Realizing the Will of God

How many of us struggle with the issue of knowing the will of God for our lives? We struggle and stress, cry and pray, and spend a lot of time wondering if we are IN the will of God...am I right or am I the only one? Yesterday in Sunday school we watched a video by Ray Vanderlaan about the Israelites coming up out of the Red Sea, and what that must have been like. What does that have to do with knowing the will of God??? Well, as I was watching it I was just consumed and set ablaze with the thought that the same power that split the Red Sea and held back the waters while they crossed, that same power that rose Christ from the dead, LIVES inside of a believer. Nothing is impossible with God, and all the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus. One of the promises we have as a believer is that when we accept Christ we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, sealed with that same power. Now, the will of God is that His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I would suggest that being in His will positions you to see the impossible, to see miracles, to radically intervene and disrupt the life of someone headed to hell and show them the way to the cross. God's will is that all might be saved, healed, set free, delivered, and rescued from the curse of death. How can we be content with a nominal Christian life when the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of us, when the Spirit of God inside of us knows there is so much  more for us in the Kingdom...in His will for us. Coming to the realization that as a Christian I was put here to do the will of God on earth as it is in heaven, and that in heaven there is no sickness, no disease, but complete health, joy and peace...well that is extremely exciting to me. The will of God is not unknown, if what you are asking lines up with the Kingdom of God, then go for it, if it doesn't pass it by. 

Mommy and Avery checking out the "birds"

Sweet silly boy

"Where's your tongue Avery?"

Maegan and Avery

Family Portrait

Denali!!!!!!!

Positioning

Was really encouraged by this word the other day...especially since Zac and I have moved to Alaska after we felt the Lord calling us here. Although it is EXTREMELY hard to be away from family and friends we have to stand firm on the call  and stay in position even when we can't exactly see the wave on the horizon.

"Great spiritual movements are often referred to as waves of the Holy Spirit because they move like waves of the ocean. To ride a wave requires balance and skill, but those would not matter if one did not also have the ability to discern where the wave is going to break and get into position at the right place and time. Even then, the wave rider cannot be idle but must be moving in the right direction when the wave comes.

One reason so many Christians have been repositioned in recent times is because the Holy Spirit is helping them get into position to catch the spiritual waves they are called to ride. There is a great wave of the Holy Spirit that is about to move across the entire earth, but it is still crucial for every individual to be in the place that they have been called.

The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, so we may think that it does not make a difference if we are in a specific location, but it can make all the difference in the world for us. The Lord Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people after His resurrection, and He instructed them to go and wait for the promise of the Father in Jerusalem. Three hundred and eighty did not wait long enough and missed the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Hopefully those who were of the three hundred eighty received this promise later through the Church, but we do not know for sure. Certainly the Lord is gracious, but as the Apostle Paul warned, we must behold both His kindness and His severity. God resists the proud, and it is the pride that caused the fall in the first place, which has us thinking we do not need to obey the Lord, but rather we can attain by our own means.

We are told in Hebrews 6:12 to be imitators of those who through "faith and patience inherit the promises." Waiting forty days in Jerusalem did require patience, and it sifted out those who did not have it. Impatience is not a fruit of the Spirit, and those who are led by their impatience will not be led by the Spirit. Three hundred and eighty did not fully obey the Lord, and they missed Him on the Day of Pentecost. Being in the right place is one of the telltale signs that we live our lives in obedience to the Lord. He told us not to call Him "Lord" if we do not do what He says. Only those who follow Him, obeying Him as Lord, will be in the right place at the right time to receive what is promised.

Impatience is a main reason why some never receive their promises.Another reason why opportunities, great movements, and visitations of the Lord are missed by so many is that their vision is clouded by the affairs of everyday life. Few are able to pull themselves away from the clamor of their lives to climb up to a place of vision where they can see with His eyes. This is why the Lord rebuked those who could perceive the signs of impending weather better than the signs of the times. The weather affected their everyday lives, and this is what they had most of their attention on. To discern the purposes of the Lord, they have to be our main focus. We must truly "seek first the Kingdom" in order to see its coming."- Rick Joyner

PawPaw and "Little Jack"

A few great shots of PawPaw and "Little Jack" aka Avery :)

Creation declares the Majesty of God

"Praise the Lord, my soul!

