My Bucket Has A Hole In It

Jeremiah 18:1 As the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

I have a friend who is a nurse. She told me that pain is my friend. She said it lets me know that there is a problem. I have to disagree. It is not my friend. Another word I don’t care to hitch my wagon to is stress. Some Issues I have been faced with have caused me to be more aware of stress than I care to be. I am thankful that in all we may face, we are never alone. I know I couldn’t make it through these hard places without Jesus. He lets me know He is with me in so many wonderful ways. He sends friends to encourage me. He sends his peace. A scripture may come to mind at just the right time. With all of this, I still complain.

2nd Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not us.

Earthen vessel to me could be a fancy way to say bucket. I have felt like lately  that I am a bucket with a hole in it. I know there is still much work to be done in me. I have been letting situations I am facing reflect how my attitude has been. I have not been allowing the fruits of the spirit to pour out of me. I usually like to make people laugh. I may tell them a silly story, or a corny joke. I love to see a smile come on someone’s face. It helps me feel better too. This is a small way the Lord uses me. We all have ways to be a vessel that God can use.  We must guard our hearts and minds. The enemy will try and cause us not to use whatever the talent is God has given us. He likes to keep us focused on the negative. I am determined to allow God to mold me into a vessel to be used however He may choose. A hole in a bucket can make the light shine out of it brighter, right?

2nd Timothy 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use and prepared unto every good work.

~Connie Robinson

Image Credit @ Tammy Sanders

I Have a Right to Praise Him!

Have you ever wondered, “What right do I have to praise God?” Maybe you do not have to deal with thoughts like that. I know I have had to deal with this myself throughout my walk. How could I possibly praise Him when I mess up so often and do a good job when I do?

The other morning, about 3:00 am, I couldn’t sleep. I decided to pray in tongues and worship. During my time of worship, these words bubbled up into my head, “You have a right to praise Him.” Like many of you, I have sang that song over and over many times during worship. Like a lot of people, I was singing the song and not really letting the words register into my spirit. During this prayer time, IT REGISTERED!

My right to praise is not based on my being good enough. If so, I would never be able to praise Him because I will never be good enough. My right to praise Him comes from the fact that I am HIS CHILD because I have received HIS SON as my Lord and Savior.

Because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross and my believing in that and receiving Him as my Lord and Savior GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO PRAISE HIM! I have been adopted into the FAMILY OF GOD!

~Ronda Sullivan

Image Credit © Tammy Sanders

New Lifestyle

Jesus led by example, He didn’t go around shouting, “Do this, and do that.” He gave them an opportunity to change every day. He sought the Father’s will for three years, and then He turned the world upside down.

I’ve been through many seeking times, and when time was up I would always go back to what I had been fasting. I thought to myself, I just have a few more days, and then I’m going to eat or whatever it was I was not doing for the last forty days.

I’ve heard Apostle David say many times “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will keep getting what you’ve always got.” I kept praying about what I needed to do even after the seeking time was over.

In my spirit I heard, “Are you going to go back and do the same again?”  As you could imagine He got my attention. Instead of reverting back to my old lifestyle, I have chosen to let those things I fasted die in me. I got to thinking, “Why would I want to keep living my life the way I’ve always done?”  I had just fasted another forty days and I wanted more of God and not the pleasures of the world. What about you?

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and appetites and desires.

Galatians 5:24 ( Amplified Bible)

~Tammy Sanders

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Using the Right Light

1Peter 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priest-hood, an holy nation, a peculiar  people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of host, in that day when I make up my jewel; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Malachi3:17

A friend of mine and I went into a jewelry store recently. While we were looking, the lady asked if she could clean our rings. When she returned them to us, she told my friend how beautiful her diamond was. She didn’t comment on mine. Okay, I admit it. I was a little hurt.  When we left the store and got outside, I held my ring up to the sun. It was shining beautifully. That’s when I realized what was wrong. She wasn’t looking at my ring in the same light as I was. When I look at it, I see my husband’s love. I am reminded of how he chose me. He worked many hard hours to pay for this ring. It symbolizes so much that can’t be seen under a microscope.

I am thankful that God looks at us through the refection of the “Son.” He doesn’t see our flaws. We were created to shine in the light of God’s love. We are God’s masterpiece. We are to use that same light when we look at others. They are not to be placed under our microscopes. We are to hold their lives up to his light.

