Session Notes

Rev. Bob Stevens

“Jesus said of himself, ‘If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.’ Well, he has not drawn all men, not even a majority of men, and I am inclined to think that he has never been lifted up. An unreal, imaginary character is being lifted up instead, and men are not being drawn by it.” The Promises of God

This page is designed to let you know that God has made certain promise to you.

Not all the promises are listed but I will keep trying. My goal is to have every promise of God listed on this page before I go to be with the Lord.

Rev Bob Stevens Promises of God in Isaiah Promises of God in Psalms 500 Promises of God Finis J. Dake Promises of God to Children Promises of God to the Penitent Promises of God to the Poor Promises of God to the Giver Promises of God to the Meek & Humble Promises of God Concerning Life After Death Promises of God to Those Who Act in Belief Promises when you are Discouraged Promises when you are Worried Promises when you are Lonely Promises when you are Depressed Promises when you are Dissatisfied Promises when you feel Rebellious Promises when Experiencing Fear Promises when you need Confidence Promises when you Feel Angry Promises when you feel Condemned Promises when you feel Confused Promises when you feel Tempted Promises when you Need Courage Promises when You Have Physical Illness Promises when you Need Patience Promises when you Need Peace Promises when Troubles Come Promises when You Doubt God Promises when Your Having Marriage Problems Promises when You are Deserted By Loved Ones Promises when You are in Grief Promises when Your in Financial Trouble Promises when You Do Not Understand God’s Ways Promises when You Are Waiting on God Promises when You Are Mentally Disturbed Promises when You are Lukewarm

1Joh 4:18 (KJS) There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Psal 91:1 (KJS) He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. {abide: Heb. lodge}

Psal 91:4 (KJS) He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth [shall be thy] shield and buckler. 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.

Psal 91:10 (KJS) There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

This is in excellent article that will literally move you! May it be so for us, our families, friends, schools, clients, and world. I encourage you to consult New American Standard, The Message, and Strongs Concordance.

Session Notes:

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The God Who Speaks – July 7, 2006 I was gearing up for soul-restoration, not issues-exploration. But Cam is usually right, so I kept my eyes open and asked the Lord for a strategy. Sure enough, not long into my “breather”, up came some “stuff” that wants to bully me towards isolation. How do you rest when old insecurities, temptations, or “demons” rise up when you finally still your heart? Or am I the only one who didn’t automatically get all his shortcomings washed away at baptism? If not, read on:

The Lord showed me that during a time of rest, first of all, I don’t need to go digging for my issues. They will surface on their own, thankyou very much.

Second, when they surface, I don’t need to work at fixing things. Rather, I can sit WITH them in HIS PRESENCE, allowing them to RIPEN. That way, instead of running around the tree of my life picking off old “bad” fruit, I can sit at the tree of HIS LIFE /the Cross) and let the fruit simply rot and fall off. I found that this took some patience and a little courage. But to extend the tree analogy, it was a reminder that Christ is the Pruner… not me. And if you give Him a chance, He is faithful to do it. I hardly had to help him; my role was to simply ripen in His presence. SOOO restful… in fact, the biggest breakthrough came just this morning through a one-minute dream. It was Jesus, teaching me “the unforced rhythms of grace” (Matt. 11:28 MSG).

And third, it dawned on me, “Why don’t I ALWAYS take this approach?” Perhaps there is a time to take the initiative and really pursue one’s healing ruthlessly and thoroughly… but I’ll ask Jesus about that later. After my rest. In the mean time, can I challenge you to ask the Lord if there’s anything “in your face” that He’d like to have ripen in His presence.

Brad Jersak

This is an inspiring article!!! I pray we can allow God to reveal His healing love to us, our families, friends, clients, churches, school, and world.

Ok, I just got this sent to me and had to post it — actually, I owe it to the world, Bill W. and Dr. Bob to post it…

Are you too serious? Take these 12 steps…

1. We admitted that we were powerless over seriousness — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that only by lightening up could we achieve a state of non-seriousness.

3. Made a decision to turn our constant self-criticism over to our sense of humor and learn to “lovingly and wholeheartedly” laugh at ourselves.

4. Decided to give ourselves a break once in a while, instead of constantly doing searching and fearless moral inventories of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being that our wrongs were often in our heads.

6. Were entirely ready to accept that our characters were as good as anybody else’s and possibly better than most.

7. Quit harping on our shortcomings.

8. Made of list of all persons we thought we had harmed and saw that they’d forgotten all the crap we’d blown out of proportion.

9. Quit making amends for breathing air and taking up a few square feet of the planet’s surface.

10. Resigned ourselves to the fact we were going to criticize ourselves at times, but would try to stick to our guns when we knew we were right.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to calm down and realize we’re not responsible for everything.

12. Having experienced immense relief from these steps, we would try to carry this message to other over-serious people and to practice these principles in all of our affairs.

God Is For Me – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

” When things are going the way you want, God is for you. When life seems to be falling apart, God is for you. When the Philistines chased David down in Gath, he wrote, ‘This I know, that God is for me’ (Psalm 56:9). What a time to make a declaration like that! Many of us have found ourselves in a place similar to David’s situation at times. Life is closing in . . . the enemy seems to have us cornered and there appears to be no way out. Pleasant circumstances disappear before our eyes and the world turns dark. At times like that, we may be tempted to cry out, ‘Why is God against me?’ Not David. He assured himself with the truth, ‘God is for me.’ He didn’t say, ‘This I feel, that God is for me.’ There are many times in life that we don’t feel like God is for us. No, he said, ‘This I know, that God is for me.”

This is a great article esp in times of minor challenges or when God seems silent. I find grieving also helpful, like Job to experience THE LORD is NOT AGAINST US. It shows the process of THE FATHER proving His love through His assurance, MAYBE THROUGH SENSING HE IS HOLDING US, until we can go from-affirming, to feeling, to knowing GOD IS FOR ME THIS I KNOW. MAY IT BE SO FOR US, OUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS, AND THE WORLD!

Steve McVey:

“I’ve taught several times about how sailing is a metaphor for the grace walk. On land, we seem to have control of our own forward motion, which I’ve suggested depicts a legaslitic lifestyle of self-sufficiency. Once we abandon ourselves to the wind (the Spirit) and the water (The Word/Jesus), we have no illusions that we are in control anymore. Safe sailing necessitates that you go forward as the wind leads you. To fail to cooperate with the wind can bring dire consequences – not because the wind is punishing you, but because you are experiencing the natural result of independence and pride. Happy sailing involves watching the wind and water and cooperating with what they are doing. That’s what we plan to do today. Will we go? Will we stay? We don’t know yet, but we are willing to do either one, once the wind lets us know. So it is to be in life if we want a successful and enjoyable journey.”

This is a great article regarding resting in that EVERYTHING, HAPPENS FOR A REASON. Any situation can result in experiencing/showing God’s love understanding and grace because Jesus took any the sins of the world. May the Lord give us/our families/teachers/friends that rest.

Babies born to women who suffered morning sickness may be smarter:

“‘They can be dehydrated, they cannot work. Poor quality of life. So in a way this study further supports them and empowers them to treat themselves.’ Koren and colleagues wanted to look at whether there were any signs that using diclectin during pregnancy was harmful. The drug has been on the market in Canada for decades, but was pulled from production in the U.S. about 25 years ago over concerns it might be harmful to fetuses. It is being reintroduced in that market. The concerns, which came to light after the thalidomide scandal, led to the drug being extensively studied, said Dr. Tina Chambers, a teratologist at the University of California, San Diego’s School of Medicine. Teratology is the study of abnormal fetal development, congenital malformations and what causes them.”

This is a very reassuring article that the med has been safe for a least 10 yrs. Nausea is actually a sign of a healthy pregnancy. God seems to say so as well. Isn’t it great that technology can even reassure you if it is even possible to become pregnant. Now women can really wait for His best timing for marriage/family!

John Eldredge: June 2008:

“First, we really need vacations, just as we really need Sabbath rest each week. There’s a rhythm to life. The heart beats, then it rests. It beats, then rests. We wake each morning, then we sleep every night. We wake, then we sleep. We spend energy, then we take in food to replenish what we spent. Vacation is like that. We’ve got to have periods of rest and joy and beauty in our year. So here is what we’ve learned about vacations: First, ask God! Don’t just assume you know what is best this summer. Ask God what he’d have you do, and when, and with whom. Too many folks squander their vacation because they don’t ask God what he has for them. We went to Kauai because we prayed about it last winter, several times. ‘Where should we go, Lord? For how long?’ Visits are not vacations. Most folks spend their vacation time visiting relatives. That rarely is restful and restoring. Visits are not vacations. Don’t confuse the two. Pray over your vacation beforehand! You know there is a thief. You know he hates joy. The mistake we often make is somehow thinking that vacation time is exempt from the Battle. It’s not. I spent weeks ahead of time praying over our Kauai trip – praying for safety. For the weather. For our travel. For our love as a family to be full. Don’t spend your vacation running. Too many times the temptation is to fill the time with busy-ness, running here and there, touring, trying to ‘fit it all in.’ Most folks get home and need a vacation from their vacation. Don’t squander it running around. We spent most our time within a few miles of the place we stayed. Resting. Being renewed. Don’t drop your guard. The temptation when we get to wherever it is we were going for vacation is to drop our usual prayer life, drop our armor, and think ‘this is time out.’ It’s not. To protect the time, I got up early every morning and prayed hard over the day. Don’t be lulled into a false security. Okay. Now ask God what he has for you this summer.”

May it be so for everyone!!!

6 Reasons to Drink Green Tea:

“6 Reasons to Drink Green Tea The steady stream of good news about green tea is getting so hard to ignore, that even java junkies are beginning to sip mugs of the deceptively delicate brew. You’d think the daily dose of disease-fighting, inflammation-squelching antioxidants — long linked with heart protection — would be enough incentive. But wait . . . there’s more! Lots more. “

What is of paramount importance is the content of what truth is:

“With my wisdom firmly placed in Him, I can enjoy fellowship with others who are in Him and who may understand some truth differently than I do. I can desire to know the ‘what’s’ and the ‘why’s', but be at rest. I can also live perfectly at peace with my lack of knowing. I no longer expect of myself or others to understand all about ‘truths’. Jesus, who I am ‘in’, understands it all. This is what abiding is about. My life does not independently contain all that it needs to live. The truth is in Someone else- Jesus.”

This is an excellent brief article on searching for truth, but also being at rest not knowing until it is revealed to us. May it be so for us.

Abiding:

” second reason we do not understand abiding is that our humanness does not want to. The heart of abiding is dependence. Dependence is the mortal enemy of self (our flesh). Our flesh screams out against dependence. We like the idea of improving ourselves ‘for’ God. We are drawn to ways that increase our strength, wisdom and abilities ‘for’ Him. This is why we can not relate to Paul when he says, ‘Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.’ (2 Cor. 12:10) We long for love, acceptance, value and identity; but we want it the old fashioned way- we want to earn it and deserve it. You can not understand the concept of abiding (let alone live in it) until you are willing to recognize that living the Christian life is not about you getting better or working harder. As Christ said, ‘you must deny yourself’. You living the Christian life, in fact, is impossible. You must be convinced that only Jesus within you can live the Christian life.”

This is an excellent article on resting in our completeness because of Jesus rising from the cross. We can be at peace. May it/this, His wisdom be so for us.