June 7, 2005

• Pastor Emmanuel Danquah spoke last night. He is so spirit-filled, and Pastor Don has been a sort of mentor for him.

  
  

  The first statement Pastor Danquah stated was, God desires for us blessings far greater than what we expect for ourselves.

  
  

  The subject was Acts 3:1-8 which is when John and Peter were walking into the temple and the lame beggar was there. Instead of receiving gold and silver, the beggar received his healing and was able to walk into the temple leaping and praising God.

  
  

  We need to triumph over our limitations. In verse two we see that this man was lame from his mother’s womb, but by verse 8 he leaped and praised God. Our God is a God of miracles.

  
  

  We are crippled by many things in life, spiritual, material, physical, mental reasons, and God desires independence and freedom from bondage for us.

  
  

  Our things that cripple us keep us from enjoying the abundant life that Jesus wanted for us. He came so that we could have life and more abundantly.

  
  

  When God blesses us, it is not just for us alone that we receive these blessings, but so we can give the blessings to others as well. If others see how God is blessing us, if they see our joy, if they see our peace in the midst of the struggle, then they will want that kind of blessing to.

  
  

  Limitation is a demon that robs us of the joy God has for us.

  
  

  Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”

  
  

  We must press on, persevere, go toward the good irrespective of the hindrances that seize at us.

  
  

  Forget your past (Heather’s note, not always that easy), forgive your past, forgive yourself, forgive your weaknesses) and look to the future.

  
  

  2 Cor. 4:18 “..while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

  
  

  You don’t deny your past, your problems, your limitations, but you can chose to ignore them, to see things the way God sees them, to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Who will guide us to overcome our limitations.

  
  

  When you hear “NO” in the natural, then the faith walk begins.

  
  

  Fight the good fight of faith. You have a foundation of victory even before the battle begins, for Jesus has already been victorious for us.

  
  

  If you only play the depression game you lose. Play an active game. Limitation is an intangible barrier, causing you to accept without question your present state. But that is not the reality.

  
  

  With God ALL things are possible. 2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

  
  

  The steps of a Godly man are ordered by God, don’t shut down. We have a 6th sense (the Holy Spirit which directs our path). We must have a mentality of triumph. 2 Cor 2: 14 ” Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge to every place.”

  
  

  The battle begins in the mind. Romans 8:37 “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

  
  

  When you take a leap,  you don’t leap and stay in the same place, you leap to a new place.

  
  

  1 John 5:4 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

  
  

  We cannot divorce faith from overcoming tribulation. We fight the fight of faith every day. Everyone fights the fight of faith, even our pastors, and those who we look up to as pillars of faith fight that fight of faith.

  
  

  We need to build up our personal faith for us to overcome adversity when adversity comes our way. We can’t wait for adversity to begin building our faith.

  
  

  Give God’s word the opportunity to set you free from your limitations. Do not give excuses. Excuses are a self-sabotaging response to tribulation.

  
  

  Many famous people in the Old Testament also gave excuses, Moses said he couldn’t speak, Jeremiah said he was too young.

  
  

  Excuses are crutches to the uncommitted. They keep you from discovering the honest and perfect help from others.

  
  

  In all victories there is one common denominator, GOD.

  
  

  We have battles, all of us, on our trek to the promised land. We battle giants, and the promised land is here on earth. There are no giants to battle in heaven.

  
  

  Working at faith is a process. Mark 4: 26-28 “And He said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.”

  
  

  Pastor Danquah pointed out that you don’t plant a seed and expect immediate fruit, you don’t dig up the seed, you don’t know how the process of growth occurs, you first see a blade, then a head, then grain. It does not spring out of the earth fully grown. Neither does our faith spring up fully grown.

  
  

  Walking in this life is not free from tribulation, we all have tribulation to overcome. But we can rest in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” That Jesus will overcome the world.

  
  

  He said that his father used to tell him not to walk with the chickens and the turkeys, but to soar with the eagles. That we must pick our mentors, that we have to pick to stay around people who build us up, especially in times of difficulty.

  
  

  Back to the Man that Peter and John encountered outside the temple in Acts 3:1-8

  
  

  He was 1) lame, 2) laid (outside the temple), 3) lacking the ability to walk, 4) left daily, he persevered.

  
  

  In our lives we can identify with this man, for often we are lame in our lives (physically, mentally, spiritually), and often we are left in that condition by those around us, we are unable on our own to raise ourselves out of this predicament, but if we persevere and come by the temple (God) and keep asking without ceasing, we will be raised out of our situation and be leaping in our lives.

  
  

  Pastor asked us if we had dreams and ambitions. We need the desire to walk, the desire to succeed and overcome. Desire will attract the anointing of the Lord.

  
  

  He was diligent, daily he sought, and we daily must seek for our answers. If this man had decided that today he wasn’t going to go to the temple, if he moaned and groaned, and decided what was the use, he would have missed his blessing, he would have missed the passing of Peter and John, and he would have still been crippled.

  
  

  He made a decision. He decided to go with the eagles, and God would help him.

  
  

  He determined he would walk. We are not to be complacent in our lives, but not be selfish either.If we feel the prompting of God, we need to act on that prompting, not delay, not rationalize, but be determined to do what God tells us to do.

  
  

  He made a petition for alms. And God blessed him far and beyond anything he could conceive. When this man begged, he wanted a few coins, and God gave him liberty to walk and leap.

  
  

  He Looked. Peter and John told the man to look at them. He turned his eyes from the people, and looked to the place where he would find his answer. When we are troubled and hurting often we look to the people around us, instead of looking to the source of our freedom, Christ Jesus and God, to free us.

  
  

  He Listened – and looked to Peter and John and we must listen to the Word of God, to the mysteries of the Word of the Lord and to our heart and the Holy Spirit.

  
  

  Acts 3:4 He was lifted, no one rises without help. When you get help and rise up. strength flows into you. We must locate our strength which is the renewal of the Spirit.

  
  

  This man did not limp, he leaped. Don’t be a limper, be a leaper. Say the will of God in your life and leap. Don’t rationalize and try to fix the problem on your own, leap into God’s will.

  
  

  Peter leap when he walked on the water. Don’t miss the opportunity to stretch your faith to meet God.

  
  

  If God is for you, who can be against you.

  
  

  There are times when we get stuck in a place, in worship, in a prayer that is the prayer of defeat. Stop lingering in prayers of defeat, leap , take that step in faith, go.

  
  

  People will help others who have a vision. Don’t stop your breakthrough. It is time for the world of the wicked to come through for those of us who are spiritual leapers.

  
  

  But we are not to be a spiritual shoplifter, taking the blessings and keeping them for ourselves. If God is blessing us, we are being blessed to share that blessing with others.

  
  

  His love has lifted us up. The Love of God lifts us up.

  
  

   

  
  

  Hope you enjoyed this Bible study, it is much food for thought for me, as well as places where I see I need to do some action. Sometimes it is good to be reminded of these truths, for we become so complacent in our place, and do not move forward. I tend to dig my heels in and sometimes am dragged to the next step kicking and screaming. I have so much to learn.

  
  

  Heather

  • 12:09 pm
  • 21 Comments