Holly Eley- PastorTerry.com Executive Team Member

Have you ever pursued some thing expecting it to provide fulfillment? Then once you achieved it, you recognized that it didn’t really provide the sense of satisfaction anticipated?  You are happy that you obtained it, but it did not provide true, long-term internal gratification? You may have even enjoyed the pursuit more than actually possessing the thing.  You acknowledged the disappointment and then moved on to the next thing.

Recently I was watching an interview featuring a Top Model winner. After winning, she was quickly catapulted into a career which landed her commercials and a spot on a daytime TV show.  This was a dream come true for her, but with tears falling from her eyes, she said, “…the lights and camera and the glitz and glamour, everything that glitters baby is not gold, which I quickly learned.” 

I liken this “pursuit of fulfillment” to being desperately thirsty and in search of clean, refreshing water. You spot a well miles away and run towards it with everything in you only to find that the well is dry or filled with murky, polluted water. Yuck!  Practically speaking, what is in your well that you are seeking to provide fulfillment?  Then upon obtaining the thing, you realize that it did not fulfill you.  It may be power, position, a relationship, a sexual encounter, money, a home, a bigger church, getting high and the list goes on. 

The good news is that there is a well that is “like” a flowing fountain that we may drink of and never thirst again!! It is like a flowing fountain in that it never runs dry and we never have to return to the well again…we are fulfilled!  In John 4:13 – 15 (CEV), ¹³Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. ¹⁴But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life." ¹⁵The woman replied, "Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won't get thirsty and have to come to this well again."

Understand that this is not to say that we won’t have some level of fulfillment when our goal is realized nor is it to say that we shouldn’t have pursuits.  It’s simply to promote awareness that:

Pursuits will not fully satisfy us.  True long-lasting fulfillment comes from being in relationship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

1. We must be careful not to neglect our relationship with Him while in pursuit of fulfillment from “things.” 
2. Pursuits can serve as a distraction to keep us from seeking Him diligently.
3. We mask our yearning for Him through one pursuit after another.
4. Fulfillment through means of “things’ is fleeting.

So, would you like a satisfying drink? It’s on Him!

Shelisa Cooper, Ministry Team Member | Victorious Life Church

Isn’t it a great plan of our enemy to keep us believing that we are limp, lame and unable? I read somewhere that our bodies are made up of memory cells. People that work out know this because when they work out, their muscles become sore and joints become stiff, because those memory cells want to return back to where they were. (They don’t want to conform to the new form that strengthening and stretching requires it to do). It is very similar in the spirit. As we become new creatures in Christ and all is made new, those memory cells remember our old self. We struggle as we work to believe all that God has promised, because we are intimately acquainted with ourselves. We must give up the struggle; we must believe and receive all that God has done for us. He has renewed us, redeemed us, and truly forgotten who we were, so we must do the same. Are we so strong and powerful and out of control that God can’t help us? I would say absolutely not! Believe that!

Hosea 11:3-4(Amp) says, “Yet I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms or taking them up in My arms, but they did not know that I healed them. 4) I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them as one who lifts up and eases the yoke over their cheeks, and I bent down to them and gently laid food before them.

God is saying He lifted you, caused you to walk, and healed you! Know that He has made you whole. You can walk with God and be all that He has said you are according to His Word!  

YOUR DELIVERANCE IS IN THE FIRE,

Pastor Timothy Campbell

Many believers, including myself have made the statement “I'm in the fire”, which provokes the responding question,”If you are in the fire, why are you still trying to make things happen and why are you allowing pressure to dominate your thoughts and actions?”

When threatened with being thrown into the fire, the three Hebrew boys didn't panic; they didn't try to compromise or talk their way out; they went in willingly. Many believe that they are in the fire based on the circumstances that they are facing; however, if truth could be told the devil doesn't want you in the fire, he wants you to bow down or abort your God-inspired plans. The devil wants you to go back to depending on the false gods that use to be in your life: food, drugs, sex, and the like. King Nebuchadnezzar wanted the three Hebrew boys to do the same thing. Although he threatened them with fire, his true desire was for them to bow down to him… but, they defied him. There wasn't any gain for King Nebuchadnezzar by them dying in the fire, because it meant that they loved their God more than they feared him or the threat of losing their own lives.

