God's Promised Peace

My husband and I had found the perfect way for me to give a brief testimony on getting out of depression and panic/anxiety attacks that had kept me in bondage for too long.

The Lord had also been speaking to us about getting out of debt and He gave us a plan which we started implementing.

Within 24 hours we had several prayer requests answered! We were praising God and thanking Him and giving testimony. Then...........

my husband gets home from church and our home had been broken into. I'm eating lunch with a friend and I feel my flesh rising up and I looked at my friend, told them what happened and then put my head in my hands bowed my head and prayed - God you have to help me through this I know You will make it right. I continued to pray for my husband since I wasn't there with him and for our pets - everything else was just stuff.

So our and every one's first reaction was - what a shame, this is awful. And, yes that is true because as Ephesians 6:12 says  "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms"

Now since we know it's the darkness in this world that causes these things to happen and that God promises to get us through, we won't dwell on that, we will look for answers, for what God is going to show us through this. And yes we prayed for the people that did this - not to get hurt as the flesh wanted to pray - but for them to experience God every time they touched something from our home.

Matthew 7:  24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

Our home is built upon the rock and we will not take our focus off God!

Proverbs 16:  20Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.

As I was talking to the Lord and listening! He asked me, 'What did you talk to the Pastor about at church this morning?'

My answer, "It was about emotions and not allowing them to rule you but we are to be led by the Holy Spirit.

Then He asked me,  "And what did you talk to Pastor Kathy, your husband and Me about a few days ago?'

My answer, "That I'm ready to be faithful and stand up and give my testimony."

The Lord is so sweet He said, "and what else?"

 I can't tell you the peace I was receiving as He guided me away from my fleshly response. He is always with us, we just have to calm down and listen, seek Him.

So. I thought for a moment and I replied, "Well, Lord, you have given Rob and me a specific plan and we made the decision to obey and told the Pastors. I agreed to follow the wisdom You were giving Rob. And within 24 hours we had at least 3 blessings, answered prayer, leaving only 1 or 2 things we were waiting on answers for.

The Lord said, "Can you see now why the darkness came in? It is trying to stop you.

How amazing is this conversation? I'm so thankful I know God and He knows me.

Rob and I are now facing a test or you could say, going through a trial.

James 1:  "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds"

I began thinking, we tell God 'yes, we trust You and we will be joyful in our times of trials.....' but then when something happens and those emotions come in.....are we still committed? Was it just lip service or do we really mean what we tell God? I knew I meant what I told God and I was going to rest under His wings. (Psalm 91)

That evening as my husband and I had our Bible reading and had snuggled down for our prayer time, he was speaking God's Word I know! In my husbands gentle spirit, out of his spirit that is full of love and faith in God, my husband prayed -

"Father, they took things from us but they can't take the most important things - they can't take You God, they can't take our faith in You and they can't take the relationship we have with You and with each other."

I melted.

Now, the next day we decided we were not going to pick at each other - should have done this or that, we were going to look for answers so it won't happen again. What does God want from us?

Are you ready for this?? After all you just read you won't believe what I was planning!

I was already talking to my bosses about changing my work hours, talking to my husband about staying home from church until we could get some things done, I was rearranging my life so I could be home when my husband was not. I was going to check into an alarm systems - monthly fees.

The Lord began talking to me and asking me if this reminded me of anything. I had to think and then it came to me and I was aghast.

I had been delivered from the pit of depression and panic/anxiety attacks about 4 years ago. I was home bound for a year. And now I was planning on being at home as much as possible again because I didn't want someone to break in again. I was allowing fear to come back in.

That's not going to happen. I repented, changed my attitude and promptly started praising and worshiping God in song. I started thanking Him that His Word says He will never leave or forsake me; that He died for me and that is an incredible love.

As soon as I began to see what the devil, the darkness was trying to do and stopped it in the Name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit in me - there was freedom, fear no long controlled me.

Christ in me, perfect love, cast out all fear.

I did not change my schedule, if anything I am more highly productive than before. I volunteer at Down Syndrome of Indiana and through that other non-profits have asked for our help.

Now, my husband and I are working as one and we are taking each step the Lord gives us to secure our home without going in debt. Remember one of the things we committed to the Lord was to get out of debt. We want to honor God, our faith and trust is in Him. He has given us ideas and we are implementing them.

