The Week in Review

Where He Goes I’ll Follow

I said to the Lord “This road I do not know
Where does it lead, where will it go?”
Can its destiny to me you please show.


And in his voice of wisdom he spoke,
“Do not fear,
be ye of good cheer.

I will never leave you alone.
The way to you will be shown.”


I asked him then,
“The way I am to go, you will tell me when?”


This is frightening, I must admit.
“Answer please my King”, my prayer I submit.


And answer he did.
He said, “Do not fear,
be ye of good cheer.

I am the way, the truth and the light.
I will show you what is right.


I will light your path. Now look down my child”
I looked down,
A set of footprints were before me on the ground

This way I had not walked before,
From the Savior an answer I employed,


“Whose footprints are these?”
This promise he gave to me
“Those are my footprints you see


Place one foot into mine
And you’ll be in line
to follow me.


Do not venture to the left or the right,
Walk with me in your sight.”

So go, for I am sending you.
You have my power to see you through.



You have my strength and you I will protect.
My will never neglect.


I am sending you, be of good cheer
Your way I will make clear


As I placed my first foot into his print
he said,
“Remember my child, you I will not leave
so to me you must cleave.


So Go!
For you are not alone.”



Written by Jewel D. Williams
In dedication to Rev. Al and Rev. Arnetta Ivy

Words of Encouragement

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" - Psalm 42:1-3

There is a song, actually two songs on a CD named "Thrown Room" by CeCe Winan that I truly love. The first song is Thirst for you and the second one, Come fill this thirst.  As I listen to these two songs I am reminded of my inability to make it without God.

I am reminded that I am like a deer that seeks for the water to cool the dryness of his thirst. We as humans have this terrible tendency to try to make it on our own.  Oh we don't think we are doing that until we find ourselves parched and unable to go own.  We often find ourselves hitting a brick wall and wondering why we can't go any futher.  We find ourselves in a dry land.

How do we get out of this dry desert we find ourselves in?  It is only when we recognize that our thirst cannot be met in ourselves.  I cannot figure it out or work it out. I have to simply come to the source of the water.  The deer was drawn to the edge of the water.  He begins to sniff the air.  He is seeking to use his senses to direct him to the water. In his thirst, he pants to conserve his energy and knows this is the only way that he will be able to keep pushing until he can get to the waters edge to cool his thirst, to fill his need for the drink of the refreshing water.

We must be like this deer. We must pant and use all our energy to sense with our spirits the place where we can go to meet God.  The psalmist ask, where can we go to meet you?  Where are you?

The beautiful thing is this, we need to only stop, stand still and call out and God will see about us.  He will come and fill our hearts that are dry from the heat of this life.  He will fill our lives and make our lives complete.  He comes to bring us real life, not a substitute but the real thing.  We must be like the deer panting for nothing other than Jesus.  We are waiting on you Lord to come fill our hearts.  You are the only one that can fill it.  That's the line from CeCe's song.

She says, "Lord I am ready."  Are you ready?  Are you ready to let go of it all?  Are you ready to let go of the trying and continually missing the mark?  Are you ready to have the hunger, the dryness, the need filled in your heart?  Nothing will ever do that but God. 

My heart breaks often as I see God's people fill their lives with "stuff" to try and fill their lives with something that will sooth their brokenness.  I know, I was one of those people.  But one day God showed me that nothing but him would ever bring me wholeness and joy.  I wouldn't find true joy in anything other than him.  Did you know we can't find it in relationships (even our marriages), in our careers, our churches or ourselves.  Those things often have a way of letting us down.

Jesus, however never lets you down and he is able to keep you in a place of peace and joy even when those other areas do.  This week I ask that you take the time to really ask God, are your seeking him as you should?  Ask God, have I become comfortable doing things myself and in doing so, I have placed myself away from your waters edge, away from the source that fills my thirst.

