Worship | Part One

by Pastor Jeff Dodig | Jul 16, 2023 | JCLC Blog

When you go to a tropical state like Florida especially during the rainy season and when you walk outside you can feel the moisture in the atmosphere. But a state like Arizona it’s completely different. It’s more of a desert arid type of atmosphere and you can watch clouds that roll in that could be rain clouds but there’s no rain. It is raining up there but the atmosphere is so dry that it sucks the moisture before it ever hits the ground. 

It sucks the moisture up where the water is supposed to go and then when you drive around you’ll see road signs like pray for rain. It is raining up there but the atmosphere is not conducive to receiving. 

We don’t want that to be our church 

Thanksgiving, Praise, and Praying in the Spirit makes the atmosphere conducive for the rain of the spirit. We want to pierce and saturate the atmosphere. So the rain of the Spirit shall come upon us. The lightning power of God. Worship brings the anointing which is the power of God which is all part of the glory of God.

Relationship and fellowship are two different things. Someone could be in a relationship with someone, but not have good fellowship within that relationship. For example, when a man and women get married, they are now in a marriage relationship – he is the husband, she is the wife, that’s their relationship to each other. This doesn’t change from day to day. But their level of fellowship within that relationship can change from day to day. Their level of interest in each other will determine how rich their fellowship within that relationship is. It’s a sad thing for a couple in a relationship to have poor or little to no fellowship with each other.

Once we are born again, we are in a relationship with God. He is our Father and we are His children. But we are the ones who determine how rich our fellowship is within that relationship. It is up to us to be interested and to desire to have a rich fellowship with the one we are in relationship with. We are the ones who determine how rich our fellowship with the Father is – not Him. 

God says in James 4:8 – Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. In the Amplified translation, He says, Come close to God and He will come close to you.

Our fellowship with God is based on our desire to walk with Him. God is a perfect gentleman – he won’t do anything uninvited. We are the ones who initiate the richness of our fellowship-as we draw near to Him and He will always respond to us.

How do we come close to God?

Turn your hearts and your attention towards Him. Talk to Him, listen to Him. Feed on His word. Turn your thoughts towards Him and worship Him

Smith Wigglesworth, an English preacher and who was used mightily by God in the first half of the 1900s was asked one time, how had he become so keen in the things of the spirit?

He then answered, that he just kept yielding and yielding to Him.

As we draw near to God, by turning our attention towards Him, and His word, and by yielding and responding to His presence within, our fellowship with Him will be a rich flow that not only blesses our lives, but the lives of others. And one of the main reasons why believers are not walking in the fullness of the victory that Jesus already provided for us is they’re not worshiping Him enough. 

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  

In the Norlie translation it reads: He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven itself enjoys.

God has already provided all that we are going to need. We are to worship God in gratitude which is Thanksgiving for all that He has already provided for us. We have to understand that praise and worship brings the anointing and the anointing destroys the yoke. The anointing is the power of God.

Go to Isaiah‬ ‭10‬:‭27‬ ‭KJV‬‬

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

We are to worship God long enough for the anointing to come, and when that anointing comes it will destroy the yolk. How long is long enough? Until the anointing comes!

Norvel Hayes, who was one of the leading teachers during the word of faith movement, and went home to be with the Lord in 2018. Primarily taught on faith, healing and worship. God said to him, they (people) don’t live in heaven’s blessings because they don’t worship Me enough.

And when you take Isaiah 10:27, we could correctly word God’s instructions to Norvel Hayes as “they don’t live in heaven’s blessings because they don’t worship me long enough for the anointing to come and destroy the yolk.” 

Poverty, lack, sickness, defeat, failure, depression, fear, are YOKES. 

YOKES are BONDAGES! You can be joined to it. You can be linked to it. We are redeemed from all of those yolks. If we were to live in heaven’s blessings here on this earth, we must learn to worship God long enough for the anointing to come. For then it will break off every yoke that tries to trouble our lives, and we will walk in total freedom with the Victory that belongs to us. We have to understand that worshiping God is an act of faith that will bring the anointing into every situation. It’s one way we release our faith in God. 

Why is worship an act of faith? Listen closely.

Because we are worshiping a God, we don’t see, and that requires faith, for faith is for the unseen. When we worship God, we are acting in faith. And we all know what happens when we’re in faith, it activates God’s power. His power will always meet our faith. The anointing is the power of God that will move and affect every situation as we worship God. Worship does not replace meditating on the word, believing it in your heart, and releasing faith with your mouth. Faith is in two places, one is in your spirit and one is in your mouth. Once spoken, you believe that you received it in your spirit.  

