HOPE DEALER In Amishland

2. God's Part In Changing Me: He Uses The Holy Spirit. "Once the Spirit ... lives within you, He will bring to your whole being ... new strength and vitality." Romans 8:11 "As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him." I Cor. 3:18 My Part In Changing Me: I Can Depend On The Holy Spirit. "Take care to live in Me and let Me live in you. For a branch can't produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit." John 15:4-5 “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13

PHILIPPIANS 2:12- " ... Continue to WORK OUT your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who WORKS IN you to will and to act according to his good purpose." ("work out": "your salvation": "God works in you": ) GOD'S PART & MY PART IN CHANGING ME 1. God's Part In Changing Us: His Word, The Bible "The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God's way of making us well prepared at every point ..." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (LB) Our Part In Changing Us: We Choose What We Think About. "Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts." Prov. 4:23 "Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the `new self' that has been created in God's way ..." Eph 4:23-25 Rom. 12:2 Think > Feel

We've dealt with the issues that produce discouragement, but how do we overcome it? Here are some thoughts below that you can use to put into action today! I've heard it said that great coaches not only have a great game plan to defeat their enemy, but they also have the ability to adjust to the battle. Many times our initial plans, regardless of how great they are, simply don't work! When that happens, we cannot quit & give up. We need to do what Nehemiah did and reorganize our efforts. You may need to change your game plan. Nehemiah 4:13, says, "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows." Nehemiah did not quit building the wall, he simply reorganized the people so that they could be more effective in the face of danger. We can apply that very same principle to our lives. You may need to reorganize your family, finances or your fu

When we look at the story of the rebuilding of the wall, we see that the Israelites were full of fatigue & frustration. Many times our biggest battles have nothing to do with the size of the battle but the state of our hearts. The root of our discouragement is the fear of failure. Nehemiah 4:10 says, "Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall." The Israelites believed that failure was inevitable & it affected their attitude & perspective. How we handle failure in our lives is vital to our future success. When you fail, do you blame others or have a pity party? We need to fail forward by learning from our mistakes & problems. They are only temporary, success is in your future! The #1 issue that causes discouragement is fear. Nehemiah 4:11-12 states, " 11 Also our enemies said, "Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among

Makenna Faith Masteller

Today I witnessed the birth of my 5TH child! A girl! Her name is Makenna Faith. She was born (9/19/09) at 8:32 a.m. & weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. & 19 1/4 inches long. As far as the eye can see, she is perfect. A perfect gift! The Bible teaches us in the book of James that every good & perfect gift comes from heaven above. I've been blessed to have 5 little blessings in my life with the first one coming 9 & 1/2 years ago. As I look at my little girl, I remember the birth of my first child, a little girl. (Mikayla) I'm thankful for God's goodness & favor in my life! I have so much to be thankful for. The truth is, we all do. Today I praise God for His faithfulness to me & the gift of another child. What do you have to praise God for today? When you focus on the 'good & perfect gifts,' you will develop a heart of praise & gratitude. Your discouragement will dissipate as you focus on God's goodness. Make a decision

Yesterday I talked about how fatigue is the best friend of discouragement. There are some other elements to the story found in Nehemiah chapter 4 and to our lives that can contribute to discouragement. Verse 10 says, "Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall." I guess you could say that they were in some rubble trouble. They were frustrated! They looked at what they were trying to accomplish and all that they could see was the rubble that was keeping them from fulfilling their dream. Many times we look at our lives all we see are mountains of rubble. We see mountains of unfinished tasks and misplaced priorities that cause intense frustration! These things ultimately steal our courage to live out God's purposes through our lives. Maybe it is time to take out the trash today? Every thursday morning I take out the trash. It only takes a few moments & it c

Discouragement is a big issue because it is something that we all deal with. There are no exceptions. If you live long enough, you will face discouragement. It doesn't matter how positive you are or whether or not you're a Christian. Unlike many diseases, you never really grow an immunity to discouragement. It can come back over & over again. It is also highly contagious, which means you need to be careful with whom you associate. Although discouragement is universal & contagious, it is also very curable. I've personally been through many stretches of discouragement in my life & ministry. Life doesn't always go according to plan & when that happens, you need a new perspective. This week we will look at the life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a leader of the Jewish group that had returned to Israel from Babylon to rebuild the wall round Jerusalem. When they began rebuilding the wall, everyone was real excited & had a lot of passion & zeal.

Then Jesus said, “Let’s get away from the crowds for a while and rest.” There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. Mark 6:31 (NLT) Jesus experienced enormous stress and pressure, yet it didn’t seem to disturb his peace of mind. In spite of opposition, constant demands, and little privacy, his life reflected a calm sense of balance.
What was his secret? 1. Identification – Know who you are (John 8:12) 
 Eighteen times Jesus publicly defined himself. There was no doubt in his mind as to who he was. If you are unsure of your identity, you’ll allow others to pressure you into their molds. Trying to be someone you’re not causes stress! 2. Dedication – Know who you want (John 5:30)
 You can’t please everyone. Even God can’t! Just about the time you get “Crowd A” happy, then “Crowd B” willbe upset with you. Jesus never let the fear of rejection manipulate him. No one can pressure you without your permission. 3. Organization – Set

