Diminishing The Darkness
ByLifting Up the Marvelous
Light Of Jesus Christ
|
From
The
Editor ...
by Tim Greenwood - For February
2007
Greetings
partners and friends,
Jesus’
disciples encountered
a great storm in Mark 4:35-40: Jesus
told them to take him in a ship to the other side of the lake and then
He fell
asleep. A great storm came up and the ship began to sink. In an
absolute panic,
they woke Jesus. Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, and spoke to the sea.
The
storm was instantly over. And then He asked the disciples why they
hadn’t
already done what He just did. Then He
answered His own question pointing out the presence of fear and the
absence of
faith.
Here’s what you can do during times of storms.
1. Reach out during
these storms. Never permit
yourself to
hide away and separate yourself from others. The devil would love to
put guilt or shame on you because of the storm
you’re going through. Don’t take in his
lies. Seek the help and comfort of
other mature Christians to pray in agreement with you.
2. Continue with
your daily routine. This is the peace of God ruling in
your life, not
confusion. Don’t allow yourself to lose
sleep in worrying.
3. Refuse to
fear!
Faith cannot coexist with fear. Only one or the other will be
present during a storm. Choosing faith
is choosing life.
4. Don’t make any
quick emotional vows to God during
this time. Make sure your emotions are
in check. If there is indeed an area
that needs changing in your life, you can come to God and speak to Him
about it
at another time.
5. Realize what
storms are NOT yours. Don’t allow yourself to be sucked
into the whirlpool
of other people’s storms. If you help other people during a storm, pray
a blood covering over yourself, love them, and speak the Word to them.
6. Rule the
storms—don’t tolerate them. Mark 11:23 says to speak
to this Mountain and command it to leave. Do this right away, and
then only say what God’s Word says about it. Never speak the negative.
7. Praise and thank
God continually. Use your shield of faith, which quenches
ALL the
fiery darts of the wicked, by thanking and praising God that the
mountain
(storm) has left.
If you do these
things—you will overcome the storms,
and you will have the victory!
We thank you for your prayers and financial
support. We pray for you everyday. Please let us know your
needs. God loves you
and we love you. |
Window
On The Word
... by Marcia Greenwood
How
Do You Measure Up?
|
|
God wants you to
accept yourself and to like
who you are! Does that statement
sound too hard to do? It shouldn’t! God accepts you as you
are. The devil wants
to steal self-confidence from you. He
tries to make you “feel” that you don’t “measure up” in one way or
another.
Thank God that we are “measured” by His
standards, and not the world’s yardstick! The opinion you have of
yourself affects all your relationships—with
God
and other people. We don’t succeed by
works—but we do have to be obedient to do what God says. There is
a difference!
The Bible says that we reap what we
sow. If we sow God’s Word into our
hearts then we will reap the blessings—salvation, deliverance, peace,
healing,
redemption, and prosperity—many blessings. If we sow what the devil and
the world tells us—then we will reap those
things—condemnation, guilt, shame, confusion, insecurity—many
curses.
Now don’t mistake what I am saying
here. God wants you to accept yourself
as you are now. But He also fully
expects you to constantly and consistently grow and change towards
being more
and more like Jesus, step by step, every year, every month, every week
and
every day. If you are not moving
forward, then you are backsliding. It’s
kind of like running up the down escalator or a salmon swimming up the
rapids.
Our worth and value
is not
in what we are—but who we are in Christ Jesus. As you
apply God’s Bible
based principles in your life—you will be able to overcome any
insecurities you may have and learn to succeed at being who you are and
like
yourself in the process. Here are some ways you can do
this:
1. Begin to
say
what God says about you—not the negative things you may “feel” about
yourself. God works by faith—the devil
works with feelings! I cannot stress
this point enough—it does NOT matter what you “FEEL” about
you. His Word IS truth! Repeat what God says about you and
you
will begin to change.
2. Don’t compare
yourself to other people. You will have to
learn to deal with criticism without
thinking that there is something wrong with you. Don’t let
criticism concern you. Go to your friends that will honestly help you
in certain areas that
you
may need improvement in. Learn to
follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. Please God! You don’t need the
approval
of other people to be happy with yourself and be a success!
3. Focus on your
strengths and
not your weaknesses! Find something
that you like to do and do it well. Let
God show you what you’re good at and don’t try to copy others. We
all have different gifts and talents—but
as Christians we are all part of the body of Christ.
4. Never settle for
just being average. As
people travel through life, teachers might label them "average." Family
members might limit their dreams.
Bosses might stifle them. All too often, people respond by simply
settling into a boring, mediocre life. But that's not the kind of
life God wants for
anyone.
Don't
settle for it! If you refuse to be satisfied by a life of
mediocrity, you'll be free to pursue excellence. In the process,
your
life will become the unique adventure God has planned for you - and
you'll
fulfill your highest potential.
God wants to lift you up! Do what He wants. You will
succeed every time and be at peace, because you are
doing what He has planned for your life. God wants you to be blessed,
joyful, fulfilled and happy.
|
 |
He wants you to enjoy life and have life
more abundantly. God doesn’t want us to
focus on what’s wrong with us—but what’s right with us. |
Satan knows he
can get to you through
insecurity, low self-esteem and negativity. He surely will until you
learn not to look his way and receive his
lies.
When you know how much God loves you—you
will learn to like and love yourself. Become rooted and grounded in
God’s love so you will be at peace and
succeed at being yourself.
So, as you grow towards
being more like Jesus, and stop to measure your progress, don’t get
down on
yourself because you’re not where you think you should be. But
rather, celebrate how far you have come
and ask the Holy Spirit to help you make more progress from this point
forward.
|
|
Special Offer
Succeeding At Being
Yourself
Reg.
$14.00
Only $10.00
(through 3/31/2007)
|
|
PO Box
1904 (626) 574-5016
Arcadia, CA 91077 www.tgm.org staff@tgm.org
Co-Editors
Tim Greenwood
Marcia Greenwood
Windows on the Word is published monthly for
the edification and
pleasure of the partners and friends of
Tim Greenwood Ministries (TGM).
If this newsletter, website, or other media
published by TGM has been a
blessing to you,
please consider becoming
a regular monthly financial partnerwith TGM .
Through your financial support, you can share in the rewards for making
these and other outreaches of TGM possible.
Every gift large or small is deeply appreciated and is vitally
important.
Tim Greenwood Ministries is a 501(c)(3), tax
exempt, California
Religious Organization.
All contributions, less the value of any products received, are
tax-deductible as allowed by law.
(Upon receipt of sufficient funds for a specific project, support
will be used for an equally important outreach.)
Allrights
reserved. Used by permission.
This article may be reproduced for
teaching purposes but not for commercial resale
The Windows On The Word - PO Box 1904,
Arcadia, CA 91077 USA
An outreach of Tim Greenwood Ministries
|
|
|
|