You see, while the devil would have you believe that you are in the fire, I want you to think about Daniel asleep in the lion’s den, Jesus asleep on the ship during a raging storm, Paul asleep in prison awaiting execution…there is peace in the fire!! The DEVIL DOESN'T WANT YOU IN THE FIRE! The fire unleashes the anointing. Case and point, while in the fire Jesus, the Anointed One appeared with the three Hebrew boys. The devil’s mission is to create a circumstance with lots of pressure to make you believe that you are in the fire, so that you won't get in the fire.

DELIVERANCE COMES IN THE FIRE! The enemy expects you to cave in because of the threat. Or in the three Hebrew boys’ case, the decree that whoever doesn't bow down will be cast into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:11). The devil wants you and me to submit and bow to the pressures that he has unleashed, but you and I have to stand. We can't be moved by what we hear: “You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image (Daniel 3:10). The sound represents the negative reports that you receive for foreclosure, job layoff, sickness, threats of lawsuits, etc.

The enemy expects you to bow down at the sound of these things, but you must not. He wants you to worship the golden image which represents your flesh, ultimately becoming a slave to fear, old habits, addictions, and behaviors. He wants you and me to cave in, but I decree today that we will not cave in; we will stand to the end and God will be exulted! No matter what the condition, we will not turn back.

You and I will be like the house built on a solid foundation. When the storms of life come, we will not be moved because we have built our house on the rock called Jesus Christ and nothing less than his blood and righteousness. We dare not trust the sweetest frame, but only lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock we will stand; all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.

He is the only one that we can put our trust in everything else is temporary and subject to change. Before you can get in the fire you have to be willing to forsake all. You can't be attached to anything other than the Lord, because the threats will expose you and will reveal the other gods in your life. What prevents many of us from getting in the fire is the threat of losing everything, and that's why you have to count it all as dung (your house, your job, your car, your money, your life) because when you abandon all those things, then you are at the entrance of the furnace and ready for your deliverance. There is nothing else that the enemy can threaten you with, because you have forsaken all. Hear me again, YOUR DELIVERANCE IS IN THE FIRE!

Pastor Bruce Clark

"Howbeit that was not first which was spiritual, but that which is natural …" - I Corinthians 15:46

We can breakthrough, if we do our part. Sometimes we have not seen breakthroughs to higher spiritual heights because we have not done the "natural" things we need to do.

The other day I was preparing to spend time with God, but my mind was cluttered. There were some things that had been lingering for weeks that I had not "gotten around to", but they needed to get done. As I went to pray, some of those things popped in my head, like a pop-up window on a computer screen.

I put my prayer time on pause, took care of the things that needed to be done, resumed, and was able to experience great clutter-free time with God - where life is, and power, and answers.

When you are in prayer and stuff comes in your mind, don’t ignore it. If it is evil, rebuke it. But, if it is stuff that you know you need to do, talk to God about it and then obey Him. It could be that you need to get those things done in order to please God.

God help us to learn that you care about everything that concerns us. Help us not to ignore natural reality in the name of being spiritual. While we don’t allow natural reality to determine our faith, and while we do not look at the things which are seen, there are some natural things that God requires of us. Seek God and make it happen. Then, live in the clutter-free presence of the living God!

The Old Testament prophets can teach us a few things about obedience. Prophets like Samuel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah all paid a price for their obedience. How often have we heard this familiar quote from Jeremiah (20:9)? "His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." But prior to that verse Jeremiah was crying out to the Lord about being deceived by Him and ridiculed and persecuted for delivering the Word of the LORD! Ultimately, Jeremiah fulfilled his calling, despite the personal hardships he faced, and is considered one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history.

Like Jeremiah, we may cry out to the LORD and question our calling or doubt God’s presence in our lives. We may experience rejection, fear or doubt as we seek to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. Although we may not be called as a ‘prophet to the nation’ like Jeremiah, God needs to use ALL of us in a unique way. Do not despise small beginnings. One day you may be the bus driver, cook, teacher, preacher, whatever…just remain faithful and obedient to what the LORD has placed on your heart to do.

-Laurell Brault