Confessions and Declarations

Our church, Fellowship of Champions currently doing 30 days of corporate prayer. This is a list of some of the declarations and confessions we are making. Feel free to use them and share them.

My prayers are powerful and effective (2 Corinthians 5:21; James 5:16b).

My God supplies all my needs from Heaven’s supply (Philippians 4:19).

I am dead to sin and victorious through Christ who loves me (Romans 6:11; Romans 5:17).

I walk in ever-increasing health & no disease can live in my body (Isaiah 53:3-5; Psalm 103:1-5).

I live under a supernatural protection & every stragegy of the enemy is exposed & stopped by my God. (Psalm 91, Hebrews 8:6).

I prosper in each of my relationships (Luke 2:52).

I consistently bring God encounters to other people because I carry His Presence. (Mark 16:17, 18; Acts 3:6).

In Jesus, I am 100% loved and worthy to experience all of God's blessings (Colossians 1:12-15).

Each of my family members is wonderfully blessed and radically loves Jesus (Acts 16:30, 31).

Declarations Regarding the Presence of God

I give God first place in my life. I love Him with everything I am.

I will not go anywhere without God’s presence.

Like David, I am a man (woman) after God’s own heart.

I am known as a carrier of the Presence of God.

I go from level to level in my intimacy with God.

FOC is a church where the presence of God is sought, honored & acknowledge.

FOC is known for the manifest presence of God. The supernatural is normal part of our service.

Lovers make better workers so I am lover and worshipper of God who serves.

Return to Hope

For those of you who have been struggling with God's will for your life because you've suffered some setbacks, disappointments and some hurts. You've picked yourself up, but you don't run with the same intensity because you aren't sure.  Maybe you don't think you deserve what God has promised or that you've made so many mistakes that you've been disqualified. Whatever your situation is, God sees you. I want share something the Lord spoke to me as I was studying the other night. I pray it encourages you, refreshes you and infuses you with HOPE!

"Return to Me! I am waiting to be good to you. I said what I said. I meant what I said. My promises to you are still good. It's still yours for the taking! Arise. Get up from the place disappointment caused you to sit down. Return unto Me. Put down your plan B. I know exactly where you are, exactly what you need and how to get it done. Return and allow me to restore your hope and your vision. For your shame and your pain I will give you double so return because I am waiting on you.

Let's walk this out together like I always planned. I never expected you to do it alone, in your own strength. You need my Word to live. You need me to accomplish the things in your Heart. You need me and I am here to restore your faith and bring this vision to pass. Come Home to the place of faith you are create to live. Come Home!"

If you heard God speaking to you in this, then simply accept the invitation and return to faith. God is waiting because He loves you dearly and longs to be good to you! 

Father,

I want to come home to faith. Help me. Lead me. Guide me. I'm yours. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

How Faith Got the House

“Strick, we just got pre-approved for a house!” I yelled on the phone. 

“Quit playing girl.” He said, not really convinced. 

As I told him the story about what had just happened, he started to get really excited too. 

“Now we have to have to find a house in two weeks in order to be in the house by Christmas.” I said. 

“Hey, if God was able to get us approved then I know there’s a house for us.” He said. 

I immediately started house hunting. I found a realtor and had her to show us everything available in this one neighborhood we wanted to live in. We hated them all! 

We had gotten preapproved for a loan. Could we really expect to live in the neighborhood we had been driving through for 6 months? Maybe that was too much. Maybe we should just be happy to find a home we liked even if it wasn’t in our dream location. 

So we expanded our search and finally narrowed it down to 3 houses. Each was a nice home. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, new or recently built. Each was a place we could see ourselves living in, but something didn’t seem quite right. We had to decide on house by Monday morning to ensure that we could finish the process in time for Christmas, but I couldn’t get the other neighborhood out of my mind. We made a decision that we would pick one on Saturday morning. 

Early Saturday morning, I woke up and prayed about the house. I heard God tell me to go back to the neighborhood and look again. So Edwin and I got up and went to search one more time. We looked up and down every street, but there was nothing new. As we turned down one street, we saw a familiar face. It was a teacher from the school where Edwin was an assistant principle. We stopped to say hello. 

She asked what we were doing and we told her our dilemma. 

She asked us if we liked her house. From the outside, it was everything we had envisioned. She invited us in to check it out. We LOVED IT!!!! This was the house we had dreamed about. Then she said…. 

“If you like this house, you will love the house next door.” 

“Great, I thought except the house next door isn’t for sale.” I thought 

“There’s not a sign out, but the house next door is for sale. Our builder built both of them. I even know where the key is. Let me show you around.” 

“Is this really happening?” I wondered as she went to the yard opened the secret key stash and let us in. 