My desire is to live my life allowing God’s light to shine through my life.

~Connie Robinson

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Simply Being Obedient

I never knew that this one word could be so powerful. I am learning just how powerful it is and how it can set you free. I am still learning because as you know for your self it is easy to be obedient in some things but not everything or shall I say not in most things. If it was that easy then most of us wouldn’t have any problems with just obeying the spirit or our spiritual authority. As I really started thinking and meditating about the full meaning of being obedient or obeying, I realized that I never really knew what this word actually means at all.

When I heard the word obey I always thought it was just doing what you are being told to do. It’s so much more than that. Looking up this word there were two things that stood out at me: 1. It’s a willingness 2. I believe that you have a choice to obey or to disobey and that when you make that choice to obey then you are showing respect wither it be to a person, to God or Holy Ghost.

I have been in a lot of places lately that I really didn’t want to step over in because there was so much fear hanging over me. I made up my mind that I was going to be obedient no matter what, and God has always showed up. I know that He is not just looking for people who always know what to do, He is looking for people to just be obedient so that He can do what He wants to do. Just one simple choice of being obedient can mean so much to your life and to the life of someone else. Just another way to show God you have faith in Him!

Colossians 3:22  says, “Servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not only when their eyes are on you as pleasers of men, but in simplicity of purpose [with all your heart] because of your reverence for the Lord and as a sincere expression of your devotion to Him.”

~Michelle Parrish

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Fighting the Good Fight of Faith

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, where unto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. ~ 1 Timothy 6:12

 

We learn the commandment to fight a good fight of faith. Perhaps it’s easier to have faith for God to bless someone else, but not you. The thing I struggle with the most is believing that I am worthy enough for God to bless me. I know myself better than anyone else. I know the things I struggle with and the things that I do wrong each day.

I also know that I can’t hide anything from the Lord; He knows all of my secrets that I hide from others. For this reason my thought is, “how in the world could He ever bless me?” I often find myself speaking comfort, peace, healing and blessings over family, friends and others who are in need; however, when I need these things, I don’t bother praying. To an outsider, maybe this sounds humble; but I know me, and I know the underlying reasoning behind the lack of prayer. Trust me, it isn’t humbleness at all; it’s various strongholds in my life that have created ceilings.

I heard a wise man explain that he didn’t understand how a person could sit and take marital advise from someone who isn’t married. This statement struck me pertaining to my walk with the Lord and the example that I show to the world each day. If I don’t fight the good fight of faith, and speak blessings over my own life; how in the world would someone that I pray for each day believe that I am fighting a good fight of faith for them?

I truly believe that Holy Ghost is trying to show me that I am just as valuable to the Kingdom as anyone else. I have the right to be a daughter of the Father just as much as any other woman that He created. I also have the same authority that He has given everyone else. My life is important. I have chosen to fight the good fight of faith for my life, have you?

~ Christi Duncan

Image Credit © Tammy Sanders

Simple Truth

 

So many times in life we make things more complicated than it has to be. We are always trying to figure everything out with our own thinking. Let’s face it, our thinking is what keeps us in the mess we are in most of the time! God has been telling us to get back to basics and the simple truth.

We have gotten away from the simple truth of God’s word. We haven’t relied on the Holy Ghost to show us the truth. Instead we used our own intellect to say and believe what we thought God’s word was saying. Well how’s that working for ya?

Just look at the church today and your personal life to see that it’s not working. God is saying it’s time to correct some things and that includes some things we changed a long time ago that never needed changing to begin with. There is actually some truth in that old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  We always go from one extreme to the other. We want to change everything or change nothing at all.

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of things in me that I need changed. I’m  pretty sure I changed some things God didn’t want me to along the way. The simple truth requires Holy Ghost!  Are you allowing Holy Ghost to teach you God’s simple truth?

John 8:32- And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 

~Michelle Parrish

 

Image credit: Michelle

Time To Get UP

After my internal alarm clock woke me up on a Monday morning, I rolled over and looked at the clock; it was 6:50 am. Knowing that Triniti and I have to be on the road by 7:20, I knew there was no way that I was going to be able to give both of us showers, dry hair, get dressed, etc in 30 minutes. I quickly woke Triniti up and explained to her to hurry up and get in the shower because we had to be in a hurry because I forgot to set my alarm clock the night before. Of all nights, I also didn’t set her clothes out for the next morning.