Let's pray: Lord this week I ask that whomever reads this will be touched by you.  Somebody this week will need to be reminded of who they can place their trust in.  Some one will need to be reminded that regardless of their situation and circumctances, you are the one that has come to release them from the prisons that would hold your people captive.  This week I pray a breakthrough in the life of your people.  May you touch the heart of someone that has come to the edge of giving up.  Draw them back to you.  Somebody that has had to face some things they don't think they can get over, draw them back to your waters edge.  This week God I ask you to fill the thirst of your people.  This I ask in Jesus name, Amen.

"Be Filled"

The Week in Review

The Road Trip

Written by Jewel D. Williams

11/20/2005

I started on a trip today yet the end seemed so far away.

I wasn't sure what to pack or how long I was going to stay.

I wasn't sure what I would face as I traveled this road.

Would I have a smooth ride or would I carry a have load.

As I traveled on my way,

I met a man that day.

He asked me if he could travel by my side,

I thought to myself, why yes come along for the ride.

He then made a peculiar request of me.

He said, "Let me drive and you experience all the beauty you can see."

Out of the driver’s seat I came and with new purpose I quickly moved,

He took the wheel and gave me a look that said he approved.

On the road we went, this new friend and I.

And in my heart I felt like I had wings to fly.

It didn't matter any more what lay ahead.

My new friend would help me, he said.

So I put my complete trust in him today

And all my fears were put away.

I started on a road trip today.

The end didn't seem so far away,

Because on this trip I knew, I was going to stay.

Words of Encouragement

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. – James 1:2



Count it all joy. When do I count it joy? I was listening to a song by BeBe and CeCe Winans’ called, count it all joy and I began to think about this scripture. Sometimes when we are in some situations it is easy to count it all you, but what about those times when you cannot see anything joyful about it? What about those difficult times, those hard times, those times of lack and need? When do we count it joy?

James says, “Count it all”. So how do we do that? How can I be joyful in a time that has no joy? It first must start with where we are. Are we holding so tightly to things that if something comes along and bothers it we will be affected? Are the cares of this world so foremost that we have tied our emotional stability on them? Then first we have to let go of it ALL. We have to let things go and stop trying to fix them and give away our joy in the process.

Our true joy cannot come from what we have: relationships, money stability, health, etc. Our true joy must come from the pleasure we derive from having a relationship with God. It does not mean we do not find happiness in our marriages, families, etc., but it means they cannot be the total source of our joy.

In this life we must look at our circumstances and situations as opportunities for God to show himself even greater to us. I can count all that I go through joy even when I am feeling down because those circumstances and situations do not have the final say on where I will find my pleasure. I’ll look for that trace of sunlight (or better yet SON’S Light) so that I can see clearly.

My prayer for us today is this, Lord everything may not be ours to understand so help us let go and let you take care of us. Help us to rest in you so that we can allow you to use our situations and circumstances to grow us in the midst of what seems like it would hurt us or destroy us. You are not a “wound waster”. You take even our wounds and use them to make us better. Today we pledge to give you control. Do your perfect work so that we will be lacking in nothing. Help me today, COUNT IT ALL JOY!!! We can count it all joy because you promise never to leave us or forsake us, you are right there in the midst of my storms and no circumstances or situations can move me from your love.



When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; wherefore we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. – Psalm 126



Count it all joy. When you receive God’s forgiveness. The children of Israel through scripture have shown us what the patience and mercy of God really looks like. He forgives them and again they would turn to sin. In this scripture the psalmist talks about receiving the forgiveness of God.

When God releases them from the captivity caused by their sins the people have much to rejoice about. Where there was once no dream, now there is a dream to be had. When their mouths were once filled with weeping, now laughter and singing is found. Even the unsaved marveled at the good things that God did for his people. Those that were in tears receive joy for those tears. God has exchanged those seeds of bitterness for a crop of plenty. No more weeping but rejoicing.

