It Is Well With My Soul
Our Prophetic Word for 2017
Spinning Plates
June 11, 2017 • David Hammerslag
Our lives can become a frantic rushing from spinning plate to spinning plate. We give each enough attention to prevent a disastrous crash, then we rush off to the next plate that is in danger of falling. We make our lives more and more frantic, hoping that with this one last plate spinning in its place, we’ll be happy and satisfied. Do you ever feel like a plate spinner? We think if we can just manage to keep all the plates spinning -- make sure none of them come crashing down -- then we will be happy and contented. Yet, even when we do manage it, usually for only a very short while, we end up feeling exhausted and unfulfilled. Soon some of the plates will start to slow down and wobble, demanding our attention again. The plates become our masters. We become imprisoned by the need to keep the plates spinning. They command our attention. There's a better way. And Jesus shows it to us.
Hope and Dreams
May 7, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
What happens in a time of drought is that as hope declines, dreams contract. They get smaller and smaller and smaller until we only allow ourselves to dream things we believe are doable But when hope takes up residence in us, then hope is a dream factory. Hope is coming upon us, hope that fuels transformation and releases dreams. Even in a time of drought, Father is inviting us to dream again!
The Drought Is Coming to An End, Pt. 2
April 23, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
Today we return to an encouraging word that the Lord gave us in early February: "The drought is coming to an end." To say “The drought is coming to an end” is not the same thing as saying there are no more rivers to cross, mountains to climb, valleys to traverse, hardship to endure. It is to say that a long season of loss, lack, and less is coming to an end. Why would God bring it to our attention again? Well, assuming that He is directing this conversation, clearly it’s a matter of some importance to him. And if it’s important to Him it is important for us. At a minimum, he’s telling us to pay attention. It’s easy to lose sight of something once it’s no longer immediately in front of us. Our tendency, once we’ve heard something, is to move on to the next thing. It’s rare that we would take time to consider and then reconsider what we’ve heard, and that's what we're doing today.
Why Does My New Life Look So Much Like My Old Life?
March 26, 2017 • David Hammerslag
J. Philippe, author of Interior Freedom, tells us, "What often blocks the action of God’s grace in our lives is less our sins or failings, than it is our failure to accept our own weakness—all those rejections, conscious or not, of what we really are or of our real situation. To 'set grace free' in our lives, and paving the way for deep and spectacular changes, it sometimes would be enough to say simply 'yes'—a 'yes' inspired by trust in God to aspects of our lives we’ve been rejecting." "We refuse to admit that we have this defect, that weak point, were marked by this event, fell into that sin. And so we block the Holy Spirit’s action, since he can only affect our reality to the extent we accept it ourselves. The Holy Spirit never acts unless we freely cooperate. We must accept ourselves just as we are, if the Holy Spirit is to change us for the better."
The Offended Identity
March 19, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
Secondhand offense does first order damage to relationships. Once you’ve taken on another’s offense, it becomes the organizing principle for the relationship. A subtle shift takes place wherein the relationship becomes a partnership of being offended together, and to stay together you must remain offended together. Offense is a black hole that sucks everything into its darkness. When we’re caught in this trap and remain there too long we develop an identity around being offended, and we will defend that identity (and the offense) vigorously.
The People You Can't Offend
March 12, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
Building on last year’s ministry theme, "Choose Love," what if here at Wonderful Mercy Church, we were to become known as THE PEOPLE YOU CAN’T OFFEND? What if we decided that if we were going to have any kind of reputation at all it would be this: "Oh, those people at Wonderful Mercy, they’ll love anyone!" If we were to become THE PEOPLE YOU CAN’T OFFEND it would free us to love people in daring, life-giving ways.
Offended -- No Way to Live
March 5, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
The prophetic word for the year, "It is well with my soul," will be fulfilled as we pursue the things that lead to peace at depth of our being. When we lack that peace, we’re not really free—we’re bound, controlled by the things that have us all twisted up inside. For the sake of our soul we must identify and address an enemy of peace: being offended and nursing anger that feeds offense. The reality is that we choose to be offended. Every time. And the companion to that truth is that we can choose not to be offended.
The Drought Is Coming To An End
February 12, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
If you’ve lived long in a drought-stricken land, when something good happens—when water appears on the horizon—you don’t trust it. You struggle to receive it and to believe it is real or will last. This is where scarcity strongholds are erected and then vigorously defended. But the Lord says to us: "The drought is coming to an end. And all the contradicting circumstances in our worlds cannot hold back the rain. Your doubt cannot hold it back. Your sin cannot hold it back. Your fear cannot hold it back. This—the drought is coming to an end—is something the Father has decreed. Father is determined to bring it about and nothing, not even the gates of hell and certainly not you, can stop it.
Tending to Our Inner Life
January 15, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
The culture of the church in the western world hasn’t given us many tools with which to think about our souls, much less how to tend to them. Odd, when you think about it, given the soul’s place in Scripture and how frequently it factors into the divine conversations the Bible invites us into. For example, Deut. 4:9 tells us, “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently…” If we are to learn how to tend to our inner life, we must go to the life-giver to learn how to care for our life-center. It matters greatly that we do so and here are two reasons why. First: if our soul is well-tended, then no matter our lot we will be able to say, “It is well with my soul.” And second: the physical and public side of the human universe cannot sustain our existence, even though our consumer-driven, celebrity-worship culture insists otherwise.
Selah (Part 2)
January 1, 2017 • Dirk Duhlstine
SELAH – A word used 74 times in the Old Testament that often we just skip right over. Learn to take time to listen, to pause, and create margin in your life so that you will be able to better hear from the Lord and have time to do the things He’s calling you to do…even if it’s just being with Him!
Selah (Part 1)
January 1, 2017 • Dirk Duhlstine
SELAH – A word used 74 times in the Old Testament that often we just skip right over. Learn to take time to listen, to pause, and create margin in your life so that you will be able to better hear from the Lord and have time to do the things He’s calling you to do…even if it’s just being with Him!