ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTRIES

This has been a different kind of week for me... A week of discovering limits and boundaries, a week of discovering that everybody has limits, each person has drawn a line on how close, how involved, or how invested they will be. These lines are usually drawn from a negative life experience, where an inward decision was made, "I'll never be caught off guard again", "I will not be hurt again", "I'm only going this far from now on", "I won't be the victim again, I'll be the the one in control". Accepting these discovered limits found in ourselves and in others are another story...being okay with knowing this will only go this far, to this degree, to this amount, to this level, can be frustrating if you are anything like me. (A person who thinks real life should contain some movie moments where everything falls in place perfectly, just the way you pictured it, with background music) laugh...

So the question is? Do you just give up or chill out, once you run into these walls, boundaries, and carefully drawn limits in others? Maybe the answer is SOMETIMES, that is the best thing to do. But I believe there is also another answer...One that requires leaping over walls, scaling fences, and jumping lines of limitations while risking defensive security measures, to find someone in their well built fortress and dare them to come out and play, live, explore, discover, expand their limits, and trust that there is more to God and Life than what has been experienced by them. This won't always end successfully but when it does, it's priceless!!!

So continue to pursue Love and keep on sowing in others, because you never know what might CROP up next, and what mighty works will be done when another person is drawn out of their limits! Let us, at times, leave the comfort of the boat and STEP OUT ON THE WATER. You may not make movie moments, but you will definitely make BIBLE MOMENTS!

Ecclesiastes 11:4
If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.

Ecclesiastes 11:6
Be sure to stay busy and plant a variety of crops, for you never know which will grow––perhaps they all will.

GOD WANTS US BLESSED, AND HE WANTS OUR SOUL TO PROSPER!

WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN AUTHORITY TO PUT TO DEATH, TO PUT OFF, TO GET RID OF, TO CAST OFF, TO REMOVE FROM IT'S PLACE, AND TO DISARM THE OLD MAN AND ALL IT'S PRACTICES!!! WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE AUTHORITY TO REMOVE THE EVILS THAT COME TO OBSTRUCT THE RECEPTION OF OUR DELIVERANCE, WE HAVE RECEIVED THROUGH CHRIST!!!

AS BELIEVERS WE ARE TO CAST OFF, PUT OFF, GET RID OF ALL FILFTH AND EVIL EXCESS FROM WITHIN AND WITHOUT! WE MUST MAKE ROOM FOR AND RECEIVE WITH A WARM SUBMISSIVE WELCOME, "THE IMPLANTED WORD OF GOD!", LET THE LOGOS MAKE PROGRESS IN YOU, AS IT MOVES WITH POWER TO SAVE, KEEP, RESCUE, HEAL, AND RESTORE YOUR "SOUL"...

PEER AND ADJUST YOUR POSITION TO SEE INTO THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY! VALUE THE WORD, GET ACQUAINTED WITH IT, FIX YOUR GAZE ON IT, AND LIVE IT OUT!!! NOTHING SAVES, KEEPS, AND BRINGS HEALING TO YOUR MIND, WILL AND EMOTIONS LIKE THE IMPLANTED WORD OF GOD MAKING PROGRESS WITHIN YOU!!!

James 1:21
So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.

James 1:25
But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:27
1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to KEEP ONESELF UNSTAINED BY THE WORLD.

1 KINGS 17:9
"Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."

THE PROVISION WAS INSIDE THE COMMAND...
BEFORE GOD COMMANDED THE WIDOW TO PROVIDE HE COMMANDED THE RAVENS...

1 KINGS 17:4
"And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."

HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW, THAT THE RAVENS WEREN'T STARVING, OR GOING WITHOUT FOOD, THEY WERE KEPT AND STRENGTHENED, FULLY TAKING CARE OF WHILE FUNCTIONING IN THE COMMANDS OF GOD!

LITTLE DID THAT MOTHER KNOW, THAT THE GOD OF ISRAEL WAS NOTHING LIKE HER FORMER BELIEF IN BAAL, BUT GOD THROUGH HIS GRACE SHOWED THAT HE IS THE TRUE PROVIDER AND THE REAL GIVER OF RAIN, DEW, AND LIFE!!! THIS GENTILE ADJUSTED TO THE NEW DEVELOPMENT AND TURNED FROM HER FORMER BELIEFS WHEN SHE CAME FACE TO FACE WITH TRUTH!