There is something important to notice about this scripture and that is we don’t hear complaining about the punishment of the sin, but the rejoicing of forgiveness. It is important that we understand that we sometimes find ourselves in captivity or bondage because of our disobedience to God. When we do, we have to seek God’s mercy but we also have to understand we very well may have to go through the process of coming from that bondage. And when we come out of that thing, we should count it all joy because God in his mercy did not allow us to stay in the bondage but released us. We cannot be angry because our actions have causes us to be in difficult situations. I’ve heard people say when faced with financial difficulty, marital difficulty or issues with the law, “why has God allowed this to happen to me?” It is not always that God has allowed it, but that we refused to move in his direction and therefore we brought the bondage upon ourselves. Whatever the case, we should count it all joy because of the relationship we have with God. His love for us is so great that he willingly comes to get us and restore us, even if we got where we were out of our own disobedience.

I pray for us today that we rejoice in the grace extended to us. Let us be thankful for God’s forgiveness that he freely offers to us. Let us also rejoice in knowing that whatever situation we find ourselves in (our doing or not) God will not leave us there alone. He will take those tears and turn them into rejoicing. He will take the wounds and bind them up. Count it all joy; you have received the forgiveness of God.


And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud him all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Now the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. – Romans 14:10-13


Count it all joy. Gift of Salvation. Paul admonishes the Gentiles to rejoice in the great gift they have been given. Paul speaks the words that the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said there would be a root of Jesse that would rise and reign over the Gentiles. Jesse was king David’s father and this is the lineage of the savior. The savior came for the people of God, the Jews, but salvation was made available to everyone. Those that would accept Christ as savior would be grafted into the family of God to become the people of God.

Because of this opening up of salvation to all mankind, we can now have the joy that comes only from God. I like what the scripture says the “God of Hope”. The God of expectation, the God of trust, the God of looking forward are all titles that come from this understanding of the God of hope. We now have an expected end that we can joyfully look forward to. We can trust in God’s word and his promises because he is trustworthy. We can look forward to this new life he has given and what it entails. That which was behind, the sin and disobedience has been forgiven and now we can be filled with the joy and peace of the Lord.

Oh what a glorious future we have! We can continue to abound in hope, joy and peace through the working of the Holy Spirit within our lives. Today I pray for us to continue forward with the God that takes us forward. God does not take us backwards, so we should stop trying to go back into that which we have been delivered from. Stop trying to go back in to “Egypt” because the wilderness seems too hard and we have forgotten just how difficult our bondage was. Stop trying to turn back to what you had and like Lot’s wife turn into a pillar of salt. We surely can get “salty” when we think about what we have to let go of at times. So instead today Lord we ask you to help us look forward and count all things joy because we have been given a new chance, a new life and a new start.

Week in Review

Thankful

I thought, how can words of thanksgiving on him I bestow?
I thought about all the wonderful blessings I know.

I could show my thankfulness by listing all the good from my life
But even the unsaved can be thankful for times when there is lack of strife

As God’s child how am I different from the world in which I live?
How do I to the Mighty King, true thanksgiving give?

Then I dropped to my knees and to God I began to pray.
Thank you for my foot that won’t bear my weight when I wake to the new day.
Because it reminds me I can lean on you to carry me all the way.

I’m thankful for my times of lack and when I was unable to see its end,
Because you showed me you are faithful and on you I can depend.

I thank you for the child I loved within my heart but life I was never able to give,
I better understood how you willingly grieved your son’s life so I could live.

I’m thankful for broken promises, lost relationships and lost dreams,
You showed me that you would never leave me nor forsake me no matter how it seems.

I’m even thankful for the sickness, the pain and the aches,
You showed me you are my strength in those times when my spirit would break.

To be thankful for the good is quite easy you see,
I must be thankful for all things to become what God wants me to be.

Why am I thankful you might inquire?
To please him is my greatest desire.

Be thankful no matter what life situation you are in,
For with Jesus in all things and through all things you can win.

For both my good and my bad I can say thank you,
Simply because the love of God is so true.

Written By,

Jewel D. Williams

11/20/2005

Week in Review

Worship styles

Written April 11, 2006

How we worship within the local body has become a topic of heated discussions at times among believers. How should we worship? This is one of the questions on the minds of believers today. What is the correct way of worship?