I was rushing around gathering her clothes and other supplies needed for the new school week. In the midst of the rushing and silent argument with myself because I forgot to set the alarm, I was trying to motivate her to be in a hurry, which is not an easy task for a five year old. She finally rolled over and looked at me and realized what I was saying about if we didn’t hurry up, we were going to be late for school and work.

With the most beautiful smile and sweet voice, she said, “Mama, it’s ok to be late one day, it’s not the end of the world.”  My body and mind came to a complete halt. I looked over at her and smiled and told her that she was absolutely correct. In the end, we were 15 minutes late, and we certainly lived.

How many times do we get caught up in the little things in life that really doesn’t have any effect on the whole scheme of things?  In the hustle of waking up late, all I could think about was how this was not a good start to a Monday morning. I immediately started thinking about if this was how my Monday started, what was going to go wrong the rest of the week.

It took a five year old to remind me that things were going to be just fine. When I heard her comment, I turned my thoughts around about the week, smiled and thanked the Lord that He put breath in our bodies for the day. Being 15 minutes late did not change the fact that we are blessed nor did it change the outcome of my day. Stop; look around and thank God for the things that He was given us that can be so easily taken for granted.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

~Christi Duncan

Image Credit © Tammy Sanders

Receiving Holy Spirit

  When I was growing up, my family attended a small Evangelical Methodist Church.  We sang the traditional hymns, memorized the Bible in Sunday School, and had inspiring messages about God’s Word from the pulpit.  I was born again at age three, but  I don’t remember anyone teaching about Holy Spirit.  The only time He was mentioned was when the Trinity was mentioned:  Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  That is how I remember Him as a child.

When I was fourteen, I attended church with an elderly neighbor.  She attended a Fire Baptized Holiness Church.  While there, I experienced the first person I had ever heard speak in tongues.  When we got home, I asked my neighbor what happened.  She told me that the Holy Ghost spoke through the Sister.  I asked her how He spoke and she replied, “He just comes and speaks sometimes to help people through life.  When my son died in Vietnam, Holy Ghost spoke to me through my daughter.  That was what helped me to bear the pain.”  I still did not understand, but I was even more curious now.

I rebelled against God for a few years, but when I was eighteen-years-old, I came back to my first love.  The very next day, a friend of mine told me that her mother wanted to invite me to church that night since they were having revival.  Perfect timing!  I knew I was born again, but I also knew that this church was different because it was a Church of God!  I went and –  you guessed it – the evangelist gave an invitation for anyone who wanted to be filled with Holy Ghost.  I went up, and despite one little lady telling me to “Hold on” and another one telling me to “Let go,”  I received the infilling of Holy Spirit that night.  I left that place speaking in tongues.  Even though I did not understand what I was saying, I knew inside that He was a good gift.

Ever since that night, my life has been different.  Don’t get me wrong, it has not been perfect by a long shot.  I am still human and miss it daily. However, I have a personal teacher who lives on the inside of me and His name is Holy Spirit.  He has guided me in rough places. He has comforted me through sad times and has helped me through many times when I goofed up so badly, no one else would stick with me.  Holy Ghost is all of this and more!

Holy Spirit is for every born again believer today.  Jesus said in Luke 11:11&13 “If a son shall ask bread of any of you, that is a father, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”

Let Him help you. Speaking in tongues is the key to praying out God’s plan for your life, so what are you waiting for?

~Lisa Brannen

Image credit: ©Tammy Sanders

A Great Adventure

 

 We have all just read this story in Matthew about the parable of the talents like it was all about money. I know I have many times and my mind would go straight to money. As I was meditating on this it is so much more than that. We all have talents that God has placed in us. Some talents we have are job related and others are kingdom related.

In the word it says the He gave some five, two, and one talent according to our own ability.  Now let’s apply this to the church.  Take the evangelist, parking attendant, and Apostle David for example.

One of Apostle David’s talents is ministering to the local body of believers. Another is going to the nations. What if he just wanted to hide his talent just like the guy did in Matthew 25:18? You see, we are responsible for the talents that God has given us. The issue is not how much we have but how well we use what we have.

At Gateway we have opportunities to take the talent God has placed on the inside of us and grow to new levels all the time. We will never discover what lies on the inside of us until we start stepping out into the unknown.  God is just waiting on us to believe Him. He has great things in store for us. Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and join the great adventure?

~Tammy Sanders

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