Rhema Word•
on April 18th, 2010•
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell[a] in the house of the LORD Forever.
Did it every occur to you that the writer of this psalm had days like you and I have – that he and many of God’s great servants walked through days of fatigue and dryness of soul and body; when you just can’t take another sermon, news report of death and mayhem; when the financial demands and the emotional strain just gets a bit too much?
Now maybe you have felt that way or maybe you are feeling that way right now. Before you call for prayer or reach for your normal way of coping with life, just stop and ask your self this question: if God is God does He not know that you and I are built to have days when we will feel not only spiritual fatigue but also physical and mental?
If your answer is yes, then let us diagnose what fatigue is and find out how God wants you and I to respond to this common challenge and His provision for this. Fatigue is a common health complaint. It is, however, one of the hardest terms to define, and a symptom of many different conditions.
Fatigue, also known as weariness, tiredness, exhaustion, or lethargy, is generally defined as a feeling of lack of energy. Fatigue is not the same as drowsiness, but the desire to sleep may accompany fatigue. Apathy is a feeling of indifference that may accompany fatigue or exist independently. (Taken from an online encyclopaedia).
Fatigue is common. Around 20% of Americans claim to have fatigue intense enough to interfere with their having a normal life. Physical causes are estimated at 20-60%, and emotional causes are the other 40-80%.
a) King David was tired of war and he stayed home.
b) Samson the mighty judge of Israel was fatigued and found his solace in the arms of Delilah.
History is full of great men and women of God who had to overcome the very thing that you and I have to face in our generation. So let’s ask the Lord for His natural wisdom to help us deal with this all too common challenge.
I say this because many Christians believe that fatigue is the devil’s weapon against them and they instantly break out in fasting and put their bodies under more stress when a good night’s sleep might be just what they needed. Here are a few suggestions in a very practical way to help us all cope with fatigue.
Ways to help overcome fatigue
1. Get some rest. I don’t mean sleep I mean rest. That means lie down in bed turn off the interruptions, pull the blanket over your body and just let your body rest. It might take you a time to do this seeing that we are so accustomed to activity, but try doing this outside of your bed time and experience the results.
2. Rest in the Lord. Many times we are weary in our minds because too much information is coming to us to tune it out. Spend sometime not listening to the news, answering emails and watching the tv.
3. Find a place of quietness. I am learning to practice this place of rest in the quietness. Try not to respond to anything that really has not got your name attached to it and is marked urgent.
4. Connect with friends who can make you laugh and they help recharge your batteries. Listening to good music that lifts you up can help do this too.
5. Go for walks in nature if you can or just spend some time outside enjoying the movement of life around you.
I know most of us are getting ready for busier days as the spring and summer schedules begin to lengthen and we forget how easy it is to over do it. It is my prayer today, dear friends, that you would take the advice of the Lord through His servant Isaiah and have a restful week ahead.
For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)
Thank you all again for your prayers and kind feedback as we seek to be a blessing to the Body of Christ. – Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on April 7th, 2010•
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. (Psalms 42:5)
I love spring! In my opinion, it’s the best time of the year. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate summer, fall and winter. But there is something about the spring to me that speaks of a new beginning, of hope and strength. I love to see the trees begin to bud, buds opening and the soil begin to thaw as winter’s cold gives way to spring.
God, in His infinite wisdom, knows our need to look forward to a change in our lives from cold days – when the pain of losing our loved ones to death or the pain of a broken relationship, like frost, tightens around our hearts and joy drains from our lives.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.(Psalms 16:9)
There is something about spring that reminds me of our hope in God’s grace and power as a Father to empower us to overcome the greatest situation facing our lives. The greater the winter the more the earth looks forward to and receives the warming rain and sunshine of the spring.
Those who have lived with the cold of winter and fruits of sin in their lives are more hungry for and receptive to the grace of God that comes to them through Christ. The greater the sinner, the more amazing to him the grace of God.
That’s what God has for us today. It’s not what’s happening around you right now that should speak to you. It’s this promise that He has given to us in His Word that should speak to our hearts today…
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
The seed of greatness is deep on the inside of us, waiting for the appropriate time for it to come forth and manifest itself to this world. We are God’s sons and daughters, planted in Christ and we will not defeated or discouraged by the coldness of this world, the cares of this life, nor the weakness of our own flesh.
By God’s love and grace, you are alive and He is preparing you for your new beginning. It might seem long and the days seem unending, but dear friends, do not give up! Just as Christ overcame, you and I have the seed of an Overcomer in our hearts, beating fervently until our Lord calls us to manifest to this world His Word deep from the inside of us.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. (Romans 8:22-25)
It’s so important for us to understand that no experience is wasted and no season is unimportant to the child of God. If we can learn from our pain, embrace the sadness, and grow through our disappointments, then we can become stronger than ever as we wait patiently for His timing in our lives.
