Tag:

process

Author Found Breakthrough After Battling Cancer And Losing His Wife

by Rhoda Gayle June 9, 2021

Author James Goll shares how he found a breakthrough after his battle against cancer and after losing his wife because of cancer.

James Goll

In an episode of Equipping The Saints with Che Ahn, the Director of Prayer Storm, James Goll, shared about his process of healing from tough times. He shared how he fought for his breakthrough and how God gave him the comfort he needed.

“Most breakthrough that comes and you’re able to maintain is when you actually fight for it,” James shared.

The process

The process is as important as the end goal. During the process of our healing and breakthrough, we get to experience how God moves in our lives and we get to know the purpose of the promise.

“Understanding that the process is as important as the promise,” he emphasized. “We often see the big download or the big breakthrough, the promise as the end-goal. But we can see that there’s as much or even more of the purpose of God in the process of becoming.”

Breakthrough

After his painful experience of losing his wife and his own battle with cancer, he let the Holy Spirit bring healing into his heart and even his thoughts. That was when he started to see new hope in his life.

“I have had the Holy Spirit bring me healing in my thought life, in my memories,” James recalled. “Then I started doing things intentionally that would develop new patterns of hope.”

Comfort

James then ended his message by assuring the viewers that God’s comfort during these tough times will be upon us. There will be breakthroughs after this storm.

“We each go through difficult times, I know that the God of all comfort will comfort you to help you turn around and give that same comfort.”

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Reference: GOD TV

June 9, 2021 0 comment

Faith

Supernatural Convergence; Coming Together

by Michael Rizzo May 10, 2021

written by Michael Rizzo

Convergence

In relationships, convergence speaks of a joining, connecting, merging of people. The concept of convergence crosses over into various areas, such as in the realm of nature. I recall a photo from the city of Passau, Germany, where there is a confluence of three rivers. The middle river is the Danube, flanked on the left by the Ilz (a small mountain stream) and on the right by the Inn (a large river flowing from Austria). As these waters converge and flow out of the city, the one river is simply called the Danube. I love these descriptive words: convergence & confluence. Somehow they seem powerful and potent.

Eden or Babel?

Speaking of a convergence of three, what about Adam, Eve, and God in the Garden of Eden? It began with the man formed from dust and then the woman formed from man. They were beautifully & mysteriously fashioned in the image of the Godhead, then joined together as the first human/divine family. No sin nature; no dark influence; provided they remained within the boundaries set by God. Alas, we know the story. A divergent one from angelic history, a rebel, an angry, orphaned being, was on the prowl to ruin God’s creation.

Everything changed in a moment. Banished from the garden our first parents began the pilgrimage which repeats itself every generation. We are still longing for Eden and pursuing the thread of redemption which God began to sow after the Fall. We have great hope for we know that the serpent will not be victorious in the end. Yet there are casualties such as the Tower of Babel. It was only a few hundred years after God hit the reset button at the Flood, that this divergent movement occurred. United with having one language, the people experienced a powerful convergence among themselves, but a God-less one. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.” (Gen. 11:4)

Better to be scattered with God than gathered without Him.

Growing Convergence

Convergence is an evolving process. I marvel over all that has unfolded in my life since I became a disciple of Jesus and better yet, all that lies ahead on into eternity! The in-between times are the most strategic, to ensure that we keep “connecting the dots” when there are dry spells and times of testing. I have drawn much inspiration from this quote by Oswald Chambers: “What we call the process, God calls the end.” I realize more and more, that Jesus delights in our interaction and celebrates our relationship on a daily basis. Yes, it’s good to have goals and celebrate them when achieved, but we must be cognizant of the liability of unmet expectations. I see it like this: “I’m going from glory to glory while abiding in the glory along the way.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

Case in point – John the Baptist. When his life first converged with Jesus, two things happened. His mother, Elizabeth, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and John himself was filled with the joy of the Lord. Fast forward three decades: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn. 3:29-30)

The “dots of joy” were connected for John. In between, was the glorious process. “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.” Isn’t that a great confluence of words: grow – strong – wilderness. Three rivers merging.

