“Thank you for your communication and support of our products. Enclosed you will find what was promised.”
While sorting through the mail (May 16th) I
found a letter from a company that my husband contacted concerning a product
that wasn’t what it should have been. As
a matter of fact, part of the product was missing.
This was the first time I saw the letter and for some
reason it didn’t make it to the recycle bin. There were only a few sentences, but the word
“promised” really stood out in my mind.
That phrase is what I drew on later in the week.
Welcome new friends this week from:
See if your city/state/country made the list.
New on DFB – Indonesia; Japan; Jordan;
Uster, Zürich, Switzerland; Favona, Auckland Region, New Zealand; Lima, Lima
Region, Peru; Tanzania; Thailand; Uganda.
USA – Willow Springs, MO; Farmer, Ramseur & Randleman, NC; Fargo, ND; Washington
Township, Gloucester County & Williamstown, NJ; San Leanna TX; Pasco WA.
I am so happy for your visit and hope that you come back
each week to participate in the weekly challenges. God has been faithful and we expect His favor
to abound in the lives of those who chose to Journey with Jesus on Daily Favor
Blog.
You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below. All are private. I would love to hear from
you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life. Contact me by leaving a message in the box at
the bottom of this week’s post.
Don't miss out on this week's challenge
(below).
3:30 PM 5/23/16
All week long I’ve had trouble getting online due to electrical
storms. On Monday Hubby was out in all
this (trying to get a clip for his BiPap machine that had broken) when he called
to tell me to turn off the computer. In my spirit I had already heard “shut it
down.”
The skies grew dark as if it were night; the wind whipped
the branches back and forth pushing them to their limits. All of a sudden the heavens opened as if a
floodgate from a river had been unlatched.
Walking past the window I couldn’t see outside because the water was
like a sheet of frosted Plexiglas blurring my sight.
In the middle of one of the thunderstorms I watched the
birds and squirrels as they continued their fine dining in one of our “elegant”
backyard feeding stations … this particular feeder is an upside down metal garbage can
underneath a makeshift roof. Not the prettiest
thing to look at but it’s really functional and keeps the seed dry during wet
weather.
I noticed that the squirrel remained in the same spot all
that time. At first I wasn’t even sure
if it were alive. The cardinals were chasing one another, and the squirrel
continued to eat as I watched a thick bolt of lightning strike the ground
across the street from our house. We
were in the middle of the storm and they weren’t afraid!
What Exactly Did Jesus Do?
I know it may seem strange but thoughts about how Jesus
handled weather conditions began to direct my actions. While walking with Jesus on a daily basis the
disciples saw some pretty heavy stuff, and a bit of it took place in unusual locations.
During those life lessons Jesus expected them to carry
out what they had seen and learned. One
of those teachings took place in the midst of a terrible storm that many believe
was a hurricane.
The day had already been filled with “how to” classes and
Jesus had retired to bed when his fearful students fell smack into another
test. Only this time they failed it.
“On the same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to
them: Let us cross over to the other side.
Now when they had left the multitude, they took Jesus along in the boat
as He was, and other little boats were also with Him.
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the
boat, so that it was already filling.
But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him: Teacher,
do You not care that we are perishing?”
Can’t you picture the look on Jesus’ face about
then? He had been teaching all day and
went to bed like normal (for His life).
Why in the world would His followers need to wake Him for anything after
they had been in class getting directions for these kinds of situations?
“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
Peace, be still! And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” (Here comes
the reprimand …) But He said to them: Why
are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? (Have you still no
faith?)
And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another: Who
can this be that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:35-41 NKJV
emphasis mine)
Supernatural Life Lessons
Something continually on my heart is that I don’t want to
disappoint my journey leader, especially when it comes to my faith falling
short just when He expects it to be strong.
I’ve been talking to storms of all sorts by faith for
about twenty years now. One of the first
times was during a fire that surrounded our house. My pups and I were trapped inside, but God
showed me what to do and say by taking authority over it in the name of
Jesus. I haven’t forgotten that lesson.
Faith Walk in Power
Two hours later my husband called again to warn me of the
latest weather reports about tornados in the surrounding areas. I heard the sirens blowing and remembered the
commands Jesus gave while the disciples looked on in amazement.
If we truly walk with Jesus we are to do as
and command as He did. Jesus spoke to
the storm and commanded it to be calmed, but even after all they witnessed the
disciples faith wasn’t where it should have been. Their teacher was with them and they were
still afraid. What does that say about
us if we do the same on our faith walk with Jesus?
As children of the KING we have authority to act and
command as Jesus did. Do you recall how
He was disappointed that they disciples didn’t speak to the storm?
Before Jesus went to the cross He openly told the
disciples that they had authority and power to destroy the hand of satan over a
situation. The power was given through
the Holy Spirit and He is the one who acts when we give voice to the authority
we’ve been given.
The Holy Spirit power was given to Christians at the time
of salvation as part of the promise package of favor to God’s children. I merely acted on that promise. Think of it as if Jesus spoke to you and
said, “I give you power over the works of the enemy, now use it correctly.”
Power over the enemy …
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any
means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19 NKJV)
Power Promise from Heaven …
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but
wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on High.”
(Luke 24:49 NKJV)
Power for a Purpose …
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you (when you ask Christ into your heart to forgive you of your
sins); and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria and to the end of the earth (basically anywhere).” (Acts 1:8 NKJV
emphasis mine)
Power to Increase our Faith …
“… that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God.” (to have faith in God’s power, not faith in what man
can do) (1 Corinthians 2:5 NKJV)
Power to Keep Calm in Difficult Situations …
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power
and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 NJV)
This is where most of us fail. We don’t really understand the promises of
God that we receive through the Holy Spirit.
