Monthly Archives: October 2014

Rising from the Ashes!

What a title, you may be saying.  My Father God is still dealing with me on the subject of brokenness and repentance.  I truly thank Him for it, although I would be lying if I said that this is a fun filled process.  It is indeed a process.  I thank God for the “sack cloth and ashes” of true repentance.  It just makes us stronger and more in tune with the Heart beat of God!

In the Old Testament days, sack cloth and ashes were used as signs of mourning.  The tearing of the clothing was a sign of mourning as well.  The people would use this custom when praying for deliverance, safety and protection, and when they were into SIN and wanted to repent!  Now notice that this sackcloth was a very rough fiber used to make storage sacks.  It was what is known today as burlap.  I am sure that the rough fiber of the fabric against the skin was very uncomfortable.  The ashes came from burnt wood and was “dust”, thus symbolizing grief.  We don’t hold such customs, however, we are still to tear our hearts and mourn and grieve because of sin in our lives and also the lives of others.  We are to ask God to break our hearts for what breaks His heart!  This is indeed a process my friend.  The bible lets us know that God is near unto those who have a contrite heart and a broken spirit!  (psalms 51:17)

Alright, let us bring this thing on home.  So you have a messed up!  You feel terrible and you have asked for forgiveness.  Maybe there is “beef” so to speak between you and another person and the more you try to walk in peace the worst it gets.  Whatever you are in mourning about, just know that you are not to stay there!  God wants the brokenness but He also wants us to rise from the ashes, pull something valuable out of the experience, and keep it moving!  It is a good thing to go through brokenness but it is also good to come out knowing that there is no condemnation for those who are truly “in Christ Jesus”.  I am not saying that we embrace a sinful lifestyle and not take it seriously. We are to take it very seriously and we should care about our character over our gifts.  Our Godly character takes us places our gift will never be able to take us.  Live your life in a balanced fashion.  Agree with God in His presence when you know that you have sinned.  Don’t hide like Adam and Eve did, don’t pass the buck like they did, but for God’s sake, do not let the enemy place a spirit of condemnation upon you where you give in to depression and deceit.  Realizing that we are naked and bare before the eyes of the Lord and yet His love is unfailing, should give us comfort and boldness to enter into His presence and when the heat of brokenness is upon us, hold on to His Hand.  The ride may be a little bumpy but Holy Spirit has got this! He may convict you, but He will also convince you of righteousness as well

Let me dance prophetically over you right NOW!  Enjoy a brief clip of a prophetic dance ministered at a Pastor’s Appreciation on 5/26/13

https://vimeo.com/109988946

Love you with the love of Jesus!  Have a blessed weekend!

 

 

 

God is for You

One of the worst feelings that I have experienced in my walk with the Lord is the brokenness after a complete failure to trust God’s provisions.  This is something I have dealt with again recently and wanted to share.  God knows our weak points.  We are not to stay weak in these points, but we are not to allow the spirit of condemnation to rule in our hearts either.  I am not taking God’s mercy and grace for granted, but I am exhorting you to pick that ball up and keep running for the prize.  God is for you!  He will never forsake you in your weaknesses.  Keep crying out to Him and do not run from Him when you know you have disappointed Him.  He is Abba (Pappa, Daddy, Father). He protects and provides and nothing that we can ever do will stop Him from loving us.  He will not cancel our purpose and throw us away with the dirty bath water!

I will endeavor to keep trusting.  Not in my own efforts to have faith, but in His faithfulness and grace to me.  I will keep asking the Holy Spirit to connect me to the heart of the Father and make know His perfect will for my life so that when it is time to walk out in faith, make decisions, and know which doors to walk in, I will experience His peace.  When I fail again, I will seek for His peace and forgiveness.  He is faithful and just and forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (I John 1 8-10).  We should live each day in a way that we are reaching forth for maturity in our walk and we should feel broken and hurt when we fail.  That is healthy and it shows that we have the Spirit of God that convicts us.  The Spirit will also convince us that we are still children of God, even in our weaknesses.

God bless!

