December 23, 2024

Grace Wins

August 16, 2015 by

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

In my weakest moment I see you
Shaking your head in disgrace
I can read the disappointment
Written all over your face

Here come those whispers in my ear
Saying, “Who do you think you are?
Looks like you’re on your own from here
‘Cause grace could never reach that far”

But in the shadow of that shame
Beat down by all the blame
I hear You call my name saying ‘it’s not over’
And my heart starts to beat so loud now
Drowning out the doubt
I’m down, but I’m not out

There’s a war between guilt and grace
And they’re fighting for a sacred space
But I’m living proof
Grace wins every time
No more lying down in death’s defeat
Now I’m rising up in victory
Singing, hallelujah
Grace wins every time

Words can’t describe the way it feels
When mercy floods a thirsty soul
The broke inside begins to heal
And grace returns what guilty stole

And in the shadow of that shame
Beat down by all the blame
I hear You call my name saying it’s not over
And my heart starts to beat so loud now
Drowning out the doubt
I’m down, but I’m not out

Grace wins every time
For the prodigal son
Grace wins
For the woman at the well
Grace wins
For the blind man and the beggar
Grace wins
For always and forever
Grace wins
For the lost out on the streets
Grace wins
For the worst part of you and me
Grace wins
For the thief on the cross
Grace wins
For a world that is lost

 Matthew West
singer/songwriter

 *  ~  ♥  ~  ✞  ~  ♥  ~  *

As you listen to this song, try to think of the times that you needed His grace.  If we are honest—as long as we are breathing, we need grace.  And unlike most things in this world, it’s free.  See, God knew how hard it would be for us to live a totally righteous life, so He sent Jesus to die.  Now we live in victory, even though it may seem totally opposite.  There will be times that we cannot handle one more trial….

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9

For the one that just keeps on doing the same thing over and over again, promising that tomorrow will be different and it’s not.  Shame takes you backwards into the same thing that you’re trying to overcome.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace,
Who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ,
will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
1 Peter 5:10

And for the one that thinks that nothing can save him now, that he’s gone too far and God can never forgive him now…

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons,
by Whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Romans 8:15 and 16

Oh friend, we are free because of grace…and as long as we have breath, and as long as we have Jesus…grace wins every time.

Filed Under: Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Mighty Warrior

June 18, 2014 by

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

You call us out from the depths
Into Your freedom
Our chains are gone
No weapon formed shall prevail
Your Word is stronger
We overcome

Your glory resounds through the age
All saints declaring
Your great renown
Your Kingdom forever will stand
We won’t be shaken
We will not fear

Our God a mighty warrior
You’re a consuming fire
In victory You reign
We triumph in Your name
Jesus the great commander
You conquered death forever
In victory You reign
We triumph in Your name

And we declare Your name is power
Exalted One, no name is higher
You stand alone our Strong Defender
Above You there’s no other, above You there’s no other

Jesus the great Commander
You conquered death forever
In victory You reign
We triumph in Your name

Songwriters: Chris Brown, Jane Williams, Matthews Ntlele
Performed by Elevation Worship

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Is there anything that can destroy us if we are His children? As you listen to this song, I hope you are reminded that nothing is impossible for Him and there isn’t anything that is more powerful than our God.
There is freedom in His Name and chains are broken and we are victorious over anything that attempts to destroy us. Because He sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place and to redeem us and restore us, we will forever live with Him in His home, Heaven.
We won’t be shaken, we will not fear, for nothing can ever separate us from Him. No weapon can be formed against us. Forever we will be free. Our God is to be exalted in the Heavens and the earth, now and forever more. He is to be praised and worshipped and loved by His children. We are to spread His hope to this dying world. He alone is our Joy and our Hope. He is our Rock and He never changes.
Oh friend, I pray today that you know Him. I pray today that you can rest in Him. Get into His Word and hear all He has for you—all His promises and blessings that are yours. And if you don’t know Him, reach out today. Your life will never be the same!

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Let us pray: Dearest Lord, we praise You and we love You. We thank You for being our Rock. You are our Provider. You give us joy and peace and make our lives here on earth so much more fulfilled. All around us are Your wonders and Your artwork. Thank You for sending Your Son to redeem us and restore us. Thank You for breaking chains and giving us freedom in Your Name. Your Word is our shield and our hope. We can do anything with You as our God. Thank You for songs like this, that remind us of Your character. You give each one of us a way to glorify You. Help us to use it for Your glory. Give us courage to spread the hope of You to this world, for it’s in Your son’s name we pray, amen.

 

Filed Under: Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Captivating: Chapter 5 – A Special Hatred (pgs 82-85)

February 6, 2013 by

So I don’t know about you, but I’m a big-time people pleaser.  I’ll say “yes” to invitations that I know full well I will not attend just to avoid disappointing someone by saying “no, thanks.”  I want friends. I want love. I want peace.  I want to be liked.  I want to be accepted.

See, I can try to “people-please” all I want, but the fact is, I’ll always be hated.  And I’m not talking about by people (though that would be true, too).  I will always be hated by the one who hates God, even the slightest hint of Him.  I’m talking about our greatest enemy, Satan.

He absolutely despises me! And he hates you, too! Yep, I said it—HATE.  That’s a powerful word.  And the evil one has his reasons.  We, as women, have something that he loved and then lost because he fell from God.  We are beautiful, and we give life…very much like the image of God.  And how does Satan compare to you and me?  He is straight-up UGLY, and he is the definition of DEATH.