What Timothy was trying to tell us is that we have been given a spirit
of power, along with the spirit of love and discernment to know how to respond
when the spirit of fear from the enemy arises.
So why aren’t we using this favor power promise from God
in all situations? Shouldn’t it be the
first thing that pops into our thinking during storms, or do we need Jesus to
arise again (go back to the cross for a do over)?
Peace Be Still
Holding Jewel in my arms to take her to the “potty” I
heard the storm roaring louder, and commanded it to go declaring it had no
right to come near our property. I shouted,
“Get out … Go! Go! You cannot come here. Peace, be still!”
By 3:45 PM the winds calmed and there was a slow rain
still falling.
It was 3:50 PM when the traffic picked up again in the
bordering streets as I heard the thunder rolling off in the distance. Storms of this kind (along with others) kept
trying to come back, over and over. With
each one I remembered that letter I found at the beginning of the week … “Enclosed you will find what was promised.”
God has given us the power to trample over the enemy, but
the only way we’ll learn how to use what we’ve been given is to open the Word
of God and read it. Enclosed in the Bible are all the promises we’ll need for
any situation. It’s where we learn about
the favor shield, the blessings gifts, the surrounding of mercy on our lives
and the steps to take for every circumstance.
We Have Authority
The letter was addressed to my husband, but because I
fall under the authority given to me through marriage the promised gift was
also meant for me. As children of God,
we also have authority to use given to us by Jesus through the power of the
Holy Spirit. It’s our choice to use what
is “enclosed” in the Promise Book. When
we don’t use all of what was promised, something is missing in our battle over
the enemy.
The
multiplication of God’s divine grace, favor and power is given to believers for
use in this lifetime for godliness, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to do
exactly as Jesus did on this earth. Peter
refers to is as “precious promises” so that we can partake of the Divine nature
to escape the evil of this world. (2 Peter 1:2-4) In terms we can understand … as Jesus is, so
are we to be in this world.
“We are meeting the needs of God's people and reviving
them spiritually, emotionally, physically and financially with the Word of God!
For ...as [Jesus] is, so are we in this world (1 John
4:17)."
– Pastors Tony and
Cynthia Brazelton.
The
power of the Holy Spirit is essential in every believer’s life if we are to
carry out the works of Christ and win souls to the Lord. It’s something we
should cry out for daily so we can be used as vessels for Him.
It’s
not only the first disciples, apostles, pastors and Christian leaders like the
Brazeltons that can call on the power of God in the name of Jesus to combat
evil …so can we. It’s time to let the devil
know that we are a POWERful force and that no weapon formed against us will
prosper.
This Week’s Challenge:
Use the Promise of God’s Power
When I was preparing this for publication once
more I called on the power of God over a situation.
The devil really didn’t want me getting this
message out on Daily Favor Blog and was trying to get me frustrated. No it wasn’t over a physical storm or anything like that.
As I was checking for an item in the cupboard I dropped
my phone and it broke. Picking it up to
reassemble the pieces I couldn’t get it to work. All I could think of was the topic I was
trying to convey in my post this week.
When I sat down at the computer to continue working, out
loud I asked the Lord, “Does this principle
apply to phones as well?” Of course
you know what I heard …”Yep!” (Does God really say yep?)
Applying the same promise principle against the enemy I
commanded my phone in the name of Jesus to work and guess what? It did.
Why would God care about my phone? He knows that it is used for
communication in spreading good news of the gospel.
Our challenge this week is to search out the endued power promises of God through the Holy
Spirit and use them as Jesus did. We
have the power in Jesus’ name to bring about a change. We need to let Him speak through us.
What enemy is coming against you? It doesn’t have to be as big as a storm or tornado
watch like I was experiencing, but can be those small things that just aggravate
the stuffing out of you.
By faith Jesus is right there watching the same thing as
you are (like He did with the first disciples). How would Jesus command the
situation? Learn to speak as He did by
staying in continual communication with the Lord and His promises will manifest. They have to because the power of God is “endued”,
already enclosed in our gift pack of salvation!
Read it for yourself, it’s in His letter.
Speak to the Storm by Brenda Lewis
If this article has encouraged or helped you, please
consider sharing it by using the social media icons provided at the end of this
post.
Until
next time, God’s favor is enclosed in His promises!
“Thank you for your communication and support
of My ministry. Enclosed in my letter you will find what I promised.” - Jesus Christ
of My ministry. Enclosed in my letter you will find what I promised.” - Jesus Christ
*Unless
noted, the names in articles are changed to protect the individual(s) privacy.
Note: The
words satan or devil are not capitalized deliberately, because we give him no
place in our lives.
Disclaimer:
Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical
issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.
What’s New This Week: Click
on book or link.
Also available in hardback.
Maybe you don’t know the Living God that I
know, but would like to have this kind of favor in your life also. Click on the above tab “Tell Me” for more
information on becoming a child of the Savior.
Content and Image Copyright from Favored1. Do not copy.
Scripture
reference was taken from the New King James Bible Version provided by Bible Gateway.Image credit: Google Images or Dreamstime Creative Common License if not specified.
Image: Peace Be Still Tornado Sirens 1 John 4:17b As He Is Photo by Harriet Sleigh
Disclaimer Notes: Results may vary due to lack of belief.
Enclosed is the Power Promise, Promises of God, Speak to the Storm, Christian Living, Connecting to Favor, Victory, Daily Favor Blog, Favored1, What Would Jesus Do, Tornado Watch, R.C. Sproul.