When people think about worship, the thought is normally “what type of music” will we listen to? This is only one point in the worship service. Some people choose a place to worship based on similarities to themselves and what they are comfortable with. Therefore, some churches play music that they feel is suitable for their congregational makeup. It is not uncommon to find churches where rock music, gospel or contemporary music is selected as the worship music of choice. Are any of these choices wrong? The web site www.carm.org, posts an article titled The need for unity in the church states, “It is all right to have differences of opinion on the non-essential matters like worship styles…Whether you believe one or the other does not affect salvation. Yet far too many Christians use these non-essential differences as justification for division and sometimes even insight anger” (1).

On the website, www.reality.org, Julian Doorey the writer of the article titled, Christian Worship: Culturally relevant or Culturally Captive states, “Creating an intergenerational service is difficult. How do we provide church worship where everybody comes away feeling satisfied? Contemporary songs can leave the older people alienated, just as traditional songs can leave the teenagers and twenties totally bored. The worship leader has a tough job” (3). While several people suggest that the music needs to be changed to fit the times we live in, I do not completely agree with this.


While I understand that each generation has it’s own style of music, I do not believe the traditional hymns need to be put away because of it. As the body of Christ, we must teach the next generation the importance of the hymns of the faith. If you asked different people the reason why some of the hymns of the faith were written, you would have a difficult time getting an answer. Why would anyone hold something dear, that they do not understand? While I am not against using contemporary music or styles for the generation, I believe these time-honored songs should continue to be taught as well.

The differences in style are vast. Some churches sing congregational songs and some do not. Some churches have praise dancers or interpretive dance and others do not. On the website, www.AllAboutGOD.com it an article titled Christian Worship – Praise to God it states, “Christian worship begins with discovering and admitting what we have been worshipping in our lives. All us worship something, whether we know it or not. We may not physically bow down to it, or offer it songs of praise and adoration, but whatever we devote most of our time and attention to is often what we worship” (1). As believers, we need to understand why we go to worship. We come to worship God and his goodness. “Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground” (Nehemiah 8:6). The purpose of our worship is to praise God. It should not matter if it is done with piano, organ, drum or a bass guitar.

The site www.carm.org states, “The Christian church, as a whole, needs to repent. We need to look at ourselves. We need to look at our churches. We need to look at one another and decide that we will stand on the essential doctrines of the faith and that we will be united against the enemy. Those of us who are united by the blood of Christ are not enemies with one another whether we be Presbyterian or Baptist or Lutheran…Remember, it is the devil that wants us to fight each other so that he can be freed up to deceive the world. If we are fighting each other then we are falling prey to his tactics” (2).

Maybe my belief is to simple, yet I believe we spend too much time arguing about how we worship. On the web site, www.carm.org it states, “There is a time for division in the body of Christ. When an individual or a church group is denying clear scripture and remains unrepentant after being admonished, then it is time to break fellowship with that group” (1). Our differences in worship do not fall within these guidelines of separation. While I may not listen to rock music, I have no problem with worshiping with God’s people and watching them show their love for the Lord. In that arena, I would have no problem feeling the presence of God, regardless if the style is different that one I am accustomed to.


“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness” (Psalm 29:2). When this is our motivation for worship, it should not really matter if our worship style differs from time to time. Sometimes our music may be more pleasing to the younger generation and at others it will be more appealing to the seniors. Let us simply come together with the heart of worship unto the Lord. In conclusion I take this quote from the website www.carm.org, “We need to look at our hearts and our own minds and compare them to Jesus and the Scripture. Where ever the two are not an agreement, it is we who need to change. We need to pray that the Lord would provide opportunities to work with other Christians across denominational lines. We need to recognize that we have differences of opinions and worship styles and that is okay. But we need to lift each other up and be united in Christ” (3). This is true worship, where we are called to worship in spirit and in truth.

Work cited

AllAboutGOD.com: Christian Worship – Praise to God. 2006. 12 April 2006. http://www.AllAboutGOD.com/christian-worship.htm.