O Lord my God, you are very great.

    You are clothed with splendor and majesty. You cover yourself with light as though it were a robe.

    You stretch out the heavens as though they were curtains.You lay the beams of your home in the water.

    You use the clouds for your chariot.

    You move on the wings of the wind. You make your angels winds 

and your servants flames of fire. You set the earth on its foundations so that it can never be shaken." 

Psalm 104:1-5

Stirred

Keith Miller:

What Does It Look Like To Walk In the Fullness of the Holy Spirit?

Dear friends,

What does it look like to walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Can you imagine the day when the Body of Christ rises up in maturity walking in the full stature of Christ Jesus? This day will come! This day is not just a dream or a nice idea – it is a reality!

The Holy Spirit's desire is that we live every day in the fullness of the Lord, by seeing above and beyond what we can do, and that Jesus would receive glory and honor through His great power that works in us and through us. This is the essence of what Paul writes about in Ephesians 3:20-21: "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen!"

I encourage you to believe that the Lord will release to you a revelation of the unlimited realm of the great ministry and fullness of the Holy Spirit in and through your life. Get ready! Ask the Holy Spirit to open your spiritual eyes and ears to see the invisible and to hear what He is saying to the Church in this season of history. Ask Him to open up the depths of the Word to His people and to reveal the secret things of the Kingdom so that we can walk in greater dimension of victory and thus be able to shift the course of history toward the fulfillment of God's ultimate purpose.

This spiritual dynamic that flows into us daily is the witness of the reality of the Holy Spirit's power to the masses of humanity. The unlimited anointing that the Lord is pouring out will reveal an even greater understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This will plunge the Church into the river, which is widening the banks of spiritual realities and creating a tremendous overflow that will extend into the marketplaces of the world.

As we press into this present-day empowering and equipping for the effective working of His power in and through us on a day-to-day basis, we need to live in a place of perpetual fresh oil – the fresh anointing of His Wonderful Presence, to be a blazing lamp in the midst of the darkness of our day, that we would see the ever-increasing expansion of His Kingdom, not just in Word but also in demonstration. We must flow out of His Word and His presence and draw from the flow of His Spirit if we are to see impact in every area of this life that surrounds us.

Are you ready to be even more aggressive in the area of faith, to see the impossible become possible, for great and mighty things to take place? This is not a time to be fearful but to be strong in the Lord in His power and might. Charles Spurgeon said once that he never passed a single quarter of an hour in his waking moments without a distinct consciousness of the presence of the Lord. When the Spirit fills the heart, so does His power, grace, and direction; the face of Jesus is vividly and evidently near.

Be encouraged! Dive deeper every day. Continue onward and upward, and never stop advancing. Every mountain has a mountain peak.

Richest blessings in Him, our Lord, Christ Jesus!

Keith Miller
Stand Firm World Ministries
Email: info@sfwm.org

Keith and Janet Miller minister throughout the U.S. and internationally, across denominational boundaries, with a vibrant teaching, preaching, and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, seeing entire cities and regions impacted by the Glory of the LORD! Keith and Janet have founded and pastored a church. Keith is also a conference speaker, and he and Janet are regular guests on Christian television. They have put together Apostolic Revival Teams to see entire regions powerfully impacted with a fresh anointing, fresh oil, and an increase of a deeper passion for JESUS. Keith and Janet's hearts are to see God's people released and walking in their destiny for the LORD, to see the advancement of the Kingdom of God through each person's life, and the effective working of HIS mighty power through the Believer's life.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Zac!

(Pssst...he's 31...old man (; )

Denali National Park

Denali National Park Sept 2nd 2012

Zac and his family are enjoying a beautiful day at the Park today! Avery and I stayed home because 1) He hadn't slept well 2) has been fighting a cold/snotty nose 3) He gets fussy on long trips 4) He wouldn't have been able to take a nap. Hopefully they will take more beautiful pictures for us to enjoy. I am so glad the colors are so beautiful for their trip down there! On a side note I dropped my laptop and busted the screen so I am using Zac's computer which has none of my pictures on it...still hoping for that Apple :) Hope everyone has a great week!