I praise God that He does talk to me and that He opened my eyes because the 'things' can be replaced if we so desire. I do not want 'things' to replace my commitment to God, to be above God. It's amazing how blessings and joy unspeakable came all because I listened, trusted and kept my faith in the Lord and in His Word.

And since all this has happened, the transmission has gone out of my car.

Because God has been showing me things and talking to me about faith, we just handled it without getting upset or despairing. It was towed free to another city and they have given us a reasonable quote and we know God will work it out.

 Romans 8:  28 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

Praise Shout With Joy

Praise

Praise is mentioned about 596 times in the Bible. I’m just going to use Psalm 66.

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing praise to your name.”       Selah  Psalm 66:1-4

So we are told to (a) shout with joy, (b) sing the glory of His name, (c) make His praise glorious, (d) sing praise.

David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals. 2 Samuel 6:5

They were celebrating getting the ark of God back to the city of David.

So when did we stop giving God the praise He deserves? Isn't He doing wonderful things in our lives, in the lives of our family and friends that we should be celebrating?

Shouldn't we be celebrating His magnificence? His glory? His faithfulness? His forgiveness? His healing? His protection? And the list can go on and on.

In my opinion not only has ‘going to church’ become a habit, a religion; but so has the time of praise. We finally arrive at church after arguing with our flesh or spouse or children….that did not want to get up, it’s the only day they get to sleep…..or we are still thinking on the work we left on our desk Friday….or maybe we are dwelling on some gossip we heard and can’t wait to see if so and so shows up today. You name it, our minds; our desires are elsewhere so we go in and go through the motions. We sing the songs but are we really noticing the words and the meanings? Are we really singing these songs to God? Can you close your eyes and feel His presence and if you hear Him to tell you to lift your arms in worship to Him, will you do it or are you concerned about someone seeing you and ‘gossiping’ about you?

 

I know we are to do all things to glorify God, but when you read about how they praised Him in the Bible; it seems we have lost exuberance.

God has done so much for me that I want to make sure I’m giving Him all the glory every day of my life and when I come together with the body of believers I worship with – I want to be able to put our praises together and welcome His presence in our midst.

One day I was asking God why it felt heavy, like no one was really singing to Him, it was ‘habit’. And I heard Him ask me, ‘What do you want?’ And I told Him (while praise was still going on I stopped to write this down so I’d remember it).

     I want to go into a place of worship and if even one ounce of flesh is on me…..it falls off! There is so much passion for God and for His people that nothing else can come in – we leave our pride, selfishness, fear, sickness, gossip, etc at the door.

Then I heard the Lord clearly say to me, ‘If we don’t come really seeking Him we squelch the Spirit. If we can’t find and rest in His joy we are losing the Light. We are to praise Him with all our might, to know what we are singing and why, it is beautiful to Him.

I believe if you want to see a move of God’s power, we need to know what we are singing, why we are singing it and make sure we focus on giving God the praise.

(c)Has Breath Publishing LLC

Believe in God - Don't Believe in God??

Why Do People That Don’t Believe In God …..

……….hate Him; feel like they have to bash those that do believe; need to feel superior; and the list goes on……….

In my opinion and this is just my opinion

………..they are angry about something that has happened in their lives; they are hurt and deep inside there is fear, they may not even recognize the fear yet. Maybe they have gotten themselves so deep into a relationship/lifestyle that they do not know how to get out, their pride gets in the way.

I’m sure there are other reasons.

What I don’t understand is they want us to listen to them BUT they don’t want to listen to us – what are they afraid of? Maybe their spirit is crying out and they don’t like that feeling…..I really don’t know on that one.

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Now for those of us that call ourselves  ‘Christians’ – do you really put Christ first, do you have a relationship or a religion?

I can tell you in today’s world it’s very easy to have a religion, especially when you are first learning about God. Too much of the world has come into the churches – my daughters tried to tell me this early on in our walk but I thought they just wanted out of the ‘Sunday School’ program. Most children are only going to Sunday School (which I do not believe is in the Bible, it’s something the world started with schools, separating ages) because they want the treats and play time. Some people go to church for the ‘fellowship’ only, not to hear what God is saying through the Pastor; not to make the changes they need to make in their lives; they want it to be about them or they go to church so they feel better about themselves kind of ease their conscience from a wild week. From my past experiences with church it’s a Sunday religion – you only need to fill up on Sundays then go back and live like you were. This is not what God teaches us in His Word.