Mark 11:24

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 

Each of these things have their proper place, but one will never be able to substitute for the other. We have to make sure that we’re worshiping the Father when things are in place and also when things are getting out of place. It’s easy to worship when things are in place. But when an unfavorable circumstances arises and when opposition comes it’s easy to slip into the mental arena, and become troubled by what we are facing. But we must stay in faith, we must hold our attention to God in His word, and worship helps us do that. That’s why coming to church is so important. There is a very strong anointing here at church and it’s getting stronger and stronger. It’s a corporate anointing when we all come together in our fullness in one accord flowing in Psalm 100:4 by entering His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. When we come to God, we have so many reasons to thank Him. Jesus is the greatest of all these reasons. Bringing thankfulness and praise to God is a way to worship Him.

And here are some other reasons why we worship him:

Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭6‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

But as it now is, He [Christ] has acquired a [priestly] ministry which is as much superior and more excellent [than the old] as the covenant (the agreement) of which He is the Mediator (the Arbiter, Agent) is superior and more excellent, [because] it is enacted and rests upon more important (sublimer, higher, and nobler) promises.

Sublimer (Sub-limer) lofty, grand, or exalted in thought and expression, : of outstanding spiritual, intellectual, or moral worth tending to inspire awe usually because of elevated quality (as of beauty, nobility, or grandeur) or transcendent excellence high in place

Nobler (no-b-ler): Possessing outstanding qualities, of high birth or exalted rank and worship helps hold us

In the Old Testament we see in Gen 3:8 that God would come down to His creation, mankind, and walk in the garden in the cool of the day. But in the new covenant we see in Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 

And we come boldly to the throne of grace 

Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 

We thank and praise Him for giving us the gift of righteousness (right standing with God) and thank Him for  raising us up together, and made sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And we praise you Lord in our right standing with God. We come boldly to the throne of grace to receive all of our mercy and grace to fulfill every need that Jesus has purchased and provided for us. It’s already done. Thank you Lord. I praise you Lord!!

As we worship God we leave the mental realm and we’re consumed in the spirit realm where faith and peace resides. And this safeguards us from getting into fear, worry and doubt. Since worship helps hold us in the flow of faith, worship holds us to the easy flow. It doesn’t matter what comes against us. If we don’t give it our attention, it can’t get into our minds to trouble us. When we are faced with difficulties, God offers you a better place to look at Him and His word. Worshiping God helps hold our attention on HIM and HIS WORD and it helps you to hold fast on what you have believed that ye have received in your spirit. 

Great and Mighty Things

Jeremiah‬ ‭33‬:‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

And if God says he’s going show us great and mighty things, that means God is offering his great and mighty things for us. That’s what he wants to do. Worship invites God to do. God longs to do for his children. He will do great and mighty things for us, if we will have faith enough to worship him. God performs great and mighty things for worshipers. 

Receiving

Worshiping God enables the heart to receive great and mighty things. Being in His presence won’t leave us the same. It will have a Mighty effect upon our hearts. By spending time in the presence of God, we are enlarged, and enlarged hearts can lay hold of more and receive and contain more.

Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.

Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬ ‭KJV‬‬

…and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God (With Love:my add on) Himself]!

Smith Wigglesworth once said I am 1000 times bigger on the inside than I am on the outside.

That comes about through spending time with God, feeding and meditating on His word, worshiping Him, and being doers of the word. 

Safe With Increase

Worshiping God not only positions us to receive great and mighty things from Him, but it also helps keep us safe with the increase we receive – safe with the increased blessings, increased prosperity, and increased influence. As our increase, success and influence grow, spending time in God’s promise helps keep pride out. Worship helps us keep our hearts right so that we can handle the blessings of God with a right heart and do the right thing with all the blessings we receive. 

So let’s live a life of worship. It will change your life! 

Be Blessed

Pastor Jeff

Before The Fall-After The Fall-The New Birth

by Pastor Jeff Dodig | Apr 12, 2023 | JCLC Blog

To live in the fullness of the new birth we have to get knowledge of the makeup of mankind before the fall, what happen to mankind after the fall and how did God redeem mankindlLOVE back to his original state thru the New Birth

Not only is this important for you it’s a message that you are able to share with others.