Spiritual Malaise

I’ve already alluded to the pathway of “glory to glory”, open to every disciple who chooses to participate. Ongoing transformation. Some seasons are like the “auto walk” in the airport. You know, the flat escalators where you can stand still and move forward, or put in a little effort by walking yourself. Then there are seasons where nothing is running on “auto” and it seems like your spiritual path is uphill, both ways! In my spiritual history, I’ve experienced a plethora of variations, as I look forward to more God encounters in the future. Anticipation is in our favor, right? Yet along the way I’ve had visits with boredom and malaise.

Just to clarify, excitement is not the goal, for no one can maintain a continual “spiritual high.” A healthy life has points and counterpoints, hills and valleys. The one is necessary, to see the other. Times of boredom and even sorrow, give meaning to our happiness. Working all week makes the weekend more special. One last illustration on the point of convergence…

Incident Ray vs Convergent Ray

The rays of the sun are pretty powerful. They strike the surface of the earth and in particular, we feel their effect on a hot day when the AC is out, or as we lay on the beach too long, especially without lotion. But other than that, incident rays are par for the course, another sunny day. Converging rays, on the other hand, focus themselves in a more intense manner, after being magnified. For example, a magnifying glass takes the rays of the sun and they converge in a way that is powerful enough to start a piece of paper on fire.

Looking through a spiritual lens, I can easily take the temperature of my heart and determine when convergence is missing. So the answer is a spiritual magnifying glass, right? Precisely. God will do His part. He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good. Our part is to magnify Him, while He faithfully undertakes to be magnified in and through us.

Every season of spiritual growth will be marked by this characteristic: Incidental and casual become converging and focused.

The incarnation was the ultimate convergence. God embodied in a man, sent from heaven to converge upon earth, a man with a mission. “Behold, I have come. It is written of Me in the scroll of the book, to do Your will, O God.” (Heb. 10:7) The mission is still advancing, carried for generations by the body of Christ on earth. “The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.” (Eph. 1:23) May the force of the Son be magnified through us, converging with impact in our world.

It’s an ongoing apprenticeship, a noble and high calling.

Relentless Woman, It’s About Who You Become In The Process

by Christel Berns April 26, 2021

written by Christel Berns

It’s easy to say nothing is impossible with God if your circumstance gives you a hint that it shall come to pass. But what about if your situation doesn’t seem to agree with what God promised? Will you give up, or will you still believe His promise?

God’s promise is always true.

His faithfulness is evident when He fulfilled every promise to Israel in Joshua 21:45, “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”

Whatever He said He would do, He will truly fulfill it. But the problem comes when we get impatient because God’s timeline is far different from ours. Yet the good thing is, God knows what He is doing, and He is working all things together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

However, this faith that we have towards God’s promises does get challenged over time. Especially if our circumstance dictates otherwise, or perhaps we got tired of waiting on God. And then we come to a point wherein we wonder if God would still do it.

The good news is, yes, He will answer. But maybe God is still preparing your heart when you receive those promises. Perhaps, it’s not about the promise, but who you become in the process. And when God sees it that you’re ready to receive the greater things He has for you, you’d probably praise Him that He had made you wait.

So, trust God while you wait for His promises to unfold in your life. Because God’s timing is always perfect, and “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” -Psalm 27:14

ALSO READ: Relentless Woman, Let Jesus Mold You First

April 26, 2021 0 comment

Articles

The Preparation For The Building Process

by Brian Taylor July 13, 2020

written by Brian Taylor

From the conclusion of 2019 until now, God emphasized to me of the significance of this year and the decade that we’ve entered into. Part of what He shared with me is how we entered a season in which many are called to the building process. Some people are called to build families, some businesses, some their communities, and some called to build ministries.

Upon entering the year 2020, it almost seemed like the call to build must have been a joke. All life halted in March as people all over the world were confronting shutdowns of all kinds. Work, for many, ceased and it left many challenged by how they would proceed with life as they had come to know it. How do you build in a time when a world has been put in time out? Where do you begin when you don’t even know when life will ever be the same?

The Building Process

The reality in life is that no matter who you are, you don’t just start building the moment you have an idea to build. There is a process that must be followed. In construction, there are things like the drawing up of blueprints, budgets to be assessed, sites to survey, and permits that must be obtained. In the book of Luke, Jesus poses the question to those listening to him speaking, saying “which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down to count up the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” (Luke 14:28)

It’s my belief that this downtime was a strategic moment where God allowed many to first count up the cost for what He has called them to build. Whether it is a business, a ministry, a family, or any other thing that He placed upon the individual’s heart. God created downtime for processing and analysis. I’ve often mentioned that even in discipleship, there is a cost associated with it. Many people have been given an opportunity. They are to assess whether they have counted the cost of living in a relationship with God.