For remember this spiritual truth in your life: Patience is a part of the fruit of the Spirit; it’s not a gift. We do not learn patience in the summer or fall. We learn it in our winter season.
For in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God. (Psalms 38:15)
It’s my prayer for you today that you may stay strong through your seasons, that you may rejoice no matter what you are going through for your life is in the hand of the Master Gardener and He knows your end from the beginning. I pray strength over you today, favor in your season and a heart of thankfulness, knowing that God is preparing you for a new season in your life. – Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on April 7th, 2010•
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it (Gen. 4:7)
It’s our fervent hope and prayer at Faith Five Fellowship of Ministries that you are all doing very well and that you are appreciating God’s richest blessings to your life in these days. There is so much happening around us and so many decisions to make that wisdom has become the highest prayer for us.
Last month, we completed three weeks of extensive teaching and connecting in Jamaica. The Lord has been so good and He spoke to my heart many times during our visit there.
There was one very telling experience that Cheryl and I had while we were at a campus on the island. We stayed in a small one room bungalow, they call the “tree house”. Apparently it is the main residence for the guest speakers.
When we arrived, there was a small cat sitting at the front door, ready to enter with us. When we inquired about this cat, we were told that the former speaker would feed the cat daily, so the cat obviously decided that he would stay right at the tree house and get his meals.
Well, Cheryl and I did not want this cat in the house (sorry cat lovers), so we refused to let him in. He cried five days straight and kept his post. Every morning when we woke and prepared to leave, he would be there. Every afternoon when we came home, he would be there, getting ready to sneak in as soon as the door opened, but we were just as determined. And eventually he got the message that new management was not about to feed him.
God gave me a powerful message in that stay. If you don’t feed him, he must leave. Many times in your life, you will come to a situation that you did not start or set in order. You are expected to continue on in the set program, but you don’t have to.
You may feel the need to be angry because someone hurt you and you have the right…Don’t feed it.
You see, saints, I have realized after a long struggle in life that my faith grows when I feed it and my doubts grow when I feed them.
As you pray today, read Psalm 139 and pray with me:
Lord, You are our Maker and Provider. Give me the courage to overcome myself and feed my faith with Your words of truth and life.
- Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on February 27th, 2010•
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water 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. (John 3:5, 6)
On Monday night I had the privilege of watching on TV a young Canadian pair of figure skaters rise to the level of gold medalists. A 13-year journey for them came to a climax in Pacific Coliseum. Scott Moir wrapped Tessa Virtue in his arms and said two simple words: “Thank you.” Together they had done what no other had done in Canadian history.
In case you were in a cave somewhere or maybe in your prayer closet let me give you a quick idea what made their skating dance so unique. .
1. They are the youngest couple to every win gold at this event.
2. They are the first to break the stranglehold the Europeans had on this event for decades.
3. They are the first Canadians since Jamie Salé and David Pelletier shared the pairs title eight years ago in Salt Lake City to win a gold medal at this event.
As I watched their beaming faces and the joy of the crowd that surrounded them, I felt deep in my Spirit I was watching something so spiritually real – that I knew the Lord was speaking to my heart.
I believe He was saying to me I want you and I to dance together. To enter into a deep relationship of such honesty and purity that we are able flow together as one. The heart of God is for our spirits to flow with His spirit and merge into a deep abiding journey together.
We enter the kingdom of God through His Spirit and through the working of a daily process of living before Him a life of intimacy. But it does not stop when you find your calling or when you get married or reach some personal place of victory. The heart of God the Father, for those who choose to dance with His Spirit, is that they listen to different music.
To dance with the Lord, you must focus your soul on Him and Him alone. When the music of life begins and all eyes are on you, there is a great tendency for all of us to forget our partner and get caught up with everyone else and all the things happening around us. But if we are going to be successful in our dance with Him then everything in life must be shut out so as to give ourselves to this dance.
The Holy Spirit is your lead partner. He can be trusted when you feel out of control and your life seems to be going nowhere. Be encouraged of this one thing: He knows the whole arena of your life, every step you must take, every movement of this earth you live on. There must be a deep trust of your partner’s wisdom and strength in order for you and I to let Him lead you to a glorious life of victory.
With Him at your side nothing is impossible. Like David said in Psalm 18:29 For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall.
With Him at your side, you can break strongholds over your family and your finances.
With Him at your side, you can minster to the wounded, share the kingdom of God’s message. With Him at your side, you can run and not go weary, overcome temptation, resist wickedness in high places and win the race for your life.
I say to some you, it’s about time you change your dance partner. If you constantly feel defeated, tired and run down, always struggling to live victoriously, maybe God is saying to you that you’re walking with the wrong spirit.
Rise up in faith and ask the Lord of the dance to help you win the dance of your life.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. (Psalms 118:6-9 )
Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on February 18th, 2010•
We have now been at Westney Place – our new, ministry site - for nearly a month, and we are still cleaning up, moving in and settling in. There is so much that we have to do that it becomes easy to give in to the overwhelming spirit of fatigue and weariness.
But I am so thankful that God gives a Word for where you are going in order for you and I to be able to overcome everything that is speaking to you right now. If you are not sure just look back at the words of healing that God spoke to you, words of provision, words of courage and strength.
The Bible is full of God’s promises for our lives in every area. His Word is not dead and its for right now. He knew you and I would face these days of fear and apostasy and by His loving-kindness and grace, He has watched over His words so that you and I can have it today as a strong defence against fear and unbelief.
It’s so easy for us to listen to the radio and the television reports and believe they know the end of the story. When God’s book tells you and I what God’s view is on our world. It is so easy to just allow our hearts to harden to the Word and don’t read and mediate on His promises to us.
It’s so easy to let our senses rule our decisions that we compromise what God’s Word says for practical daily living when we know that God said the just shall live by faith and He that draws back the Lord will have no delight in. Everything in this world shouts to you to conform, follow the crowd, use wisdom and so on.
It is so easy to close our eyes to others needs, not pay our tithes, stop coming to church and just cruise in life. After all, God understands and He is love and it will all work out in the end. Does that sound like something you have said recently when you just chose to do nothing?
It’s so easy to complain inwardly instead of praising God for His daily blessings. It’s so easy to allow others to affect what we know God has given us the grace to do and let them take on our burden for far too long. It’s so easy to justify my choice and say God knows my heart while we condemn our brother’s actions without discerning their hearts.
It is so easy for us to justify our lives by acts of kindness believing that somehow God is pleased when our hearts do not beat like His. We are not touched with the things that move our Father’s heart. I don’t know about you…
BUT I AM TIRED OF THE EASY WAY.
It’s time someone pushed their heads out of the foxes hole and move by faith into the path of the enemy and turn him back at the gates. God never promised you an easy path nor comfort on this planet. But He did promise you an inheritance that can’t be devalued or stolen.
I have been meditating on Joshua chapter 1, and God gave Joshua and incredible blueprint for success. I love it and that is going to be my personal theme all this year:
1. Be strong in the Lord
2. Take courage from the Spirit of God
3. Obey the Word of God all your life.
4. Stay focused on what has been given to you by those who came before.
5. Speak the Word day and night.
6. Meditate on it and you will prosper.
These are my personal words for the rest of my life. I hope you hear the Lord talking to you. Like Joshua, if you are going to win the battle for your life it is not going to be easy. So if you want easy, turn back right now. But if you want to live in the power of God and become the head not the tail, above not beneath, lend but never borrow, then follow God’s Word for you.
May you continue to do what’s not necessarily easy, but right.
- Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on January 21st, 2010•
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:1)
It was reported last week that a 66-year-old man was attacked and mauled by his own “pet” tiger. This wild beast, weighing over 600 lbs, was living in an enclosure on the gentleman’s property. The tiger had been living there as a pet with other large wild cats for several years and on Sunday morning when the gentleman came to feed him his regular meal, the cat decide to change his menu and went after his owner instead.
I don’t know about you but as I think about this, I find myself asking why he would risk his life every day with these beasts, knowing their desire for flesh and how unpredictable these huge animals can be even at the best of times. Why is it that he scorned human contact and would rather spend his days with large wild cats that eventually were the catalyst for his demise.
The Apostle Paul in Philippians understood the danger of living with wild beasts that live on instinct and feeling. He reminded the believer in Philippians 3:2 to be watchful for dogs which was another term for false Jewish teachers – men who would demand the believer to come under the Mosaic law in order to be saved.
These men and women were devoted to their laws and would stop at nothing to bring what they believed on the people. They were legalistic and full of knowledge. They put their flesh under great stress in order to look good and acceptable on the outside.
Paul knew these kind of people because he was once one of them. He knew what it felt like and how quickly we could get so caught up in our own flesh and allow ourselves to act and behave in ways which is so against everything that we have been taught.
Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? (Romans 7:1)
The truth is friends that we all have a wild beast that we have locked up in our lives that we feed with our fleshly desires, but attempt to keep locked away. We know he is dangerous, but we still allow him to survive. We feed him with acts of kindness, good deeds and loving confessions. But it does not work.
The only way you are able to overcome this beast is allow the Spirit of the Lord to enter your heart and He alone can release you from every spirit of resentment , anger and bitterness. For what you feed will grow stronger in your life and what you don’t feed will eventually die.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12)
In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I say with all my heart and soul to you today that you don’t have to live with any wild spirit. We don’t have to put up with any spirit of anger, depression, despair or despondency. We are the people of God and He has come to set the captives free and to loose those who have been in bondage all their life.
My Prayer for You … Father, I pray today for my brothers and sister who are reading this letter. That they will reach out by faith and take hold of Your promises to their lives today. I pray that whatever has been their prison last year will become their cradle, that every wild beast that has troubled their soul will be declared dead to them and never again become a source of pain. According to your Word set them FREE in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on January 14th, 2010•
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19)
Praise God! The holidays are over and the presents, if you had any, are unwrapped. Friends and family have left your building and you are getting back to your routine. If you are like me, last year I had some experiences that were unexpected and not pleasant. But God saw me through them and His grace is sufficient for us as we stand on the borders of an incredible year in God.
Now that the new year has begun I would like to share with you a word for this year that the Lord has been percolating in my spirit for the last six or so weeks. It’s a word that’s easy to say, but very difficult to walk out. Most of us know that God has a plan for us and we desire it to come to pass. We believe in His power and grace but the reality is if we do not walk out this truth, then 2010 will end and find us no way near God’s plan for our lives.
This biblical principle is emphasized strongly in the life of Moses and Joshua. It speaks of the courage and strength in God to release so that we can receive. In the Book of Joshua chapter one, God sets the back drop for Joshua’s future…
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. (Joshua 1:1-4)
In these verses of Scripture, we see Joshua the servant of Moses, being given by Jehovah his future job and the boundaries of his authority. He has spent 40 years serving the greatest law giver, pastor, prophet, deliverer and servant of Jehovah that Israel has every had. He had lived in the shadow of God’s great man most of his adult life and now his mentor was gone.
God had pronounced Moses dead and told Joshua to release himself from Moses and move forward for God had not only given him an assignment, but was telling him who he would be assigned to and geographical boundary.
I know most of us can read these words and say, ‘Well God spoke and therefore everything was clear.’ But if we are honest with ourselves we will admit that giving up a good thing in our lives is much harder than walking away from an abusive situation. The enemy of your future is not the present, but the past that you have grown to know and accept.
To let go of your Moses, you must truly have courage in God to know that every Moses…
1. Can become your emotional crutch if you take your eyes off God.
2. Can weaken your faith in God’s grace for you.
We must learn that not everyone you start this year with, will be with you at the end of the year.
Joshua had to learn a lesson that we all must learn at one time or another. That lesson is that our future success in God will be determined by our capacity to let go of the past and trust God for the future. God cannot die but people and places and experiences must give way to a fresh flow of God’s grace and love towards us as we look forward to what God has for us in this new year.
I know most of you have had a year that you can only say by His grace and strength we overcame. Some may say I can’t go any further, I am totally unable to do any more, say another prayer, read another scripture or even just praise His name. You have come to the place where people you loved have died in your life and you are wondering how am I going to make it without him or her.
I believe God wants me to say to you that your Moses is dead and no amount of restitution is going to bring him back. God is removing the crutches from our lives and causing us to look to Him this year more than we have had to before. We are going to fast more than we have ever done, trust His power and grace more than we have ever done.
It’s time to let go of the pain in 2009. Behold the land is open to you. God has a people in 2010 that will respond to your life. He wants to bring out of your life signs and wonders, so that He may be glorified.
My prayer for you is ……that the Glory will spring up in you a new well of hope and power in 2010 that is fresh and ever flowing as you move as Joshua did into your destiny by His power and grace in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
27 The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, And will say, ‘Destroy!’ 28 Then Israel shall dwell in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine; His heavens shall also drop dew. 29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you, And you shall tread down their high places.” (Deuteronomy 33:27-29)
Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on December 20th, 2009•
For unto to us a Child is born and unto us a Son is given…(Isaiah 9:6)
An acronym for Gift:
Graciously thankful
Interpret the gift
Faithfully apply the gift
Thanking the Lord
* There is a personal God who gave a personal Gift: Jesus Christ and through this
gift came salvation.
* You get out of the Gift, what you receive from it.
* You receive from a gift; you don’t add to it. Over the years, men have added to the
Gift and because of this, we have traditions and the religion of men.
* Leave the Gift how it was wrapped: simply. Jesus was wrapped in swaddling
clothing in a manger.
* It doesn’t matter what pit you’re in, the Gift can and will bring you out if you receive
it.
- Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on November 10th, 2009•
Nov. 10, 1009
Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields
both salt water and fresh (Jam. 3:12)
George Smitherman, former Deputy Premier of Ontario and Minister of Energy &
Infrastructure, confirmed Monday that he would be stepping away from one of the top
political jobs in the province. His reason? He hopes Toronto voters will elect him to be
their next mayor.
The question that begs to be asked is why would he make this decision when he stands
second in line to the most powerful position in the Ontario government? Instead he
chooses to step down and run for the job of local mayor, an office that happens to
receive a large amount of its budget from the same office he is vacating.
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