We walked in and she was right. WE loved the house! This was the house, I had dreamed of for my first home. No one had ever lived there! It was built for us even though the builder didn’t know us! We said we wanted it so she called her builder. He came over and we hashed out the deal before the realtor could get there (but we still let her get her commission b/c it was the right thing to do). 

We got the contract approved, the loan completed and then the inspector found a problem! We needed a structural engineer to come tell the builder how to fix it. They told us we shouldn’t get our hopes up because with this delay there is NO way we would close by December 22 the Friday before Christmas. What they didn’t know is that because of the loan and the house, I was fully persuaded. I just kept saying we would be in our house for Christmas. My well meaning friends tried to tell me to use wisdom. Our realtor and our banker told me they didn’t want me to be disappointed, but it was TOO late to talk me out of my faith. 

I had only been tithing a year and I had watched God to the impossible, pay our bills, give Edwin a better job, clean up our credit and keep our house hidden for us until we could find it. There was no way I was about to let an inspector’s report stop me from getting in my house in time for Christmas. 

While Edwin worked, I packed our apartment because faith always has corresponding action! 

Four days before the deadline, the engineer came out and discovered there was an easy solution to the problem. The builder came right over and fixed it. We were all clear to close except, our closing complany was booked! It didn't look like we would be able to close. Once again the realtor, the banker and my well meaning friends advised me to be reasonable, but who needs reason when you have a Word from God? The Thursday before the deadline, the closing company called to say had someone cancelled! 

Friday, December 22, 2000, we closed on our house! We started moving in that night because the boxes where already packed! We spent our Christmas in our dream home, in our dream neighborhood. God had done more than come through, He had exceeded our expectations!!! 

Oh yea, we were able to buy new furniture because the week we closed, the school district gave the employees a bonus so we got our furniture DEBT FREE! DId I mention, they hadn't given bonuses in the last several years?

We got involved in God’s system of giving and receiving and honoring Him with the tithe and HE did what we had been trying to do for years! I’ve learned that God is not a taker. The tithe is not to take from us! It’s to connect us with Heaven’s best. Tithing and giving makes God a partner in our finances allowing Him to put His Super on our natural. 

We practiced giving and receiving for 10 years and we’ve watched God exceed our expectations time and time again. We’ve used our faith to get a bigger house (cause 5 kids in 1700 square feet is not a blessing). We used our faith to pay rent and mortgages for other people. We have given away cars, furniture, food, vacations and we’ve watched God exceed our expectations. 

Hope this helps you to keep giving (or start) and to expect God to help you. He really does take pleasure in your prosperity! 

Want to love your job: Make a decision!

In my last blog we talked about the importance of prayer and changing your thinking as the foundation for creating a job you love. Today we are going to get into the steps. 

Let’s get started with STEP ONE:MAKE A DECISION! 

The word decision comes from the same root word as incision which means to cut and/or divide. A true decision will always cut away all contradictory options. If you decide to win, then 
losing is longer one of the options you are willing to accept.

ü  It’s time for you to DECIDE that you will love your job!

ü  Decide that you are unwilling to work just for money.

ü  Decide that you are unwilling to be underpaid or overworked.

ü  Decide that you will find your passion and find a way to get paid for it.

Once you’ve settled that a job you love IS THE WILL OF GOD, then it’s easier to pursue that. As long as you are conflicted about God’s will concerning work you will settle for things that God never designed for you.  Apply John 10:10 to your career. God wants you to have job that pays abundantly and allows you to fulfill your dreams. The enemy wants to steal that from you by keeping you tied to a job simply because it pays the bills. Or to have you tied to a job that you hate simply because it pays the bills. Or maybe you just have a good job, but it’s not great, it doesn’t make you want to get up in the morning. Did you know the enemy of great is good? Don’t settle for less than God designed you to have!

Are you ready to make decision? Are you ready to cut of the option of anything less than work that 1) brings glory to God, 2) brings you satisfaction and 3) blesses others?

I believe you can do it…let’s go!

 

What if YOU loved your JOB?

One of the biggest issues with creating a job we love is our belief system. Most people have been conditioned to think the only purpose for working is to make money so they stick with jobs that literally suck away their creativity and decrease their quality of life because they think it's their only option. If you are one of those people, listen to me: 

It's not your only option!

Did you know God gave Adam and Eve jobs way before they had need for money? They were to protect, take care of and grow the garden. According to God, jobs should do more than pay bills. Doing work that fulfills us gives us the opportunity to express our God given talents and abilities in a way that honors, God, brings us personal satisfaction and benefits others.

Say this aloud: I am created to do work that fulfills my passion, pays my bills and allows me to be blessing to others.

In order to create a job that does all three you must deal with your thinking. If you believe work must be tedious and you should be overworked and underpaid or that only certain people get to do what they love, you need a good brainwashing…so keep reading!

