Spiritual Forecasts for 2010
The Spiritual Forecasts section contains exciting news and messages related to how God's Spirit will be moving in our world and working in our daily lives.
This season of Christmas is a time of preparing your hearts to experience true spiritual joy, hope, peace and a deep abiding love from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For our daily lives are consumed with thoughts and desires that serve the purpose of distracting us from the joy and love our God deeply desires for us.
God desires a deep, personal relationship with us filled with unabashed joy, joy that is not contingent upon what is happening in our lives or on how many possessions we have. True spiritual joy is a precious gift we receive through the Holy Spirit that gives us strength in adversity. In Christ, we have all that we need to be filled with passionate joy despite difficulties, loneliness, financial burdens and disease. Despite those daily things that threaten to weigh heavily upon our spirits, only through Christ and His amazing love are we set free to experience true spiritual joy. With that joy comes an all encompassing peace. Call upon Jesus now and ask Him to fill you with the joy and peace that only He can provide through His great love for us.
Remember God is ever faithful and ever true. As we grow in a personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit through steadfast faith we embrace the hope that was made possible for us through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. For once we walked in darkness, consumed by the fear, sin and burdens of this world, but now we are set free through Jesus Christ our Lord. His sacrifice is the greatest, most astounding act of love ever shared. How blessed we are to be loved so completely in spite of our shortcomings!
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." –Romans 5:1-5
May the love of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit fill you with great joy, hope and peace this Christmas season and beyond.
Blessings,
Sheri & Cheryl
Lent is not only a time we spend in preparation of the Easter celebration of the resurrection, it is an important time of renewal. As we approach Lent this year and begin our own path of spiritual renewal, we can look to Jesus as an example of how to overcome our weakest moments.
Our spiritual journey as a Christian will be marked with adversity, battles against darkness and periods of great weakness. Jesus, despite his divinity, was prompted by the Spirit to allow himself to become weak by fasting for 40 days and nights (Matthew 4:1-11). While Satan tempted Jesus in a moment of great weakness, Jesus remained strong in spirit.
As Christians, we must be aware that in our moments of great weakness, the evil one will try to tempt us or make us falter on our spiritual journey. Yet it is in these moments of weakness that we cry out to God for Him to renew our spirit and give us strength to grow spiritually and mature as Christians. Christ calls us to fulfill His will in our lives. How can we serve Him fully if we are not yet mature? As infants, we rely on others to care for our every need; we are not yet ready to achieve the full purpose for our lives. We have not yet matured! The early church struggled also with helping Christians grow and mature on their spiritual journey. Paul writes to the church in Corinth…
"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready." – 1 Corinthians 3: 1–2
How then do we move beyond the infant stages of our faith and grow spiritually in Christ?
"Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." – Ephesians 5: 1–2
By imitating Christ and living a life of love, we will move beyond the stages of infancy and draw closer to God’s divine will for our lives. But just as Christ’s journey was plagued with obstacles, temptations and traps set by the evil one, we too will face such hardship. The Bible does not promise that the path to spiritual maturity will be free from struggle, but we can hold firm in the knowledge that God will always be there for us.
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." – Romans 8: 38–39
Knowing that nothing can separate us from God’s love, then we must persevere on our journey of faith and stand firm in our choice. We must all make a choice.
I choose God. I choose to accept His love that surpasses all understanding. I choose to embrace the joy that comes from knowing that He will never abandon me. He loves me and strongly desires my love in return. I choose God.
What do you choose??
Friends, know the importance of your decision for "…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." – Ephesians 6:12
Although the evil one will try to prevent our spiritual growth, do not be discouraged. The next verses in Ephesians tell us how to fight back against these attempts.
"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." – Ephesians 6:13
The subsequent versus continue in more detail of each piece of spiritual armor that will protect us. I encourage you to read through Ephesians 6: 14-18 and study these verses.
As we grow spiritually, we know that we will face trials and difficulties and that our lives will be full of many choices. Do we turn left or right at the next intersection of our journey? How will we know if we have made the decision that God would want us to? It is at these very crossroads in life that we truly understand that God gave us free will. He gave us free will to make our decisions. Why? Because he wants us to freely give Him our love. He wants us to choose Him and to joyfully give Him our love.
This is another step in our spiritual journey. God gave us free will, but too often we make the wrong choices that cause us more pain and limit our spiritual growth. As a mature Christian, we must realize that we don’t always know what is best, that only God in His great wisdom, truly knows the correct path to take. Why then are we so stubborn in surrendering our will? Many people have a fear of losing control--thinking that we know what is best and only we can make the right choices. This is a dangerous trap to fall into. Remember God loves you. He wants you to grow spiritually closer to Him because he wants you to be blessed. By praying each day, the following prayer we invite God to take over control of our lives, knowing that only He knows what is best.
"Lord Jesus Christ, I surrender my complete and total will to you in this day and ask that you take over for me in all things. Not my will, but your will be done." Amen.
Still feeling fear in letting go of control? Remember in the previous verses in Ephesians we acknowledged that our greatest struggles were not against flesh and blood, but against evil. Although our beloved God respects our free will-remember that Satan does not. He will use every opportunity to manipulate your will and deceive you. It is either God’s will or Satan’s will.
Giving our will to the Lord, allows us the peace of mind to know that we are encompassed by the love of Christ all the while growing more spiritually mature as Christians. There is also great joy in the renewal that God provides to our spirit. Our burdens have been lifted and we are no longer held hostage.
Joyfully choose God. Choose to turn over your will to Jesus, knowing that he will never lead you astray. He will renew your spirit, guide your steps and shine His light upon you so that you will no longer walk in darkness.
Blessings,
Sheri & Cheryl
In these difficult times, we tend to find ourselves immersed, oppressed and blinded by the darkness. In fact, we have been subjected to the darkness in this world for so long that we no longer recognize its potent affect on us. We are content to rationalize the evil in the world and convince ourselves that it is normal. We have become desensitized to the darkness as well. We are bombarded daily with reports and images of death, hunger, terrorism, hardship, sinfulness and perversion. So much so, that we have become accustomed to these dark things.
For it is in these darkest moments that we are called to trust in God’s will for our lives. When it is so dark that we can’t see where to take the next step, these are the moments when we must abandon our doubts and trust in God completely. Our faith will strengthen with each step that He guides us to take. Although the direction we take may differ greatly from our expectations, how blessed we will be if we walk the path that God has set before us. As we continue to deepen our faith and grow stronger in our spirituality we will realize the true blessing of joy and hope that the Lord God Almighty has bestowed upon us.
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:1–5
Since sin first entered the world when Satan tempted Adam & Eve, we have lived amongst the darkness. Imagine if our human eyes were only capable of seeing shades of gray. No yellow sunlight, no blue sky…nothing but shades of gray. Would we ever realize what we were missing? Would the word “light” mean much to us?
Now hear the good news that God is sharing with us!! We are not alone. We will not be conquered by the shades of gray, sin and darkness in this world. Let us rejoice and praise God, for we have been blessed with the light!!
"Then Jesus spake again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12
Through Jesus we are no longer prisoners to the darkness of the world. He breaks through the murky depths with a light so brilliant that the darkness cannot overcome it nor even understand it.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." John 1:1–5
Imagine a light so bright that the darkness has no power to overcome it, no power to swallow its brilliance! How amazing is our God! Let us go forth into this coming year, confident and comforted by the knowledge that the darkness will not rule. Jesus, who is the light of the world, shines upon us. Let us boldly reflect His light to others and share the wonderful news of the light and salvation available through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Love & Blessings,
Sheri & Cheryl
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