So let’s go back to the book of beginnings and that’s in Gen 1:26

Genesis 1:26-28
26   And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness : and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27   So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

That word image in the Hebrew means  (resemblance)
(in the likeness of God)

Then we see the very first words of wisdom to mankind about how to operate under the blessing. The blessing always invokes blessings.
God commanded it right after the blessing is given.

28   And God blessed them, and God said unto them, he said Be fruitful (always producing) , and he said multiply (which means always increasing)and he said replenish (which means fill and refill) the earth, and he said subdue it (which means control your environment or your environment will control you) and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

So Genesis reveals that the blessing is ours when we are in a state of obedience to God‘s commands-which means that we have to be a doer of the word by acting on the word by believing  and speaking, just as mankind  did before the fall.

So mankind was made to always be producing, increasing, filled and being refilled, and controlling their  environment which is the dominion mandate that he gave mankind.

Then in Gen 2:7

Genesis 2:7 KJV
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (a living Being)

In the Jewish sages (is an interpreter of Jewish law) it reads that man became a living speaking spirit

The power of speech was not given to man for his own amusement

The first language of mankind was intended to be the language of the spirit.

Whatever our individual native languages are, they are secondary to the spiritual language of GOD.

And the language of God is made up of the WORD and SPIRIT.

The Breath of GOD was breathed into Adam. It was an impartation of the Spirit of GOD. By this means, Adam is created a speaking spirit, in the image and likeness of the Speaking Spirit of GOD.

Then in Gen 2:19 we see Adam speaking and creating names for the animals.

Genesis 2:19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 

In Adam’s naming and in the qualities that make that naming possible, Adam is the image of God.

Then in Gen 2:17 he gave Adam a commandment and said to him

Genesis 2:17 NKJV
“but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

Tree of Knowledge and the eating of its fruit represents the beginning of the mixture of good and evil together.

We all know the rest of the story mankind was disobedient they eat of it and died

God was not referring  to physical death but to spiritual death

If man had never died spiritually he would not have died physically.

But because he died spiritually it manifested itself in the physical body by destroying it.

Spiritual death means separation from God.

The moment Adam sinned he was separated from God. Mankind was cut off from God. The Glory came off of them.

It was God’s custom to walk and talk with man and God called out to him “Adam where are you”

Adam said I hid myself. He was experiencing  something that he never experience before and that is shame guilt and condemnation

Mankind was now separated from God.

Man is now united with the devil. He’s an outcast, driven from the garden with no legal ground of approaching God.

He no longer response to the call of God.

He now only responds to his new master and that is the devil.

Man is now spiritually a child of the devil and he partakes of his nature.

So now we have the knowledge of the make up of mankind before the fall and then what happened to mankind after the fall.

And now lets hear and see how God redeems mankind back to his original state and what mankind would have to do to receive the New Birth

The only way mankind could be saved is by someone paying the penalty of mankind sins and by someone giving him a new nature.

The man is a triune being. We’re spirit beings that have a soul which is our mind and emotions and live in a body.

Man Who is a Spirit living in a body can be reborn.

His nature can be changed.

He could become a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Mankind doesn’t have to experience eternal death or the second death as some call it.

Which is being cast into the lake which burnith with fire and brimstone. That’s Hell!

God did not make robots and gave us a wonderful gift of free will.

Do we choose the life from God or stay in the nature of the devil.

But in order for mankind to avoid eternal dealth He needs life from God because he is spiritual dead.

John 5:26 KJV
“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;”

John 5:26 NLT
“The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son.”     

The new man Jesus Christ had no death in Him. He was not born as we are born and he didn’t have the spiritual nature of death – the devil in him.

Yet the Bible says in Hebrews 2:9  he tasted death for every man.

Jesus took upon himself our sin nature.

Hebrews 9:26 KJV
“….he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

Colossians 1:21-22 NLT
“This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Reconciled means to bring back to former state completely.

He took upon himself our sin nature the nature of spiritual death, that we might have eternal life.

John 10:10 KJV
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

In order to have the life of God in you, you must be born again.

These were the words that Jesus spoke to one of the most religious man of the day.

John 3:1-8, 15 NKJV
“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water (which is the cleansing of the spirit by the word of God) and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus was saying
Don’t mentally reason it out or figure it out just believe.

Paul being inspired by the Holy Ghost writes  in Ephesians 5:26:

“That he might sanctify and cleanse it (the church) with the washing of water by the word….

