The Body of Christ: Video Blog

Hope this blesses you! God has a position for you
that no one else can fill.

How Do You Trust?

How Do You Trust?

A friend recently asked me about a post I wrote a
while back. Here is the portion her question was
referring to:

"Handing over our worries, cares and treasures
to Him is the way to receive His gifts. Do you
trust Him, do you love Him? Do you really? Do
you know that what He has to give far outweighs
what you are holding in your flesh? It is through
Him alone that we receive what we need. He is
our Source. In Isaiah 58 the Lord declares,
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways My ways.” Letting (fill in your
own blank) go and giving it away to God shows
that we love Him, that we depend on Him, that
we trust Him. “Trust in the LORD forever, for
the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.”
Isaiah 26:4

Her question is this: How do you do that...
how do you let it all go? Trust with such passion?

I loved her question. I love hearing great insight
and scripture for living; but I am the type of person
that needs the real life application that goes with
the lesson or encouragement. I welcomed her question
and went before the Lord in prayer to guide my response.
I pray that God's truth, mercy and love touches you in a
personal way as you read the following.

First of all, I cannot do it on my own, not in my own
flesh. This comes from the power of the Holy Spirit.
My part is to surrender to Him. Then I ask Him to fill
me. The surrender part comes because of my trust in God;
and trust comes from looking back in my life and seeing
all the times He has proved to be who He claims to be.
I also look in the Bible. The more I study, the more I
see His character and that His nature is perfect and ALWAYS
loving to His children. His love for us is so incomprehensible.
There is an element of faith that comes into play too. There
comes points in all that we do where we put forth a portion
of faith: getting on a plane, getting into a car, even sitting
on a chair. You have faith in all of that. That the pilot can
really fly the plane, that other drivers will obey the traffic
rules, that the four legs are sturdy enough to hold you...
know what I mean. We practice faith all the time, but for
some reason we hold back more with God. They say that if you
believe Gen 1:1 the rest of the Bible should be easy to believe.

I trust with such a passion because I choose to
believe that God is true to who He claims to be.
That doesn't mean that I don't fail in that though.
There are times when I need to fall on my face at
His feet, ask for forgiveness for my lack of faith
and then ask Him to help me. When you fall back on
truth, and who He is....He is the creator of all,
He knows the end from the beginning, so He knows
what is the best route for me, I need to trust
that and call on Him for direction, wisdom, giftings,
whatever it is He has for me. I don't want to miss
any of it.

Now in all this, satan is going to attack you.
But if you know that you are in a battle up front,
grab your armor (Eph 6) and suit up for the fight
(which by the way has already been won!). Then you
will be more equipped and not fall into the traps.
If you do fall, pray and let God lift you back up.
Fight the enemy with truth. Just as Jesus did when
satan tempted him in the desert. He fought back with
the truth of God's word.

I love these conversations because it reminds me
that we are here to encourage one another in the
Lord and it keeps our focus on Him. We praise you
and love you Lord!

Living with Truth and choosing JOY,
Habakkuk 3:18-19
Zsanae Miller

Light in the midst of the storm

About a year ago, I was driving to our church
and it started pouring rain. I mean POURING,
or you could say DUMPING rain on our car. I
was with my boys and I was at a stop light with
both hands gripping the steering wheel, wanting
to get to our destination safe and sound. It
was the kind of rain where you can't see out
your window even with the windshield wipers on
full speed.

We prayed that we would be safe and as we
turned down the street where our church was located,
the brightest light was shining through the
darkest clouds. It was so BRIGHT I couldn't
look straight at it. It was a ray of sun through
a small area of clouds that had parted.

Immediately I thought about how many times in
our lives when we go through struggles, and when
everything around us seems like it's crumbling,
we are able to see God like never before. Those
are the times when many people meet God for the first
time or learn how trustworthy our Heavenly Father
truly is. Many times it's in the dark times that
we become fearful and discouraged and we look to
God and see the light that only He can bring into
our lives. We are reminded that Light will overcome
the darkness and we have reason to hope. We are
reminded to keep our eyes focused UP, on the Living
God because when we look around us, the answers are
not there.

We pulled into the parking lot and just over the church
was half of a rainbow. I was able to talk to Jake,
my 8-yr-old son, about how God will always keep His
promises and the rainbow is a reminder of that truth.

I am so thankful for the Word of God that sets my
foundation on the truth of who God is and what He
is like. Jesus Christ is the light that was sent
into the world to overcome the darkness. No matter
what storms we go through in life, if we look to
God and cling to His truth, we will see His Light!

John 1:9: "The true light that gives light to every
man was coming into the world."

John 8:12: "When Jesus spoke again to the people,
he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever
follows me will never walk in darkness, but will
have the light of life."

Living by faith,
Leah Amico
(also posted on www.leah20.blogspot.com)

God- Please Fill Me Up

As I was leaving the gas station after filling my
car up, I had what I would call a "God-Thought".
I get many of these analogies and I'm not thinking
this way- they just come to me. I believe it's
just the way God speaks to me and gives me things
to relate to His truths.

So I was leaving with a FULL tank of gas after getting
down to about 10 miles left with gas. I know how much
was left because my car tells me the number of miles
on my dashboard. I felt like God was showing me that
when people start to fall away from God it is a slow
fade. They probably know they aren't as close to God
because they aren't reading their Bibles, going to
church, praying, and so on. But they are able to go
on just like they normally do. Eventually they get
less and less of God until all of the sudden, they
are completely empty and things fall apart. Our cars
will drive until they are completely empty, then they
just won't go any further. We become "empty" and our
need to be filled up with God is the only way to get
back onto the right path.