Eternally Minded

It is true that Jesus paid the price for our salvation from sin and the grave. But the cost of discipleship is not cheap. It is costly, but the rewards are astronomical. The challenge for many is that they cannot see the eternal value. They are too heavily focused on immediate obstacles, weaknesses, or threats. And that makes a full commitment difficult. In Jesus’ own process of building a people who would carry on the ministry known as the Ekklesia, he shared with one of them that following him would not come easy. He said in Luke 9:58 that “foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Another man spoke up and said that he wanted to follow but he wanted to go bury his father first. Jesus pointed out to this man the reality of his commitment to following Him. A third man wanted to return home first to say goodbye to his family. These last two, are in essence in a place of mourning their past or what they are giving up. Jesus tells them that those who look back are not fit for the Kingdom. The nation and much of the world started the process of “opening back up”. And it is expedient that you’ve counted the cost of those things that you are building. Finally, as you count the cost, you are setting yourself up for building with peace of mind and confidence.

July 13, 2020 0 comment

Faith

A Simple Guide to Help You Navigate Through the Storms of Life

by Nathan Simpson March 10, 2017

written by Nathan Simpson

A Guide to Help You Navigate Through the Storms of Life

This path that we walk called life is ever changing. Some days the sun is shining and the sky is blue. Other days, it’s cold and windy. Sometimes there are sirens going off; warning us of a storm ahead. Sometimes we end up in the middle of a storm with no warning. No matter what, we must learn how to navigate the storms that come. We have to learn how to handle the process of pain and understand its vitality in our progress as we tread ahead on the pathway. I have had to navigate some serious storms in my life and I can easily assume that you have too.

Jesus is the ultimate navigator of storms

Jesus faced storms in His life; some that we could never imagine the sheer force behind them. We can gain great strength and wisdom by studying how Jesus handled himself in the midst of storms. Something I’ve always challenged myself with is the fact that Jesus could have taken the easy way out. He had the power to do whatever He wanted, but He faced the storm and he overcame! But my question to myself is this, “If I could take the easy way out, would I?” That’s worth spending some time thinking about.

The way of God versus the way of man

Being fully man and fully God, Jesus must have had quite the internal conflict. This is clear in Matthew 16 when He explained to his disciples the horrifying suffering that He would face. I always used to wonder why Jesus called Peter “Satan”, especially after Peter had just confessed that Jesus truly was the Son of God. In my opinion, Peter was just saying what any of us would say to someone who we loved. He was voicing his human-natured support for Jesus when he said, “this couldn’t possibly happen to You, Lord.” But the internal conflict between man and God is clear because Jesus had to intensely choose to forge on in this way. How easy would it have been for Him to listen to Peter and fly out of there! The decision alone would have been too much for most of us to deal with, yet Jesus knew what He had to do and no easy way would do it.

Jesus overcame and now we can too

Jesus was humiliated, mocked, beaten, pierced and hung on a cross to die, so that we may all have victory over death! His decision to die paved a way for us. His overcoming enables us to endure and overcome the trials that we encounter on our journeys.

In John 16:33 Jesus said,

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble and trials and distress and frustration; but take heart! For I have overcome the world! [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] (Amplified Bible)

Keep forging ahead!

Unfortunately, we all have to face storms in life; some big and some small. But with Christ, we have already been given a hope! To say that the path is difficult is an understatement, but we must keep forging ahead.

Pain has a process

When you face a season filled with pain and your heart is breaking, you must remember that pain has a process and that process takes time. The only way to heal is to let time pass and keep moving forward. However, many people can never get this done; they can never move on. When we have too much baggage weighing on us from pain, suffering, hurt, or any storm we face, it can cause us to get stuck. We get stuck in our pain and we never overcome it because we never truly let go. When you release the load off your back, the baggage you’ve been carrying for so long; you learn to walk in the authority that Christ has given you.

Here are some keys to navigate the storms in your life:

Let go of the things that are weighing you down.
Believe in God’s love for you.
Understand that pain has a process and that it’s going to take time.
Surround yourself with positive enforcement.
Stay focused on your calling and your identity in Christ.

What storms are you currently facing? Are you able to approach them with a fresh perspective now?

March 10, 2017 0 comment