Peter being inspired by the Holy Spirit writes in 1 Peter 1:23

I Peter 1:23 NKJV
“having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,”

Corruptible seed is decaying seed
Incorruptible seed is immortal seed
which is exempt from dealth because it comes from the life giver
God the Father.

The word is the seed that comes into your heart and causes faith to grow.

Not only must we have God’s word in order to be born again, but you must have God‘s spirit.

Paul HS writes in Titus 3:5 KJV
“not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

Titus 3:5 NLT
“he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”

Ingredients: For My Bran Muffins
1 C. skim or 1% milk
1½ C. Shiloh Farms Organic Oat Bran
1 C. PureLiving Organic Sprouted Spelt Flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. Shiloh Farms Himalayan Pink Salt
2 eggs
¼ cup Shiloh Farms Raw Alfalfa Honey 3 Tbsp.organic
½ C. Shiloh Farms Organic Walnuts, Pecans, or nut of choice, chopped
½ C. Shiloh Farms Organic Raisins, Cranberries, or Dates (chopped)

If I take out anyone of those ingredients I am not going have what I desired and that is a healthy tasting bran muffin.

Likewise in order for you to be saved the ingredients must be the word and the spirit mixed with repentance and faith in your heart.

And Romans 10:8-10 NKJV states:

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Your faith in God’s word is expressed with your heart believe and with your mouth confess.

The moment you believe in your heart and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, you are born again.

If you haven’t done that yet you’re not saved.

The word religion comes from the Latin and while there are a few different translations, the most prevalent roots take you back to the Latin word “Re-Ligare.” “Ligare” means “to bind.” 

To hold in bondage.

Most often people experience religion’s “bondage” to Laws, ritual, and rites. Religion then is a mis-representation of God’s desired relationship with Him.

There are many people that are part of a religious church and have never confessed that Jesus is Lord of their life. Ask them if they believe and confess, their eternity depends upon it.

We could never be saved except by the pure grace of God

Man is certainly undeserving according to his own merits.

It is God‘s power working through his word and spirit that brings about the new birth.

Yet without an attitude of repentance and faith God‘s power will not work in a man’s heart.

Man’s will must be obedient to God‘s will before he can receive God‘s blessings.

And in  Ephesians 2:8-9 the word states
8   For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9   Not of works, lest any man should boast

So there is a mixture of God‘s grace and power with your will and faith

It is not just all of God, and certainly it is not just all up to you.

It takes gods ability and your willingness to bring about the new birth.

In the New Birth, our spirits are re-created. Our bodies are not.

It is in our spirit where all things have become new.

II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

We still have the same bodies we always had.

There is a man who lives inside the body Paul calls him the inword man the real man and he calls the body the outward man.

2 Corinthians 4:16
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

The new birth makes you a brand new creation.

You are created after the image of Jesus Christ

In your spirit you were made to be like Christ.

In order to live like Christ you must put on the new man
Colossians 3:10 NLT
“Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”

And Renewal is a Daily process.

Proverbs 4:20-22 NKJV
“My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.”

So thru the word  and the spirit we received the knowledge of the makeup of mankind before the fall, what happen to mankind after the fall and how God redeem mankind back to his original state thru the New Birth in Christ.

If you haven’t yet received Jesus Christ into your heart or if your unsure, pray this pray accordingly to God’s word in Romans 10:9

Father God, in Jesus name, I repent from all my sins and I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord of my life and I believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead.  Thank you Jesus for being my Lord and Savior . And thank you Jesus. I am now reborn. I am a Christian-a child of Almighty God I am saved.!

Faith Works By Love

by Pastor Jeff Dodig | Feb 18, 2023 | JCLC Blog

God Has Given Us A Natural and Spiritual Immune System

by Pastor Jeff Dodig | Jan 20, 2023 | JCLC Blog

God has planned for you to live a long time. He has planned for you to live by faith.

Satan is after our immune system.

Those that worry all night is hard on their immune system.

Our immune system does a whole lot of work for us.

When you’re asleep at night Your immune system is working

Cells are being discharged and restored.

He meant for you to sleep.

When you get up in the morning it’s almost like Jesus being raised from the dead.

It’s like you went into a state where you didn’t consciously know what happened but God took care of you.

While you were sleep God was cleansing your body.

When your immune system isn’t working properly things don’t get cleansed.

The system isn’t repairing things.