He tells us there will be tests and trials.

I have had to let one of our daughters go and trust God with the situation, it was a decision she and her husband made after the birth of their first baby. This baby was born with health problems, we do not know anymore as the day after she was born is when they made a demand we could not accept. That was almost 3 years ago. They told us to not contact them and we have honored that request, there have been many times I wanted to knock on their door but at that would just cause more anger in them – is this painful – you bet cha!!  But through this God has shown me who He really is. I trust Him to protect our daughter and her family. And we pray for them daily. I post on my Facebook – Happy Birthday’s, Anniversary, etc. Because I hope they will see there is no animosity only love.

I say all that to let you know we’ve been through our fair share of pain and still have our faith in God. We are still seeing Him move in our lives. I had to take my eyes off what the world says and what my flesh wants and really learn who God is and take Him at His Word (faith). That is another testimony in itself and I hope to get the opportunity to share it soon, just waiting on Kenneth and Gloria Copeland or Joyce Meyer, etc to send me an invite  ;-)   dream big – you bet I am because I know there are others that need to hear what I’ve been through and how God has always been there even when I looked down instead of up – that pit was awfully dark.

Ok off topic…..sort of…..but that’s me ;-)  I begin to write and my brain goes down other avenues, then comes back and takes off again….there’s just so much to share.

So if we are to be the light in this world, we as ‘Christians’ need to watch what we say and how we treat other people. Are we really different from non-believers? Do they see a difference in our work ethic, in the way we treat others, in the way we treat animals, in the way we treat our spouse or our children? Do you really do things for Christ to be glorified or for your own fleshly desires? If they put us in a room with a non-believer would they see and hear a difference?

I use to be a ‘fleshly desire’ Christian and it got me nowhere except into a pit of depression and lies. I was a fake……trying to find truth…..in churches that did not teach all of God’s Word. Then one day I heard the Lord ask me – if they looked at you, watched you; would they want to know Me?  Ouch, at that time I had to say – no, they would not want to know You. My life did not show victory, it did not show joy or patience or faith in the One I said I believe in.

I believe this is why some hatred is out there among ‘unbelievers’ because a lot of us don’t know God therefore we can’t live the life He has for us – a life which will show others just how much He loves us, that shows He is still a God of miracles

 Do you think one of the reasons people do not want anything to do with God is because so much of the world has entered the church and people do not see a difference – there’s child molestation, un-forgiveness, pride, divorce, adultery…..and the list goes on. If we live no differently than the world how can we expect people to want to come to church and get to know God? Why would they want to give up their Saturday night out or have to get up early on Sunday morning, that’s their only day to sleep…?

 If you have been into religion and lived like the world know this -  God is a restorer, He can take all I did wrong and make it right. All we have to do is drop our pride and tell Him we are sorry, we sinned, please forgive us and He will.

 I know God is real, no one else could have given me the peace, the healing, the forgiveness and the joy He has in these times of testing’s and trials. Learning who God is and having a relationship with Him will draw others to Him as they see the difference in your life.

We need to get back to the Word. To know it for ourselves so we are not deceived. When we, as individuals and families, know the Word of God and go into a church where the Pastor is preaching Truth and still seeking God to learn more, gain wisdom (which we all should be doing until the day we die) we have genuine ‘fellowship’ with the Father and each other. You leave the gossip, the complaining, the fear, the jealousy, etc out and truly come together as a body where we pray for each other, encourage each other, correct each other, love each other and grow up in Christ together, having testimonies of His goodness. God does require change and obedience, for some of us that is where we back off and say no way. But I can tell you He does this to improve our lives here on earth and ready us for heaven. It may be difficult and even hurt in the beginning to make some changes ….but God…..is there with you and gives you everything you need to make it to the end results which brings a joy unspeakable.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:5

Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."  Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.  The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."  So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Galatians 3:6-9

 "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.  But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.  And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Luke 12:8-10

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' Mark 12:30

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,  now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.  As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I Peter 2:1-5

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.  Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  I Peter 4:11-12

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. Exodus 15:2

Faith Has A Voice

I would like to introduce you to Rob Hammes, Songwriter.