I want you all to do something for me right now.  Just hold your pointer finger up in the air. All right, now stand it up tall, and get it as close to God as you can.  Your finger, right now, represents your light.  It’s the light the world sees when there exists nothing but darkness.  It’s the light a stranger sees when you help someone in need, when you look someone in the eye, when you speak words of truth and life, when you exchange a smile or offer an encouraging word.  Do you all know the children’s song “This Little Light of Mine”? If you don’t, I encourage you to YouTube it.  One of the stanzas in the song reads:

Don’t let the Satan blow it out,

I’m going to let it shine.

Don’t let the Satan blow it out,

I’m going to let it shine.

Don’t let the Satan blow it out,

I’m going to let it shine.

Let it Shine,

Let it Shine,

Let it Shine. 

So do like this kiddy song says, and don’t let him blow out your light! Don’t believe the evil one.  He has many, many lies for you.  Lies that you’re too much, too flawed, too complicated, too emotional, too confusing, too unworthy, too boring, too crazy, too damaged, too too too too too too!

Guess what?!  Satan is TOO powerless against us.  He feeds us lies through our culture, our men, our own thoughts about ourselves, and our own situations.  He instills the fear of abandonment in us, a lie from the bowels of Hell.  How can we ever be abandoned when God is always with us?

 

Satan is fighting a losing battle.  We have won, and we are crowned princesses of the Most High. Hallelujah!

 

“O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 15:55-58

 

Plain and simple, we have victory in Christ.  Put the fears and lies aside, and rest in that victory today.

Praise Him,

Carissa

______________________

Let’s Pray

Dear Father, thank You for defeating every fear and every lie that Satan can throw at us.  Father, let us find ourselves in You each and every day, victorious, worthy, loved, and never to be abandoned.  Thank You for these promises.  In Your Precious Name, Amen.

Your Assignment

After you fill in the blank (either comment on the blog or in our private Facebook group), meditate on the power we have over Satan and his lies.  Like Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings, say with authority, “Leave me alone, snake!” #winning

Today, I am letting go of the lie that I am too _________.

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If you are interested in joining us for this amazing online Bible study, click HERE. Once we receive your registration, we will email you further details.

If you would like to send Carissa a private message in regards to this blog, please email her at: Carissa@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

Filed Under: Singles Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Life’s Healing Choices: Week 1 -The Consequences Of Our Problems

January 8, 2013 by

“No! I do it by myself!” Awe the famous phrase of a toddler. Unfortunately I still use this phrase at times today as an adult. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand to be told what to do! I don’t like not having control, and truthfully I rebel a lot of times and completely do the opposite of what’s being asked of me, even though I know it’s not the right thing to do.

Every one of us struggle with circumstances in life that we know are not good for us, but we still do them anyway. I have struggled with insomnia ever since childhood. There are many ways my doctor tries to help me by giving suggestions to help with falling asleep. However, I don’t always do them. For example, no caffeine after 3pm. (Honestly, I never listen to this one.) When I go out to eat, I order that coke with my meal because I think my meal is much better with one. I will drink 1 or 2 cups of coffee with my husband in the evening because it’s a special moment together we share. Yes, there are non-caffeinated drinks, but who cares! I want the real stuff! As a result of doing wrong, I suffer the consequences of being up late at night, not getting enough sleep, and SO cranky the next morning.

If the cause of most of our problems is our efforts to control everything, then what are the consequences of playing God? Isn’t that exactly what we are doing? There are 4 consequences listed in this book:

1) FEAR: When we try to control everything we become afraid. In my life I felt so out of control and scared inside that I faked being happy. In high school I acted like I was so happy and I smiled all the time. I was a good actress and thought that if I could get others to believe I had it all together, than maybe I too would somehow convince myself it was true. But truth was, I was hurting and so scared of people finding out this was not true. I was scared they would not like me and wouldn’t want to be my friend. I have remained in fear this would happen to me my whole life. Do you ever feel like this?  What is it that you fear today?

2) FRUSTRATION: Although I tried my best to hide my problems, a new one would arise. It never seemed to fail that I never stop with one pop up, I would have numerous ones and they never went away. I felt so frustrated all the time! Are you walking around today pretending your God thinking you can handle all your problems yourself, and you don’t need anyone’s help? Here are two examples of people in the Bible talking about feeling frustrated. Apostle Paul felt frustration: “It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I eventually do what is wrong…There is something else deep within me… that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to sin.” (Romans 7:21-25 commentary)…David also felt frustration: My dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration.” (Psalm 32:3 LB)…Are you Too feeling frustrated today?

3) FATIGUE: I feel so tired all the time when playing God and pretending everything was ok when it definitely was not. Every day I felt weak and tried faking how I was feeling with everyone I came into contact with. I started feeling like I couldn’t keep up my lies much longer. I felt like my strength was almost gone. David experienced fatigue: “My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to find them.” (Psalm 32:3-4)

4) FAILURE: I always fail at playing God. Every one of us will fail at doing this and that’s a guarantee! The wisdom of Proverbs tells us, “You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you. Are you being honest and open about your weaknesses, faults, and failures?

 

Psalm 32:3-4

Psalm 32:3-4

LET US PRAY:
Father God, I come to You because I’m weak, so tired of trying to handle everything on my own. I’m afraid to let others know what’s going on inside of me. Lord I give to You my hurts, my failures, my faults. I’m tired of running and I’m going to let YOU be GOD. Thank You Lord for Your amazing love
In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

 

ASSIGNMENT: Review these 4 consequences and list fears you have right now and how they cause you to react and feel. Share with us what you have been trying to control that have you tired today.

 

If you would like more information about this online Bible study, please email us at: GCH_VH@girlfriendscoffeehour.com.

If you would like to send a private message to Leslie in regards to this blog, please email her at: Leslie@girlfriendscoffeehour.com.

 

 

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