It isn’t Keeping the arteries flowing freely

Satan comes after the spiritual and natural immune system.

The spiritual immune system can be found in Psalm 34:7, Psalm 91 and Job1:8-10

Angels are part of our spiritual immune system

Psalms 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Psalms 91:5-10

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thyhabitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.”

We have a spiritual wall of protection.

Job‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”

‭‭

That hedge is spiritual protection

How did that protection get down

Through Job’s fear and his words

He tour that hedge down

Next thing you know he had sores from the bottom of his feet to the crown of his head

What kept that blessing hedge up Faith kept it up

And faith will keep it up in your life

The enemy wants to get through

He does it through ignorance of the word ,unbelief, fear, doubt and shame so the hedge won’t protect you.

‭‭Every virus, disease and germ that touches your body supposed to die instantly because of your immune system. That immune system is put together by faith.

Pray According to 1 Peter 1:5 That the keeping power of God is keeping my immune system strong in the power of his might.

And we also do things naturally trying to build that immune system and do things like eating right things and that’s fine

But there is a spiritual immune system and it needs to be kept in place and we do that by faith!

Keep and Ponder the Memories of What God Has Done In Your Life

by Pastor Jeff Dodig | Jan 11, 2023 | JCLC Blog

The bulk of what we know about Jesus’ birth comes directly from Jesus’ mother.

Before Luke wrote about the birth of Jesus, he interviewed Mary, and it was Mary who vividly told Luke about all the miraculous events that he then wrote about in the gospel of Luke.

Mary’s memory of these amazing events is referred to in Luke 2:19 where the Bible says, “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”

The word “kept” in the Greek means to keep within oneself in order to closely guard or accurately and carefully preserve, and the word “ponder” means to lay in order, to bring together like a person who carefully chronicles a story.

Mary was so impacted by this amazing sequence of events in her life and in the life of Jesus that she arranged in order all of it in her heart and carefully preserved her memories of it all.

It is amazing to me that if Mary had not kept a record of all these events in her heart and mind, we would not know about them today.

But because she so valued what she had seen God do in her life and in the life of Jesus, she was able to tell the gospel writers the entire account in vivid detail.

Mary’s remembrance of the miraculous events in her life was so clear that she vividly related all the following occurrences to Luke in perfect order

And you can catch that on recording as I went through all the Scriptures last week. You can read what Mary told Luke in the first two chapters of Luke.

Just as Mary shared details of her life with Luke, she told Matthew about many events that she preserved in her heart and mind so vividly — adding significant events that occurred after the holy family returned to Nazareth.

You can read what Mary told Mathew in the first two chapters of Mathew.

As we think about Mary’s remembrance it will make us want to ask — have I preserved my memories of what God has done in my life so vividly that I can share them with someone else?

Have we been careful to remember the works of the Lord in our life?

Or have you forgotten what God has done, or let those things slip because so much time has passed?

If you’ve let those workings of God slip in your life, it’s not too late to pause and take stock of those things again, pondering them deeply and preserving them in your memory like Mary did.

Whether it’s using a composition notebook a steno pad a journal something where you can write down all of the workings of God in your life.

Even have a notebook at your bedside that when you get a word from the lord you can write it down

This is your life and this is your story. You have a testimony to share. Your name is in the book of life. And your name will add other names to the book as you share the workings of God in your life.

You Make A Move Then God Will Make His Move

by Pastor Jeff Dodig | Dec 22, 2022 | JCLC Blog

FF Bosworth 1877-1958 in his book Christ the healer illustrates the truth that there are two parts to every victory. There’s God’s part and man’s part.

Man’s part is to trust, and God’s  part is to work. Men can never do God’s part, and God cannot do man’s part.

When we trust, God works, but He cannot work until we trust. Many people keep waiting for God to work before they have done their part in trusting.

FF Bosworth illustrates this truth clearly by paralleling it with a game of checkers.

We make our move, then God makes his move.

God cannot make his move out of turn, but he will always make his move when we have made ours.

God has made his move by laying all sickness and disease upon Jesus.

When we make our move by believing, confessing and acting on the truth, God will again make his move by meeting our faith with his power.

Many people fail to realize that they have a part to play, so they wrongly accused God of not fulfilling his word when, in reality, they have not fulfill their part. Once you make your move of faith, God is faithful to make his move.

He is waiting for you to make the move of faith, believing and trusting In Him and His Word.