ARTIST SUMMARY

Genres: Christian/Gospel / Praise and Worship / Christian Contemporary

                                                   Rob Hammes Songwriter

ARTIST BIO

After a mis-spent youth playing in New Jersey and Indiana bar bands, Rob gave his life to Jesus in 1985, coinciding with the birth of his first daughter. He put down his guitar for a while and pursued the more family friendly route of employment in mechanical fields. But God speaks clearly to Rob that what is in the past has nothing to do with what God’s plans are for His people. 

Composition is Rob’s lifelong companion, and writing for Our Savior has become a passion. Whether writing his own material or collaborating with others, primarily with good friend Pastor Benjamin Mosier, Rob’s strongest inspiration is the Anointed Word revealed in the Bible. Having miracles in the testimony of their marriage, wife Christena has opened her music publishing house, Has Breath Publishing LLC, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, declaring her God given victory over fears and doubts of the past. The vision and journey is truly about bringing “All Glory Honor and Praise” to the God of enduring mercy and abundant love.

Rob Hammes and Benjamin will have a CD out soon. For now you can visit Rob's page to listen to and purchase singles songs. Ring tones are also available for purchase.

Thank you!

Faith Has A Voice

Life or Death?

For the longest time I chose death and didn't even realize I was doing it !!!

You Have Value You Are Chosen

Are you feeling like it's hopeless?

God is listening!!

Listen to this awesome song.....

You are something beautiful!!!

God says this about YOU

Speak these out loud - faith comes by hearing

It will make a difference in how you feel, 

how you live and how you hear

from God.

He wants a relationship with His precious child.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved...

Colossians 3:12

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

John 1:12

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

James 1:5

God has said,

   “Never will I leave you;

   never will I forsake you.”  

Hebrews 13:5

And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed 

you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Romans 8:2

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.

Philippians 4:7

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

John 3:16

I went through a terrible depression, full of fear and anxiety attacks that kept me a prisoner in my own home.

I'm here to tell you God is real and He cares for you.

What He did for me He will do for you.

If you aren't sure where to start, I suggest

you begin reading in the book of John, New Testament

Find books by Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Stormie Omartian, etc.

'Battlefield of the Mind' by Joyce Meyer is a good one to start with.

This will be a journey you won't regret! Trials will come

but you will know how to overcome

as you use the Word of God!

Close Your Eyes and Let God Touch You

"You change worthless into precious....."

What a beautiful song, close your eyes, lift your hands and worship the Father as you listen to the words of truth.

He changed me!

Exciting Times

Exciting Times!

Since I've opened my heart up to the Lord and really began to listen to Him. 

Since I've opened my Bible and read His Word with purpose.

Since I've take the time to check the Greek or Hebrew meaning of some words.......

God has been doing amazing things in my life.

Have I had to make changes

you betcha!

Did it hurt?

sometimes

Worth it?

for sure!!!!

Once I stopped 'attending' church and became part of the church, which is the body (people) not the building.....

POWER HOPE HEALING PROTECTION

and more

came in!

God's Word is true.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

Depression and Anxiety My Journey to Be Free

Exercise Benefits

One of the definitions of 'benefit' is -  something that promotes well-being.

Here are a few benefits of exercising.

•        reduce stress     
•        relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety
•        boost your mood
•        help you sleep better
•        increase bone density
•        strengthen your heart and lungs

I have been exercising for 5 months and have received the benefits listed above.

In three short months I went from gasping for breath when I walked up ONE flight of stairs to going up FIVE flights.
We walked around, talked and we went back down the stairs and then I stopped and said to my husband 'Wow, do you realize what I just did.' It was a time of celebration when we realized how far I had come!

            Now I'm helping other
people on their journey to a healthier life as I continue on mine.

I am 56 years 'young' and I feel like I'm 40 again. One of these days I will have the flexibility to put I feel like '30'  !!  My point.....I feel energetic and love meeting each new day with all that needs to be accomplished.

You can do this too! But you have to START and keep moving forward. You need to find a program that calls you, makes you want to get up and do it. For me it has to have high energy dance music. Other people prefer a weight routine with minimal music. Whatever you need, it's out there!