Courageous Bride

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6

I told you about my personal word about this Scripture in the devotion “Courageous.” I also believe this is a word for the bride of Christ. The world is entering into unknown days. On the evening news last night, they were doing a story on the economy. The story focused on the conversations in the workplace, the marketplace, and the coffee shops. People want to talk about what is happening in our world today. People are e-mailing me telling me that they are afraid. I hear the Christian men and fathers at school talking about the troubled times ahead and wondering how they will protect and provide for their families. People want to talk about the layoffs and their job hunting. People are wondering what will happen with this global economic crisis? How far into the crisis are we going to go? How bad will it get?

The bride of Christ is also entering into unknown days. I believe God is sending a message to His people to not quiver in fear but to be strong in Him and to face these days with courage. Ambrose Redmoon said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” Courage is being willing to face danger. We cannot cower in the corners, wring our hands, and worry over the state of our world. There is a difference between recognizing that our world is in trouble and having anxiety over the days to come. Anxiety is merely being upset that we are not in control. The only thing that we can control is how close we are to God.

God says that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is with us in this crisis, my friend. This crisis did not take Him by surprise. He didn’t say from His throne room in heaven where the beasts are flying around saying, “Holy, holy, holy,” day and night something like “Oops, I didn’t see that one coming.” He is not going to bail out on us.

Yes, we need to be emotionally, physically, and mentally prepared. However, more importantly, we need to be spiritually prepared. A couple of years ago God told me to start a prayer time called the uprising because so many of us could feel a sudden increase in intensity of our time. Once again, my friend, I am sending a message to God’s people to increase their prayers. We must be spiritually prepared. Our anemic prayer lives must change. The way to be courageous is through being in constant communication with our Commander so let’s not delay any longer. Join me in prayer.

Pray with me: Almighty God, Your bride is in deep need of godly courage. We struggle with our fear. The giant problems of our nation seem overpowering. Yet, Lord, what we truly need is You. Your bride has allowed others to come between us. We have worshiped other gods. We have fallen into idolatry. We repent of our sins. Shed light on the lies that we have believed.

Your bride is being prepared. Through these hard days, we pray for Your bride to be awakened to the intense needs of others. When opportunities arise to meet others’ physical needs, please use it as a doorway to meet their spiritual needs. Reveal Yourself to them in their desperation. May we react differently than unbelievers during these unknown days. Give us the courage to believe You. May we put all of our hope in You.

Lord, show us how we are to prepare physically and mentally for these days. Show us the matters where we are to be like Moses and rely on Your daily provision. Show us the matters where we are to be like Joseph and prepare so that many can be saved. Give us the discernment to know the difference.

Since we know things will only get worse until You come again, come quickly, Lord Jesus, Come! It’s in the Name above all names, in Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, I pray. Amen.

Christ Compels Girls Shauna, Nicole and I with Mary Kassian

Watchwomen

My heart is very heavy for our country. Yes, I should be in celebratiom mode. Celebration for my anniversary. Celebration of Thanksgiving. I just can't help but see what is coming our way. I am a watchwomen on the wall. I have to warn people to get ready. GET READY, Beloved!! You and I can see the signs of the times and prepare for is coming our way. I'll tell you more in a new devotion on the www.christcompels.com website. I will keep telling you what God is showing me. We must not sleep through this, but must get ready!

Well, some Christ Compels girls just returned from the women's ministry leadership forum and admist great adventures like mice poop in my pillow at the hotel, meeting Mary Kassian (squeals!) and God's Word being poured into me, I realized the importance of blogging. So I am starting again! Wahoo! Check out the pictures from the Forum.

Final Editing Begins

WOW! Today was a big milestone for the Jesus Lives Bible study. I sent the Jesus Lives transcript off to the editors and the updated power point files to the video editor! Yes, Praise GOD! It feels so good to have it in some other human's hands. I've always known that it was in God's hands, but it is nice to depend on others for the next few weeks to work on it!

Pray for Shirley S. and Anne as they edit every word, sentence, and paragraph of the Bible study and that there will not be any errors or words that can misconstrued.
Pray for Shan as he edits the videotapes. Pray for God to clear his schedule.

Continue to share about Jesus Lives with your friends and people in your sphere of influence. Your excitement will be contagious! He has risen!

In Christ Alone,

Shirley

Jesus Lives Videotaping - Closing

Everyone,

I just want to thank you again for being so faithful to attend the Jesus Lives tapings and participating in all that you did. We built something beautiful together for the kingdom. And yes, that baby has been born and it's birthday was April 14, 2008! Whew ! Praise You, Father! For the first time in almost 4 years, I haven't done but maybe 5 minutes worth of work in the past week on Jesus Lives. And yes, just as I said last Monday night, I did take down my Christmas tree this weekend. If you thought I was kidding about it still being up, I wasn't. When Doug was taken before dawn to the emergency room a couple of weeks ago, the EMT guys saw it and I was so embarassed. But thankfully they had seen stranger things than a Christmas tree up in April!

Nick's brother will edit the tapes and hopefully we'll have it on the site in June. If God spoke to you through Jesus Lives, then please do these things for me:
1. Pray that the Holy Spirit will blow it wherever Jesus Lives is suppose to go. We release it to the Spirit of God and not the hands of men.
2. Tell me, write down your summary of Jesus Lives and what God did in your life through it. I told you that i have a summary in the front of each Bible study that I've done so that I can remember what God has done and use it as a spiritual marker and quick review to see if I'm applying what He has taught me.
3. Share about Jesus Lives with your friends, the people that God tells you to share it . If you are passionate about what God is done, then it will be contagious and The Spirit of God can use you to take it to people so they too can be ministered to by God!

Thank you, thank you thank you! I'm eternally grateful.I also included Sarah's prayer with the adverbs in case you wanted it. It's a good way to close!

Lord, I want to:
Know you intimately
Obey you consistently
See you clearly
Speak with you continually
Believe you unconditionally
Worship you eternally


Love YOU!

Shirley

Jesus Lives Videotaping

Praise You, Lord! We only have one more session to videotape. This has been such a long journey. I must thank you so much for being willing to take it with me. I have grown so tired, but I keep doing this out of obedience to God and my love for you. I wrote this for you.

I pray God will use this Bible study to take you up that pyramid so you will reach the pinnacle and you will live a live that glorifies Him. He is worth it! May we take our places on the battlefield. May we run with the baton that He has given us.

I love you!

In Christ Alone,

Shirley