Chuck and Pam Pierce:
"SPRING FORTH INTO A NEW SEASON--A TIME TO MOVE FORWARD!"
"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grapes
Give a good smell."
Song of Solomon 2:11-13
Your Path is FORWARD and not BACKWARD!
Spring is Here! I am thankful that the Lord makes all things new and sprouts forth after a time of dormancy. My wife Pam and the kids have been working in the yard this week. Planting and preparing for Spring is one of Pam's joys in life. I love watching her gardens grow. When Spring comes, I always think of these four things:
1. Spring is the time when the Jordan River begins to rise and we prepare to cross over or "pass over" into a new season of growth and inheritance. We let go of some things from the past year or past season and move forward. Crossing over includes moving from one dimension of promise to the next.
2. Spring is a time when kings go to war. I always contemplate the warfare ahead. I pray for God's leaders--that they will gain their war strategy for the future, and also be ready to confront the enemies that would try to keep them from prospering in God's Kingdom purposes. Make a list of the wars you need to win in the days ahead.
3. Spring is a time of resurrection. Some things have been dormant; or you have gone through a winter or death season, and now it's time for life to spring forth again.
4. Spring is a time for planting, sowing, and preparing for the Harvest or REAPING!
Spring is a Transitional Season
Spring is a time when the power of dormancy breaks off of us. We actually come out of hibernation and begin to "roar" because we are spiritually hungry. If Spring is a time for kings to go to war, then make a list of things that you want to be sure are fully defeated in your life. Also, define the place that you are trying to crossover into and how you should be prepared to make this shift. The crossing over place is defined as transition.
This is a time when we must allow God to show us the future so we can advance. You need to reach back and grab a hold of those things that have been detrimental and defeating in your past. Then, take your other hand and grab a hold of God's best for your future. Pull all the defeats of your past and place them under the "best" in your future!
The Body of Christ, the governments of the world, our nation, and most of us personally, are in major TRANSITIONS. A transition is a place of CROSSING OVER! We are grafted into the covenant of Abraham. Abram, the Hebrew, was one who always crossed over. The word Hebrew is "abar" and means to CROSS OVER! Therefore, we are a Blood-bought, redeemed people who will always be crossing over to our next place of victory. A transition is also a passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another!
A transition is a CHANGE in a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another. Transition is a SHIFT IN SOUND, or a musical modulation or passage leading from one section of a piece to another. Most transitions begin with a shift in our worship dynamic. A transition is an abrupt change in an energy state or level, accompanied by the loss or gain of a single quantum of energy. Therefore, we are sent into major transitions when the Lord looses new power into our lives. The power of God seems so many times to upset our ordered apple cart! We must learn to adjust.
Transition has Three Phases!
Transition has three phases--the first of which is an ending or death to something. Then there is much confusion. Confusion is fine for a while. Your cognitive processes are adjusting to many new ideas and environmental changes. Old strongholds are breaking, but resisting to fully letting go. Therefore, you know you need to move forward. However, many times, you do not know how to move forward, but you are sure to not want to go back where you have come from. Then finally, there is your crossing over place into the new! The new will come, and you will get to your "there" if you keep going! I believe the Lord watches us very closely in our transitions to see how we process change and keep moving.
Psalm 126:6 says, "He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." That means there comes a time when captivity breaks and even though seed has been drawn out of your basket in some way, it will come back and prosper. If you have wept, you will have joy. If you have given, you will have increase. If you planted, things will grow. Do not grow weary in your well-doing because you will eventually prosper as you go forth. Your joy will eventually overtake your sorrow. Your giving will eventually overtake your drought.
Reaping in ancient times, as at present, consisted in either pulling up the grain by the roots or cutting it with a sickle, and then binding the stalks into bundles to be carried to the threshing floor. There were definite laws established by the Hebrews in regard to reaping. God is reviewing our boundaries so that we fully reap from the fields that we are connected into.
In God's Kingdom, there is a division of labor, "He that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together" (read John 4:36-38). 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." May you reap a 10, 30, 60, or 100-fold return on your Kingdom investments.
Spring forth! We love and appreciate you!
Chuck D. and Pam Pierce and Team
Glory of Zion Ministries
I have heard you!
Rev. Diane M. Hale
Mar 22 2007 06:00AM
"…I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you…" [2 Kings 20:5a]
There are many reasons and seasons in our lives when tears seem to flow. Some are tears of relief, joy, sorrow and sadness; sometimes frustration, anger, disappointment or even just in the overwhelming reality of God's love and goodness. Tears are often triggered by some unknown but deeply felt emotion, touched by the setting of the sun, the smile of a new born child, the pain in your own heart or the agony in the eyes of a friend. Stirred by the Spirit of God tears themselves cause a pathway for healing and a strange sense of comfort to our hearts. All are the tears of repentance when the pain we feel or the joy of experience causes our hearts to turn to the One who created us and called us to come back to Him.
In "Whistling in the Dark" Fredrick Buechner says; "Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go next."
Tears can fall as softly as a spring shower or as suddenly as a summer torrent upon the soul, washing, cleansing and refreshing, bringing clarity to thought and understanding. They direct us toward our destiny and to the journey's end. Blessed is the man who holds his season of tears as closely as his season of laughter, for one will surely magnify the other.
Today let tears be a reminder of God's great love and the healing power of the Cross of Calvary.
Further Reading: 1 John 1-5
Watch for the enemy to use situations against you to intimidate you and cause you to be afraid that you have made the wrong choice. But, I say to you, do not give in to these temptations to question your own judgment. I have led you thus far, and I will continue to take you into the place that I have appointed for you. Do not be afraid of what may seem to be overwhelming odds and insurmountable challenges, for I am with you to bring you through to absolute victory, says the Lord.
1 Samuel 17:40-46 Then he (David) took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. So the Philistine (giant) came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good–looking. So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."