I have included a clip of a dance ministered at our local museum a couple of weeks ago.  It is not the best of quality but I pray that it will bless you!  I do have a clip of my grand-daughter as well doing some free style choreography at one of our practices to the song: God is for me by Kari Jobe; however, I keep getting “freezes” on it on my system.  I am also including it, just in case your system will handle it better!  I do not have professional videography skills yet, but please bare with me!  Have a wonderful week.

I can Only Imagine:

http://vimeo.com/worshipfulministries/httponly-imagineworshipfulministriescom

https://vimeo.com/worshipfulministries/httpvimeocomgod-is-for-me

 

Give us this Day, our Daily Bread!

Good morning worshippers!  Just wanted to chat a minute about day 7 of the devotional, “The First Fruits of My Morning”.  What we want to pull out of our devotional this morning is that God has enough sustaining power in His “bread”, His Word to keep us and fill us as we hunger and thirst after righteousness!  This will also increase our appetite to worship Him like never before.  Hope you have a wonderful day or had a wonderful day depending on when you are reading this article and in case you did not read the devotional, I have copied it below for your enjoyment and study.  Until next time, I love you with the love of Jesus and grace and peace be multiplied unto you!

 

MORNING # 7 –GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

EXODUS 16:16-18

 

16This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.

17And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

18And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

Good morning!  We are still talking about the word of God on this wonderful morning.  The children of Israel were commanded by God to gather their manna (bread) each morning and they were to gather a certain amount for their nourishment and sustainment.  This was a miracle and they did not appreciate it at first.  Pay attention to verse seven in this chapter:  the people murmured because they were afraid and wanted to go back to Egypt because of the lack of food.  God was angered by the murmuring and provided them the bread from heaven to prove them and teach them a lesson about His power and provision.

Worshippers, what we want to gain from this is that it is a good idea to gather our daily bread in the morning as well.  We can gather just the right amount and God will ensure that it will sustain us! Also, we want to note that Jesus Himself stated in the book of John that He is that bread that came down from Heaven.  The forefathers ate the natural bread and died, but Jesus is our everlasting sustainer and our life.  It is extremely important to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood!  In other words, let us commune with God through our LORD JESUS CHRIST by studying and digesting His Word daily.  This will increase our appetite for worship.

Do You Know that God is for You?

Hello everyone!  Just wanted to share a spiritual nugget with you.  The more that I live in Christ, the more that I learn that I have absolutely got to keep Christ and my love-worship relationship with Him at the top of the priority list!  This holds true for every born again believer but especially for those of us who are anointed and appointed, filled with multiple passions and gifts, and those who truly want to be Kingdom Builders.  The more you give of yourself, the more you will see that times will come when you are just over looked and under appreciated.  Now I am not talking about wanting to get a “pat” on the back for working for the kingdom.  I am referring to times when we as men and women of God who truly labor for the sake of the Kingdom are just taken for granted!  It is during those difficult moments when you have to take a step back, breathe, and realize that even though you feel like you are chasing the wind and throwing pebbles in the ocean with no one to hear the sound, you must still press on and worship like never before!  Don’t get so discouraged until the spirit of depression begins to set inside of your soul.  Always keep in mind that you must allow the Word of God to build you up! God sees the heart of the matter. No matter how much rejection, false accusation, persecution, and heartache that you suffer while doing the will of God, you must know that God thinks beautiful thoughts toward you and that you must continue to know that it is not really about you.  It is about Christ and building His Kingdom.  He suffered at the hands of sinful men, yet He endured the cross despising its shame.  We must expect to endure suffering as well but know that He will make something beautiful of the suffering.  Well, just wanted to pour out and share with you my heart on this lovely Sunday evening.  The last thought I would like to leave with you is this:

If God be for you, who can be against you?  (Romans 8:31-What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?)  So, do you really know this by revelation and experience or is this just one of those feel good scriptures that we quote to pacify ourselves when we are licking our wounds?  It is important to know that you know that you know!  The world is cruel.  The church is filled with confessing Christians who are equally cruel.  Knowing that God is for you and that He will never forsake or forget you is crucial.  May seem elementary but  it is something that we have got to know by revelation from the Spirit of God.  This type of revelation will sustain us during the difficult times in our lives.

May God bless you as you endeavor to worship Him and serve Him mightily in these last days!

Minister Denise Cook-Godfrey

flags dance pic