1 KINGS 17:24
Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth."

REMEMBER "IT'S NOT OVER!!!"
(SINGING - IT'S NOT OVER
IT'S NOT FINISHED
IT'S NOT ENDING
IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING...

WHEN GOD IS IN IT, THERE IS NO LIMIT... IT'S NOT OVER!!!

Happy MOTHERS Day to the MOTHERS that are, the MOTHERS that are soon to be, the women who MOTHER those they didn't bear, and very special thoughts and memories to the MOTHERS who are no longer with us!!!

HERE IS A LITTLE MOTHERS DAY WEEKEND FUN!

***"NICE" YO MOMMA JOKES...***

Yo Momma is so sweet, the folks at Splenda want her recipe.
Yo Momma look so young, I thought she was your sister.
Yo Momma is so in style, can I borrow her high waisted jeans?
Yo Momma is so full of wisdom, I am going to get advice from her.
Yo Momma has the coolest car, my car only seats four, your mom's caravan ten.
Yo Momma can sew so good, will she make me something I can wear to school?
Yo Momma cooks the best vegetables, there so good that I don't even want dessert.
Yo Momma works so hard, I would be broke trying to pay her what she deserves.
Yo Momma is so hip, her public singing and dancing makes you more popular.
Yo Momma is so cool, even Chuck Norris wants her autograph.

{LAUGH... THESE ARE SO AWESOME (WINK) add a few of your own in the comment section}

***What My Mother Taught Me***

My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You'd better pray that will come out of the carpet."
My mother taught me TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."
My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."
My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"
My mother taught me HUMOUR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."
My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you".

***JOKES AND QUOTES....***

*Little Johnny had finished his summer vacation and gone back to school.
Two days later his teacher phoned his mother to
tell her that he was misbehaving.”Wait a minute,” she said.
“I had Johnny with me for three months and
I never called you once when he misbehaved.”

*The child comes home from his first day at school.
Mother asks, ‘What did you learn today?’
The kid replies, ‘Not enough. I have to go back tomorrow.’

*"I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them." - Phyllis Diller

*A young man agreed to baby-sit one night so a single mother could have an evening out. At bedtime he sent the youngsters upstairs to bed and settled down to watch football. One child kept creeping down the stairs, but the young man kept sending him back to bed. At 9pm the doorbell rang, it was the next-door neighbor, Mrs. Brown, asking whether her son was there. The young man brusquely replied, "No." Just then a little head appeared over the banister and shouted, "I'm here, Mom, but he won't let me go home!"

*"Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts that they were able to give to their elderly mother.
The first said: "I built a big house for our mother."
The second said: "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver."
The third said: "I've got you both beat. You know how Mom enjoys the Bible and you know she can't see very well. I sent her a brown parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took twenty monks in a monastery 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000 a year for twenty years but it was worth it. Mom just has to name the chapter and verse, and the parrot will recite it."
Soon thereafter, Mom sent out her letters of thanks.
She wrote to the first son: "Milton, the house you built is too big. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house."
She wrote to the second son: "Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home all the time, so I never used the Mercedes... and the driver is SO rude."
She wrote to the third son: "Dearest Melvin, you were the only son to have the good sense to know what your mother likes... The chicken was delicious."

*One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"
Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."
The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

WILL YOU STAND???

TONIGHT THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL LEAD US TO PREPARE, EQUIP, AND SHORE UP OUR FAITH AGAINST THE PERILOUS TIMES AHEAD! COME AND BE BUILT UP, WE WILL NOT GO AWOL, DESERT, OR DEFECT... WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS AND OVERCOME!!!

PROMISES OF THE OVERCOMER!
A seat with Christ on His throne...
Permission to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God...
Will not be harmed by the second death...
Will receive hidden manna and a white stone with a new name...
Will be dressed in white and name will never be erased from the book of life...
Will be made a pillar in the temple of God with names and city written on them...
Will inherit all things made new...

1 John 5:5
"Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"