Carm.org: The need for unity in the church. 2003. 12 April 2006. http://www.carm.org/church/unity.htm.

Reality.org.nz: Christian Worship: Culturally Relevant or Culturally Captive? Julian Doorey. 2006. 12 April 2006. http://www.reality.org.nz/article.php?ID=208.

Thompson, Frank Charles, D.D., PH.D. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, 5th ed. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbridge Bible Co., Inc., 1988.

Words of Encouragement

HELPING HAND

This week, I am posting two lessons from the archives. God's word is timeless and even if you have read these lessons from a years ago, take a second look at them and see what God is showing you for today.  Be blessed...


Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. – Psalm 5:1-3



Where can I find help? Rise up with expectancy. The Psalmist is seeking an answer from God. He is asking God to listen to his petition, his request. The request is for the Lord to give his ear to his words and to consider his very sighing.

How many times have you wanted to know if God was listening to your very sighs? Did you wonder is he listening to my cries for help? Does he hear me when I come seeking an answer? I know there have been moments in my life when things were so heavy that I wondered, God do you hear me, are you concerned about me?

I wondered in my situations and circumstances, was there a place that I could find help? The Psalm today gives us a reminder of where we can go to find help and that is in the Lord. The writer says listen to me because you are my king and my God and to you alone do I pray.

He says in the morning you hear my voice and I lay my request before you with expectation. What this reminds us is we must rise up early in the morning with an expectancy of God to hear us and answer our request. We must rise up early because when we linger, it gives the Devil the opportunity to torment and to tell us we are defeated and that God is not listening to us.

So instead, we should rise up early with the expectancy that God will not only hear our request but that he has an answer for us. There is no other place where I can find help, other than my king and my God to whom I pray.

I pray for us today that we find comfort in knowing that all that we seek, God already has the answer for. If it is comfort, he has the answer. If it is direction, he has that also. Lord help us to rise up early and come to you for the answer to our daily questions. Lord give ear to our request.


So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. – Acts 16:8-10


Where can I find help? God sends help. The Holy Spirit kept Paul from preaching in the province of Asia. When Paul came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit would not let them. This is where our verses pick up. The Spirit kept them from going one way, so they went another way.


During the night, Paul had a vision that a man from Macedonia was begging him to come and help them at Macedonia. Paul when he woke got ready to leave for Macedonia and preach the gospel to them. It would seem then, since this is where God is sending them, that they would have instant success and no difficulties? That would be an incorrect conclusion.

If you are familiar with this scripture, this is where Paul and Silas are thrown in jail for casting out the spirits in the slave girl. It would seem that Paul and Silas would be upset. They have been beaten, stripped and thrown into jail. So what do they do? Do they feel sorry for themselves? Do they give up because this walk is too hard?

No, they praise God. They sing and praise the Lord as the others in the jail are listening to them. The scripture says that there was a violent earthquake and all the doors were opened and all their chains were loosed. Paul received a vision for help and he followed the leading of God to go and preach the gospel. In the process Paul met with difficulty. But he remained faithful to praising God because he knew something important, that God would send help to him. This same God that sent him to help someone else, would send help to him.

Paul’s faithfulness to continue in praise, not only released his chains but the chains of all the prisoners that were in captivity. Sometimes it is hard to figure out how God will work, but it is quite amazing to see when he does. Paul’s praising and singing could not have released the prisoners in jail had he not been in the place where the captives where. He was a captive himself, but yet he was free because of where his help was coming from.


Today, let us remember something important, God will send our help. Sometimes he calls for other believers to go through some difficulty to be in the right place to help you be released from your captivity. What God will do is not only release the one he sent from the difficulty, but he has your release as well. Lord help us today be released from the prison that has us held captive. Lord if you are sending us to show forth your praises and prayers until the earth be moved so that someone’s situation and circumstances can be shaken, then help us to see clearly that the place we are in is not to destroy us, but to help in the process of freeing the captives.