My strategy starts with believing that God really does want me to love my job and to work WITH Him to create it. There are many ways to create a job you love. You might start a business or redefine how you view, value and utilize your skills, talents & strengths. If you are a teacher, do you really hate teaching or would you thrive with a different age group? My husband, Edwin and I both enjoy teaching, but he loves middle schoolers and I love college students. Put me with preteens and my joy of teaching diminishes GREATLY! It's important to know what environments bring the best out in you.

It might mean changing your view about your current job. Maybe you don't like your job because instead of being thankful and looking to solve problems you've gotten caught in the cycle of negativity. I worked with a client who had this issue. She had forgotten to be the solution and spent all her time focused on the problems. She changed her attitude and the way she viewed the job changed AND she gained the ability to speak wisdom into her co-workers. She getting more satisfaction at her job and making a difference for others. (Remember that even your dream job will have a downside, but the whole job shouldn't be down!) 

I personally believe that God cares where we work, how much we make and whether we enjoy our work because it affects every other area of our lives. If you hate your job, your family certainly suffers from that, it makes sharing God's love at work extremely difficult and have you considered the negative health consequences (stress, high blood pressure, etc)? Anyway, below are some steps that I've put together.

THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!

Pray – It should be done continuously throughout the process. Luke 18, “Men ought to always pray and not faint.” Keep asking, keep searching and don’t settle for not having God talk to you. Trust that God knows you way better than you know you! He knows what you were born to do and He even knows that some of the stuff you think you want, you don’t really want. Trust that God wants to share your purpose with you and direct you every step of the way! Pray and except God to lead you!! 

BTW - prayer is a conversation. Don't just talk to God. Ask Him questions about who you are are, why you are here, what you were born to do and LISTEN for the answers. 

Here's a prayer starter...

Father,

Thank You for creating me on purpose with a purpose. I believe work is good and my work should enjoyable and profitable. I believe the work I am called to do honors You, satisfies me and blesses others. Thank You for leading and directing me into work that meet this criteria. Thank You for wisdom, open doors, favor in high places, strategic connections and answered prayers. I believe I receive the fruit of this prayer which is an job I love! In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen!

Feel free to print and say this prayer daily

Tune in tomorrow for the next step!

A Journey Into Love

Have you ever tried to grasp the love of God? It's so much more than our minds can comprehend. How can He know all about us and love us anyway? How can How can He love the molester as much as the molested? God's love is inconceivable to the human mind. This love is so much more than the feelings we commonly categorize as love. You know those feelings that come and go based on the performance of others? God's love is way more than a feeling; the power that God does everything from! Love is how God heals, delivers and sets free. Love is how God raised Jesus from the dead and how He released us from the bondage of sin, fear and death. If that wasn't enough, He then gives us this same power known as love. It means we can love just like God. We get excited when we hear we can love like God and we set out to try to love that way only to come up short when people don't do what we think they should or change as fast we we expect. The love of God isn't a feeling, it's His very essence. We can't love like God in our own strength (as I'm sure you've found out) so what should we do? We love like God as the result of being loved by God. When we abide in His presence and personally experience His love we are equipped to love to others.

I'm convinced that whenever we have areas in our lives where we aren't making progress, we need to go deeper in love. God is inviting us into a journey deeper into the love of God. We can learn to live like Jesus. Jesus never faced a problem that love couldn't conquer whether it was feeding 5000 with a little boys' lunch or raising Lazarus from the dead. He didn't even respond to his enemies with brute force or indifference, but with love! Jesus was deeply connected to God's love. He understand that He could do nothing of value apart from love. Love was never hard for Jesus. He wasn't trying to love. He loved others out of the relationship He had with God. Not only did Jesus love, He always had the victory because He refused to live outside of love. As believers we can link up with God and experience the same victory. There are only two worlds we can live in: a world of love or a world of fear. When we modify who God has created us to be to avoid being hurt, we are responding in fear. When we refuse to love because others don't we are responding in fear. There is no victory in fear! Don't spend time trying to love. Spend your time learning of God's great love for you. As we grow in knowledge of God's love fro us, it changes how we love God, ourselves and others. It frees us from the need to self protect and enables us to walk in the power of love. It's this place of love that we can experience the life God has for us. It's a life that free from fear. It's a life where we live our dreams and doing do honors God.

Here are a few of my favorite scriptures on love: Ephesians 1-3 (all three chapters, read them in various translations), John 14 and 1 John 4. I'm praying what Paul prayed for the church of Ephesus (see Chapter 3) 

Dear God, Help us to know your love through experience. Help us to be may we be rooted deeply in your love increasing in our understanding of the depth, width, breadth and height of your love. Help us to let go of all fear that keeps us from loving fully and walk in the power of love that produces victory in every area of our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen