stand still~ part one

23 Thursday May 2013

Tags

christian living, christian woman, confessions, doubt, standing on God's promises, unbelief, why aren't my prayers answered

Have you ever been in the place where you look back at all the promises God has given you, (not to mention the promises in His Word) and say my life is not what the Word says it should be? My dreams have not been realized, I am not living in victory or that abundant life the Lord promises us in John 10:10. I am in that place as I write, a place of reflection.

God never promised us a life of tiptoeing through the tulips; Jesus said “in the world you will have tribulation” and then He encouraged us by saying: “be of a good cheer I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). James tells us that the testing of our faith produces patience and we are to let patience have its perfect work. Why? So we will be complete lacking nothing.

Test and trials come to every believer no one is exempt from this. What we do in these trials will determine our growth, maturing in our faith. It’s OK to question what’s going on. It’s OK to ask the Lord “where are You?” “Why isn’t this coming to pass?“

Look at what the Psalmist says in Psalm 77: “my spirit ponders: will the Lord reject forever? Will He ever be favorable again? Have His promises come to an end? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Sometimes you get in a place of questioning; AND IT’S OK. Just don’t stay in that place… that place can lead to despair and hopelessness. Ask the questions and move on. My experience has been that the Lord will either encourage me to continue standing or give me direction.

God’s direction may be that you have missed the mark somewhere; or you have bitterness or unforgiveness in your heart; maybe you’re not walking in love with others, or you have unrepented sin. Regular heart check ups are good to do. If all is OK, where do you look next?

Well what is your mouth saying? Is it in agreement with the Word or are you griping and complaining or speaking doubt and unbelief about your situation? This is an area where most of us miss it. We walk by what the circumstances are screaming at us and not by faith. When delays come, ultimately faiths confession will bring you the victory. So make sure your mouth is lining up with the Word of God.

You might be thinking OK Maria, I’ve done all that….now what? That brings me to two scriptures:

In Exodus 14:13 Moses and the children of Israel had their backs up against the Red

Beautiful Sky- taken today in Franklin, TN

Sea with the Egyptians coming at them fast and furious; Moses said to them “fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord”.

Then Ephesians 6:13-14 tells us: “and having done all, to stand: stand therefore”. When we have done all humanly possible, we are simply required to stand.

I will leave you with two statements….

~Standing is not passive; but active

~Standing is a position of rest and trust

Next week I will continue this thought of “standing still” and give you an idea of what “standing still” entails.

I would love to hear your thoughts….

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the power of confession

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Maria Costadini in spiritual

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

christian women, christianity, confessions, faith, praise, thanksgiving, vision, word of God

Over the years in ministry I have made an observation in others as well as in my own life. Most Christians do not see their faith through to the end, especially if it’s taking months or even years to come to pass. In my own life, I at times have failed to confess the Word of God until what I was believing for, came to pass.

I was lazy with my faith confession. Who me???? a woman in ministry??? Noooo! YES!!! Just because a person is in ministry doesn’t mean things come automatically; all it means is we have to work out our faith for the ministry AND we have to work out our faith in our personal life.

In this new season I find myself in, I have had the time to spend confessing the Word of God over our life and our planted seed. I have been seeing amazing results.

Here are a few things I have observed:

In the beginning it seems useless….you thought I was going to say something spiritual here! I am saying it seems like nothing is ever going to happen! It feels like you are bird mimicking God’s Word. Thoughts go through your mind “this isn’t working”, “I’m bored”, “why am I doing this, I could be doing something else”. I found that if you stick with it, for me it took about 30 days; you will notice some things will start to happen. So keep on keepin’ on!

Speaking God’s Word is like a fire and a hammer. “Is not my word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29

When you speak God’s Word into your situation it is like a fire and a hammer; it’s flaming hot, fiery, it burns through enemy lines. The hammer pounds, drives, it breaks, scatters it dashes into pieces. The rock here means a fortress or a stronghold; the word “pieces” means fragments. So God’s Word is like a hammer that pounds, drives, and scatters the stronghold or problem into fragments. But it takes repetition; just like a hammer hitting a nail repeatedly will drive it into the wood.

Hear yourself speak God’s Word this will cause His Word, to get into your spirit. Read Romans 10: 8-17; two verses I want to point out: verse 10: “for with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made”. Verse 17: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”.

Confession is two-fold: you hear yourself speak God’s Word; it gets deposited in your spirit. The more you hear, the more you believe it in your heart; confession declares, confirms and seals the Word of God in your heart. This can only happen by repetition. Now you believe His Word, with no doubt in your heart, mix your mustard seed size faith with that and watch what happens.

Confession brings joy, excitement, praise and thanksgiving into your situation. I have been doing the same confessions everyday for four months; I am more excited about them today than I was four months ago. When something gets in your spirit you get excited, joy comes, praise and thanksgiving come; I start to get excited I jump up and down, dance around…. Charlie, our dog looks at me….”there she goes again”.

What am I doing? I’m “holding fast the confession of my hope” Heb 10:23. In this verse the words hold and fast are the same Greek word they mean to hold down, keep in memory, to possess, to retain; this is what happens in your spirit. You possess God’s Word it is now yours; you now have its reality in your spirit. Nothing will make you waver from God’s Word.

Confession brings vision. There is a scripture in Psalm 118: 5 “Out of my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free and in a large place”. I thank the Lord daily that He has set me free and in a large place. I then start to imagine what that “large place” looks like; this is vision. What does your large place look like? Start to speak it out; the Lord will show you things, He will help you to see with the eyes of faith; if you can see it in your spirit it will come to pass.

Another scripture I confess over myself and my family is Psalm 5:11-12. “As with a shield you will surround him with goodwill, pleasure and favor. I envision my family and I with a shield or a cloaking device of favor surrounding us; any time the enemy comes at us he bounces right off that shield of favor. Silly as it may sound, but it gives me a visual of walking in God’s favor.

I want to encourage you to speak God’s Word over your life, and into your circumstances. Speak God’s Word over your husband, your children. Even if you are in a good place you can always use favor and blessings. If you continually plant seed, you must continually water that seed with the Word so you will get a continual harvest.

Find scriptures and make your own confessions out of them. If you need some help getting started you can email me maria.costadini@comcast.net