New Church Website (by Carolyn Marshall)

On March 13 of this year, I added two new contributors to His Healing Word blog, Pastor Mark Parsons and Associate Pastor Linda Pugsley. Today, it is with great excitement that we announce the publishing of our new website for Great Hope Christian Fellowship Church! We hope that the Sermons, Articles, Spiritual Snacks and “Holy Purple Cow!” will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord and enter into an abundant life in Him. Dive in, take a peek, and check it out at http://www.myghcf.com/.

Pastor Mark and Associate Pastor Linda will continue to contribute here on His Healing Word, too. We are looking forward to this new journey the Lord has set our feet upon. What a blessing it is to share His truths by stepping beyond the boundaries of our local church and community and into the world through this wonderful "over-the-fence" ministry.

How Do We Maintain A Walk With God? (by Pastor Mark Parsons)

Last week, we shared on what it means to walk with God. This week, the emphasis is on how to maintain a walk of faith with God.

1.  Search the Scriptures. Jesus said the scriptures testify of Him. (John 5:39) The Holy Spirit will give us revelation, but we must search for this heavenly treasure.

2.  Pray to Him. We are to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17), and we must be devoted to prayer (Romans 12:12). If there is no prayer, there is no communion. If no communion, then there is no walk.

3.  Meditate and Reflect. David said, "How blessed is the man who meditates in God's laws day and night." (Psalm 1:1,2)

4.  Remain Faithful To God Alone. God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3)

5.  Receive Constructive Criticism. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives." (Hebrews 12:5,6)  Remember, He's the potter, we're the clay.

Determine to practice these principles and maintain a steadfast walk with God through Christ Jesus.

NOW GO LIVE IT!

Walking With God - What Does This Mean For Us? (by Pastor Mark Parsons)

 

Wonderful and lasting results take place when we engage in a faithful, sincere and steadfast walk with God through Jesus Christ.

1.  There is no more enmity (hostility, hatred, antagonism) between God and man because it was put to death on the cross. (Eph. 2:11-22)

2.  We are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. What Adam lost (life with God) has been restored through Jesus. We have been brought back into fellowship with God and received the atonement. (Rom. 5:1-11)

3.  We now have an intimate and meaningful fellowship with Him. Christ has been confirmed (established) in our hearts, and we are not lacking in any gift; we are blameless. (1 Cor. 1:4-9)

4.  Progress and growth in our Christian lives. Peter exclaimed, "Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that you may grow in respect to salvation." (1 Peter 2:2; Eph. 4:11-16)

This is not a walk of carnality or religion, but a relationship with the Living God! Therefore, be determined to set your feet on a course of obedience and walk with Him into everlasting life.

NOW GO LIVE IT!

Walking With God (by Pastor Mark Parsons)

 

Oh, to walk with God and to be pleasing to Him—to love, worship, adore, and obey Him each and every day of our lives!

We read in Genesis 5:24 that “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”  Again in Hebrews 11:5, “By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up, for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

We also learn from Hebrews 11:6 that “without faith it is impossible to please Him…”  Therefore, the message is clear for Enoch’s generation and for our generation today that all mankind cannot please God without faith in the Living God through Jesus Christ His Son.

Satan was active in that time and sought to destroy Enoch’s walk of faith in God.  His evil is present today as well, and he seeks the fall of all true believers in Jesus Christ. Walk in the Spirit; walk in faith; walk in the light; walk in love and in truth; and walk with God through Jesus—and you will be victorious over all evil!

NOW GO LIVE IT!

Mothers of Faith, Children of God (by Pastor Mark Parsons)

 

There is a tremendous responsibility for a mother to raise up a child in the love and admonition of the Living God. (Proverbs 22:6)

I thank God for the example we have in Jochebed, the mother of Moses. We read about her, her husband Amram, and Moses in Exodus 2:1-10. However, in Hebrews 11:23, we discover the reason for her actions -- she moved in faith! "By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict." (NIV)

Although we know little about Jochebed, we can learn much about her faith in God to surrender her child into His hands. She placed Moses in a well-prepared and sealed papyrus basket into the dangerous and crocodile-filled Nile River (symbolic of our present world).

Acting on faith, this mother was moved to release her son unto God's care. She did not know he would be the very man God would use to deliver Israel after 400 years of bondage and enslavement. What a mother of faith, what a child of God!

NOW GO LIVE IT!

Temptation (by Pastor Linda Pugsley)

Temptation is an enticement to evil ... period! It is too easy to just cruise through life on auto-pilot and thusly end up being slammed over and over again with temptation and succumbing to it. We need a plan to break that cycle!

God has a plan. He allows various trials to come our way, and in these trials are many temptations. He uses these temptations to reveal our weaknesses to us, but He always makes a way of escape and shows us how to defeat the wily ways of evil.

FIGHT the devil; FOLLOW Jesus; FLEE from sin; FEED the soul. With prayer, consistent Bible study and fellowship with strong Christians, we can go forth and with great power can say, "Get thee behind me Satan". (James 4:7-8; 1 Peter 5:8-9; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 2 Timothy 2:22; Romans 13:14)

NOW GO LIVE IT!

God Is My Pilot (by Carolyn Marshall)

Sometimes, our lives are so full of ourselves that there is no room for God. It seems as if we are on auto-pilot for self-destruction. There is too much work to do, too many places to go, too many people to see and help, and so little time to do it all. We put a self-imposed label on ourselves as superman or superwoman and head off to conquer our world. In doing that, we get in God's way of what He is trying to do in and through us.

We stifle God's purpose for our life by asking Him to be our "co-pilot". You've all probably seen the bumper stickers and other things out there with the saying "God is my co-pilot". That is where we get into trouble. I don't want God to be my co-pilot. I want Him to be in total control of my life. That is the only way I can serve Him fully, and it is the only way He can manifest His love in my life to its full capacity.

I was sorting through some things in my office today, and I came across a little card my mother sent me a long time ago. All it had on it was The Prayer Of The Chalice, but it is so powerful. Although you have probably read it many times before, please take the time to read through it again now. Copy the prayer and put it somewhere you can see it daily. We need to always be focused on our Lord and let Him be in control. He has so much love to give us, so many blessings to lavish on us, and so many ways for us to share Him with others. We just have to let Him.



©2011 Carolyn Marshall, Living Life Photography



The Prayer Of The Chalice

(Francis Nuttall)

Father, to Thee I raise my whole being - a vessel emptied

of self. Accept, Lord, this my emptiness, and so fill me

with Thyself - Thy Light, Thy Love, Thy Life - that

these Thy precious gifts may radiate through me

and overflow the chalice of my heart into the hearts

of all with whom I come in contact this day revealing

unto them the beauty of Thy Joy and Wholeness and

the serenity of Thy Peace which nothing can destroy.