THE RESULT "If you do this you will experience God's Peace which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your heart quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus." v. 7. There is a promise of guaranteed peace of mind. People are looking everywhere for peace of mind. They try pills, fads, therapy, rock crystals, stress reduction seminars and listen to tapes, books -- anything to give just a little peace of mind. Paul says, God's peace is a gift to you. It is a gift that cannot be explained, duplicated, fabricated or understood. It is the sense of peace that comes over your life. How do I maintain that kind of peace? "... as you trust in Christ Jesus." Paul is not taking about a religion; he's talking about a relationship with God's Son Jesus Christ. You were made with a God-shaped vacuum in your life and when you try to fill that with anything else it's tlike trying to put a square

STEP FOUR: THINK ABOUT THE RIGHT THINGS To reduce stress in your life you must change the way your think. The stress is in yourself not outside. Your mind is a special gift from God. Your mind is capable of storing over 100 trillion thoughts. It can handle enormous things. You hve been given by God the freedom to choose what you think about. V. 8 "finally brothers, whatever is true ... noble .. right .. pure ... lovely ... admirable -- If anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things." You need to chosoe what you think about and think about the right things. What we put into our minds affects our lives. What I see that some people allow to enter their minds, no wonder they are under stress. Many people, even Christians, are totally indescriminate about what they allow to enter their minds. They are allowing all kinds of trasy garbage and reading material and movies and songs that are downers. Then they wonder why they are depressed. What you th

STEP THREE: THANK GOD FOR ALL THINGS v. 6 "... in everything ... with thanksgiving ..." Good News says, "...always asking Him with a thankful heart." The attitude of gratitude. The healthiest human emotion is the attitude of gratitude, having a grateful heart, being thankful. It actually increases your immunities. It is a physical benefit to express the attitude of gratitude. Ungrateful people also tend to be unhappy people. Nothing every satisfies them, it's never good enough. They are "when... and then" people -- "when such and such happens then I'll be happy ". If you're depressed, make a list of fifty things you can be grateful for. When you're grateful, it gets the focus off your problems and gets the focus on the benefits in your life. We have so much that we take for granted. Develop the attitude of gratitude and watch the stress level in your life go down. It gets your eyes off the problem and onto the many t

STEP TWO: PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING Whenever God tells you to eliminate something He always has something superior. He always replaces a negative with a positive. V. 6b "In everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Paul is saying, don't panic -- pray. If you stopped worrying, realize how much free time you'd have. It would create a great vacuum, a void in your life to stop worrying. Pray during that time. If those people who say "I don't hve time to pray" would spend their time praying instead of worrying, they'd have a whole lot less to worry about. "In everything..." Some people think that God is only interested in you praying about "religious" matters. God is interested in everything in your life. "petition" is a specific, detailed request. Get specific with God. Tell Him exactly what you want and what you need. Most people pray too vague, too general. "God, b

This week I want to share with you some great thoughts about reducing stress & focusing your life by Rick Warren. Each day I'll be posting some great advice that I believe will be very helpful to you this fall. I know that you'll be encouraged & I pray that you'll be able to take some of these thoughts to help simplify & de-stress your life. Enjoy the thought below from His message entitled, "A STRATEGY FOR REDUCING STRESS." Philippians 4:6-8, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. ...Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” I. STEP ONE: WORRY ABOUT NOTHING V. 6: "Do not be anxious about anythin

Are you an encourager? My life's mission is to help encourage people to greatness in God. Giving courage to others is such an incredible privilege. God can use each of us in releasing the power of encouragement to others. The devotional below is courtesy of Jentezen Franklin ministries. To read more, click here. Pleasant words are...health to the bones. Pr 16:24 NKJV Everybody needs encouragement. None of us achieves anything without help. The great achievers in history became all that they were because of the people in their lives. We’ve seen The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. But did you know that their authors, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, were professors at Oxford University and maintained a close friendship? Every week they’d meet to eat, talk about their fiction-writing endeavors and read passages of their yet unpublished works. It was Tolkien who encouraged Lewis, an avowed atheist, to explore Christianity, ultimately leading to his conversion. And

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you have Kingdom DNA (culture) running through every fiber of your existence. The essence of the culture of the kingdom of heaven can be found in the Apostle Paul's writings to the church in Corinth. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." That simply means that because you have submitted your life to God, you have FAITH for your future, HOPE in the midst of your circumstance & LOVE for everyone around you. So what are you going through today that requires some faith, hope and/or love? If you are a follower of Jesus, a Kingdom person, then you are equipped with every ounce of those three that you need. Stay encouraged today & keep spreading the King (Jesus) & the culture of His Kingdom to everyone that you meet!

Here is a great devotional that I read this past week! Stay encouraged & stay in faith this fall because God is able & is faithful! Your Appointed Time "For the vision is yet for an appointed time…though it tarry, wait for it" (Habakkuk 2:3 KJV) TODAY'S WORD from Joel and Victoria God has an appointed time to fulfill the visions, dreams, and desires in your heart. Just because it has taken a long time or because you've tried and failed, doesn't mean it's not going to happen. Don't give up on those dreams! Don't be complacent about pursuing what God has placed in your heart. Our God is a faithful God. No matter how long it's been, no matter how impossible things looks, if you'll stay in faith, your appointed time is coming. Remember, every dream that's in your heart, every promise that has taken root, God put it in there. And not only that, but He has every intention of bringing it to pass. Hold on to that vision today by declarin