After church last night I felt like another meaning
was there as well. The message was all about who
the Holy Spirit is and the power we have from the
Holy Spirit. We need to ask God daily to fill us
up with His Holy Spirit. This is different from
the Holy Spirit living in us. Many times in the
New Testament the Holy Spirit came upon people and
they spoke God's Word with boldness. There were
also other gifts that came from the Holy Spirit
and allowed Jesus' followers to minister to others
in different ways. We need to be "FILLED UP" with
the Holy Spirit to accomplish what God has for us.
We need to ask God to fill us up and to direct us
in His will for our lives. Obedience and submission
will lead to blessing and a life that can be used
by God. Just like we need to keep filling up our
cars, we need to ask God to keep FILLING US UP with
His Holy Spirit!

Leah Amico

"The Lord is My Shepherd"

Our Bible has many references about shepherds
and sheep. We know that David was a shepherd
as a young boy and then God called him to be
the Shepherd over His people, Israel. The Bible
also tells us that God is the "Good Shepherd" and
David is quoted in Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd."

As I was reflecting on the idea of God being our
Shepherd, I started to think about how important
it is to stay with the other sheep and close to
the "Shepherd" so He can protect you. When a
sheep wanders, there is the chance that they will
become lost, or even worse, they could become
prey. The Bible tells us "Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about like
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" 1 Pet 5:8.

A true shepherd would give his life for his flock
and that's exactly what God did when He sent Jesus
to die for our sins. Even with our salvation secure,
we need to stay close so that we are protected by
God. The devil will try to isolate us from the
flock (other believers) and try to get us to not
believe God's truth so that he can destroy our lives.
Stand secure in your faith, read your Bible so you
can know the truth, and believe God's promises that
he is not just another shepherd- but He is the GOOD
SHEPHERD who KNOWS His sheep, LOVES His sheep, HELPS
His sheep and SPEAKS to His sheep.

Stay close to the flock- get plugged in at a solid
church that teaches God's Word as the final authority.
Find a mentor or be a mentor: God will grow you in
either position! Pray so you can have conversations
with God and allow Him to change the areas that do
not line up with His will for us. Step out in faith
by obediently following what you believe God has
called you to do. Always remember: never stop following
the Good Shepherd.

John 10:4: "And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes
before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know
his voice."

John 10:14: "I am the good shepherd; and I know My [sheep],
and am known by My own."

Matthew 9:36: "But when He saw the multitudes, He
was moved with compassion for them, because they
were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd."

John Piper on Finding Your Niche

This really spoke to me. The Bible tells us that
there is a purpose and a plan for each of our lives.
Sometimes it's hard to know what that plan actually
is. The gifts we have been given by God will show
up in our talents as we step forward in opportunities
that come before us. This short clip talks about
this topic as well.

Hear it, Live it, Share Him!

Luke 2 in the Bible gives us the story of Jesus'
birth. There were shepherds out in the fields
and an angel spoke to them and said (v.10-11),
"Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy which will be to ALL people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of
David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord".

Jesus was sent for ALL people- to forgive
everyone of their sins if they will just come
to Him.

After the angel spoke, there was a heavenly
host singing and praising God! Then the
angels were gone. What would you have done
if you had just seen this? Do you ever think
about that? Would you think you just had a
dream? Would you be afraid to talk about it
because others might call you crazy? Or would
you do what the shepherds did and "hurry up" and
go find this Jesus that the angel was talking
about?

They talked and decided they should travel and
see what God had shown them. Verse 16 says that
"they came with haste (swiftness of motion, speed,
urgent need of quick action) and found Mary and
Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger."

When God makes something known to us, we need to
come with haste to Him by reading the Bible or
praying! He will make Himself known just like He
did to those shepherds.

Verse 17: "Now when they had seen [Him], they made
widely known the saying which was told them
concerning this Child."

They saw Jesus and even though He was just a baby
boy in a dirty manger, they knew that they had just
seen the Messiah sent to save the world. They couldn't
keep it a secret! They made it widely known. When
we experience the greatness of God and know Jesus in
a deeply personal way, we will not be able to keep
quiet about it! We will make it widely known too!

Verse 18: "And all those who heard [it] marveled
at those things which were told them by the shepherds."

As you share your heart and they see that you really
have been changed by the Lord and Savior of the world,
they will marvel at what you tell them, just like
those who heard from the shepherds. Remember- it
all started by "hearing", then "seeing and believeing"
then "sharing"! We can live out the Christmas story
this same way!

Merry Christmas

We all want to wish you a very Merry Christmas
as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
The story in Luke Chapter 2 in the Bible
gives us details of that amazing day that
God gave the world the greatest gift of
all time! Through Jesus, we have access to
the Father and through faith in Him, we receive
eternal life.

I want to point out this part: As an angel appeared
to shepherds out in the fields, the Bible says
that "the glory of the Lord shone around them
and they were greatly afraid". Then the angel
told them not to be afraid, that there was
good news for the whole world! Verse 11 says:

"For there is born to you this day in the city
of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

This is what our faith is all about: Jesus
Christ: Savior, Christ and Lord! Praying
Jesus will shine his perfect love and grace
upon you this Christmas and always!

Merry Christmas!