From The Editor ... by Tim Greenwood - For September 2006

Greetings partners and friends,

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Mat 5:48)  This scripture always bothered me because being perfect seemed unattainable.  Yes, I know that Jesus as a man did attain true perfection.  But as far as I know, no one has done it since.

As a leader I believe in setting and achieving goals.  But I have learned that the goals that we set must always be actually attainable goals.  If not, after a time straining and struggling to attain an unattainable goal, people become frustrated and give up, often seeing themselves as failures.

So I was praying about this scripture and this subject of perfection on one of my walks with God and I heard in my spirit to go home and look up this scripture in the Greek, which I did. And, suddenly before my eyes this scripture transformed from being something beyond my reach into something I could grab hold of.

“Oun  teleios hosper humon pater ho ouranos teleios” literally translates to “Likewise then, [be] complete even like your father in heaven [is] complete.”  The Greek word teleios, which refers to completeness, is from the root tello that (believe it or not) refers to the setting and completing of goals.

What it tells me is that God wants us to constantly set, move towards and reach goals to be more like Jesus who is the express image of God.  To set and reach goals of becoming more mature Christians and to set and reach goals of becoming “whole” with nothing missing and nothing broken.

God bless you all

Commanding Mountains To Move

When Tim was so very ill and at deaths door, we were still hoping (wishing) for a cure to ‘fix’ his heart, we grabbed at anything in the natural we could find.  But after many different therapies we tried – each failed to ‘do the trick’ and make him better. Thank God that He is so loving and never gives up on us, any one of us! 

When we heard Mark 11:23 read on TV it had the potential to change our lives forever.  But…it was up to Tim and I to choose to believe God’s Word and begin saying what God says about our mountains.

Oh, it would have been so easy for us to click on another channel and not listen to this teacher any longer.  Why?  Because at this time we were in a church that did not encourage us to listen to any other ministers outside of our own denomination. Also, we were not taught that this scripture literally meant what it said and that we could absolutely believe what it said was true for us today.

Some of you reading this newsletter may be in the midst of terrible financial problems, family problems, work problems or physical problems.  And…you may never have been taught to take hold of God’s Word and receive it for yourself. 

I am here to tell you that if you make the decision to choose to leave your ‘spiritual’ comfort zone and allow God to work in your life by speaking forth the scriptures over your situations, you too will see the victory.

Choose to believe the Word of God over anyone or anything.  God works by faith (absolute trust in Him.)  He expects us to live by faith, everyday, in every situation in our lives. He is waiting for us to speak forth His Word back to Him so He can move in our behalf to change things.

I can’t take the first step for you…But I can promise you that the moment you take the first step in faith and begin speaking forth God’s promises that are written in the scriptures, God will begin working in the spirit realm and you will see your victory!

How can I make this bold claim?  Because God is not a respecter of persons.  His will is the same for everyone, and He always backs up His Word.

I also want to tell you that you don’t fully have to understand the scripture when you begin speaking it over your ‘mountain.’

We sure didn’t when we began to speak to heart disease (the mountain) to get off of Tim’s body.  But we latched onto how to operate God’s way; and the devil and sickness knew it must bow its knee to the name of Jesus! 

Then we began to read the Bible and learned how to operate in faith using Mark 11:23-24 as a framework. Our faith grew and we began to believe God for bigger things (Romans 10:17).

Don’t be afraid to step out and believe God.  He truly desires to bless you and not withhold anything from you.  Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do exceedingly above what we can think or imagine according to the power working within us. 

Proverbs 4:20-22 says to ‘Keep My Words in your heart for they are Life and Health to a mans whole body.’  Mat. 12:34 - If you have God’s Words in your heart then you will speak them out of your mouth.

WINDOWS ON THE WORD
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