. Allow him to walk with us. We are to allow him and not be afraid of the desert for that is where we are going to find what we have been looking for, and what we have been looking for is him.
Scripture Reading Psalm 103:19-22 - "The Lord placed his throne in heaven; he is king over all. Praise the Lord, you strong and mighty angels, who obey his commands, who listen to what he says. Praise the Lord, all you heavenly powers, you servants of his, who do his will! Praise the Lord, all his creatures in all the places he rules. Praise the Lord, my soul!"
Prophecy - "Come, come, oh how I love you. Oh, how I want to be in the centre always, always whispering to you, always speaking to you, leading you by your hand. Come, my dearest children. I am never very far. Come, I'm never very far, a breath away."
One of our workers died from a roof fall, no preparation, no idea what is always right. And the Lord laid it very, very urgently on my heart; you have to be prepared always because we don't know what the future is. His life was over. We all talked to him that day and in a matter of two hours, he was dead. The Lord put such peace on my heart for someone I hardly even knew; but his soul was in trouble. It's a message for all of us. We need to be always prepared that it's over anytime. We don't know around the corner.
Scripture Reading Acts 3:19 - "Reform your lives. Turn to God that your sins may be wiped away. Thus may a season of refreshment be granted you by the Lord when he sends you Jesus, already designated as your Messiah. Jesus must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration which God spoke of long ago through his holy prophets."
Prophecy - "My children, do you fear what comes your way? Do you fear what tomorrow will bring? My children, many believe that I am a God of love and a God of mercy, I am a God who saves, and yet many doubt even in their belief. Tonight I'm asking you, my children, not to fear anymore. Doubt, a part of life, but doubt gets truth revealed. And my truth, tonight, for you is that I am there with you, that I will never abandon you, that I will protect you. Yes, my children, it is hard to see this in the midst of the world that you live in. But come to me every moment of the day and let me reveal to you my care for you. Open your minds and your hearts to my word; the more you know my word, the more you will believe. Open your minds and your hearts to what is around you and the care that I have implemented for you; the care of my nature, the care of the people that I put into your lives, the care of the church who reaches out to you. It is there for you to see. Tonight I am giving you eyes to see and ears to hear. Fear no more."
Max Lucado spoke on "Fear".
Matthew 8:23-27 - "Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him. A great storm arose on the lake so that waves covered the boat, but Jesus was sleeping. His followers went to him and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We will drown!" Jesus answered, "Why are you afraid? You don't have enough faith." Then Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves, and it became calm. The men were amazed and said, "What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"
A great storm - Greek word used is seismos. Matthew uses this word only three times: the ground shaking at Calvary, the ground shaking when Christ was resurrected from the dead, and here when they were in the boat. This was seismic.
In NKJV translation, it reads: And suddenly, a great tempest arose on the sea. This storm came suddenly and it was violent. The story is a reminder that disciples get caught in seismic storms. You can follow Jesus and get caught in a storm: battle diseases, bury children, wrestle with addiction. It's not the absence of storms that sets believers apart. It's whom we discover in the storm.
Jesus was asleep in the storm. Who could sleep in a seismos? What stirs our fears does not stir Jesus. Mark 4:38 - Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. Pillow was probably a ballast bag. The view that God has of our storms is different than the view we have. We need a God who is unstirred about what stirs us.
Mark 4:38 - The disciples woke Jesus up and asked, "Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?" They were questioning the character of Jesus. Do we do the same, "Do you really love me God?" Fear does this. Fear corrodes our confidence in the goodness of God. We begin to wonder if God really cares.
Fear also turns us into control freaks. Do something about the storm. Commanding God, demanding. Fear is a perceived loss of control. We feel trapped.
Fear deadens our recall. The disciples had reason to trust Jesus. They had seen him heal all kinds of disease, demons leave, etc. Where is the disciple who says, "We've seen him do this before, we know he'll do it again." Fear makes us forget the character of God, the power of Christ. Fear puts us into a prison of unlocked doors.
What if faith not fear were our default reaction? What if fear was placed in the back seat and faith in the front? Our God can talk to wind and waves. We've seen it before. He's going to do it again. Jesus asked, "Why are you afraid?" Jesus issued 125 commands of different forms of "Fear not" in the gospels. God does not want us to live a life sucked hollow by fear. God gave us courage. God gave us the mind of Christ. We don't belong to the storm. We belong to the storm stiller.
Fear in limited doses serves a healthy purpose. Fear is not a sin. It's an emotion. Fear will knock on the door. The key is to not invite fear in for dinner or spend the night.
2 Tim 1:7 - "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Two ideas for having less anxiety, less dread:
1) Recall the faithfulness of God. 1 Chron 16:12 - "Remember his marvelous works which he has done." Make a list of God's successes in your life and rehearse his accomplishments rather than your woes. Write today's worries in sand and chisel God's accomplishments in stone.
2) Pray first, pray most. Don't pace the floor, pray. Inoculate yourself inwardly to face your fears outwardly. 1 Peter 5:7 - "Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you."
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