March Word of Encouragement

The Word of Encouragement is brought to you by: Rose Britner,
Founder of Women of Grace Ministries since 1998

3/30/07

James 4:8 "Come near to God and he will come near to you..."

Have you ever tried to approach a scared puppy? /30 just wanted to get close enough to let her sniff your hand. You then gently pat her on the head as if to say, "You can trust me, I wont hurt you." As this sweet little puppy begins to still, you lovingly stroke her head, as you ever so gently scoop her up into your arms. Soon this little puppy is content to be in your loving arms and she snuggles into that perfect position, completely relaxes, and falls sound asleep. Think with me for a moment of the process this sweet little puppy went through from being transformed from her initial fears to a place of complete trust, confidence, and comfort.

Psalm 73:28 "But as for me, it is good to be near God."

Coming to a place of complete trust and confidence in your Lord is also a process. A process that requires you to find a quiet, peaceful place to be still before the Lord your God. Be still in a listening silence. A quiet peaceful moment to hear His voice as He draws close to you during the stillness of this moment bringing about a transformation from all your fears, worries, and concerns to a great calming within you.

Mark 4:39 "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm."

Sometimes the Lord calms the storm, while other times He allows the storm to rage while He calms you, His precious child. Be encouraged in the stillness of His presence!

Rose

All scripture taken from New International Version

3/ 23/07

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:"

Life is full of ups and downs. Life is always changing. Some changes are exciting and some are disappointing. Never the less we cannot escape change. Some changes may be filled with opportunity for dissatisfaction, and if you continue to meditate on your own personal dissatisfaction you will have opened up opportunity for discouragement. Discouragement breeds complacency. Please do not allow yourself to become comfortable with complacency.

Deuteronomy 1:6 "The LORD our God said to us &, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain."

Get up! It is time to move on! We have much to do! It is time to say, "My crisis is over!" Gird yourself with truth and faith. Act on your God given potential. Strive to be all God has created you to be. Give God the opportunity to show you how awesome He created you. Be careful not to look to others to motivate you all the time. Begin to allow your faith to stir you into action as you meditate on the truth that your help comes from the Lord.

Psalms 121:2 -3 "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip- he who watches over you will not slumber."

Will you give God the opportunity to amaze you with His faithfulness? Will you dare to act on that dream? Will you dare to stand up today and begin to do what God is prompting you to do? Will you trust Him enough to begin a new walk today by shaking off all disappointments and begin to walk fresh and new today? Will you say, "My crisis is over! Healing is mine!"

Psalms 90:17 "May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-yes, establish the work of our hands."

I encourage you to open up your availability by taking your mind off of yesterday, and begin to walk into a new and fresh today! It's a new season!

Be encouraged!

Rose Britner

All scripture taken from New International Version

3/16/07

Isaiah 9:6 “.... his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

What name are you calling Him?

Wonderful: My God, You are absolutely wonderful. Your great goodness draws me to You. Your presence is pleasing, I enjoy my time with You. You are a giver not a taker. You add so much joy to my life. When I see You for who You are, You are Wonderful to me; I call You Wonderful!

Counselor: You are so wise. You are forever available for me. When I need someone to talk to, You listen because you care. You always want to listen to me. You are not distracted from me with a schedule or other demands. Your time never runs out, You are so patient to hear every detail I need to share. You never want me to hurry up and finish what I have to say so you can attend to other details of life. You have such great insight and understanding. You are so wise. I always feel so much better after our counseling times together. Thank you that Your schedule is never too full or too busy to talk to me. Oh, and special thanks for Your services being free of charge with no ulterior motive. You always want what is best for me. I call You Counselor!

The Mighty God: You are so powerful and mighty. You have just what it takes to make everything ok. You are strong and able to care for every detail of my life, as well as all those whom I have concerns for. It is amazing to me that You are so powerful but at the same time, You are so gentle to me. Thank You for being mighty yet gentle. I call you Mighty!

Everlasting Father: Your love is forever lasting to me. You forever love me. Nothing or no one can change Your loving attitude towards me. You always take good care of me. You are not manipulative or sarcastic. I call You Father!

Prince of Peace: You are always with me and when I recognize your presence I am filled with peace. Steadfastness, stability, endurance and genuine hope that is lasting and filled with faith. I call You Peace.

We serve a mighty God. Thinking about this scripture builds me up on my most holy faith. It gives me confidence, hope, strength, endurance, and an incredible sense of peace. It is my prayer for you today, that you also would meditate on the truth of who God is, and who He wants to be to you.

What name are you calling God?

Be encouraged!

Rose Britner
All scripture taken from New International Version

3-9-07

Are you avoiding something? Hoping things will change without confrontation? Instead of hiding from your circumstances, run to the Word of God, His Word is truth. Hide yourself in the truth of His Word.

Psalm 32:7 "You are my hiding place; ...."

Become lost in God’s presence, so you can be found in Him.

Psalm 32:7 " ... you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."

The Lord will protect you and surround you with songs of deliverance. Be still and listen. Can you hear the tune? This melody is calling you. It's not the cries of trouble, rather a tune that sets your feet tapping to a new song.

Psalm 40:3 "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."

You can dance to this song if you allow the Master to take you by the hand and take the lead.

Psalms 32:8 "I will instruct you and teach your in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."

Do not avoid confrontation thinking you are being a peace maker. You may think you are controlling the atmosphere by being passive, but this avoidance is only a temporary appearance of peace. Embracing God's truth, seeking His direction, and obeying His leading in confronting issues will bring about change. The change will be peace that is established by God.

Isaiah 26:12 "Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us."

Your Master is waiting.... sh sh sh sh... be still, listen and obey.

Be encouraged by His leading,

Rose Britner

All scripture is taken from the NIV version.

3/2/07

It takes courage to obey God, especially when you are not able to see what He sees.

2 Corinthians 5:7 “We live by faith, not by sight.”

What is God prompting you to do? Do not avoid being obedient. There have been times after receiving direction from God that I have actually reasoned in my mind, and have talked myself right out of obeying God, than I go on with life as usual. But, because I am a good Christian, I do what good Christians do, I pray things like; "Lord use me". "God, I want to do more for You". Please know that God's plans and direction for my life stay the same regardless of how much time I spend avoiding what God has been telling me to do.

Circumstances bring me once again to a point of frustration and I pray, “Lord, speak to me"! Don't you know, the very same thing I had been trying to avoid or forget about comes back.

Finally, I say; "Ok, God! I will obey, be with me and give me the strength that I need".

And God says; "Yes, I will be with you. I want you to depend on me. I would never send you off alone to do anything, I know you need Me, I was waiting on you to ask Me for help, but first you had to accept what I was saying".

And than I say; "Yes Lord, I was trying to run away from that... I am sorry". The moment I say, I am sorry! God says; "Forgiven! Now lets go"!

If you can relate to my experience, you know that once you get to this point, you have 2 choices; You can obey God and walk it out by faith, trusting that He IS with you, or you can second guess yourself again thinking maybe it was just your own thinking. Now if you choose the second, you are right back where you started from. You can go around and around needlessly, just like the Israelites. They wandered for 40 years.

Let us look at Jonah,

Jonah 1:1-2 “The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me".

Jonah avoided obeying God by running from Nineveh. When he became humbled by his circumstances, read what happened.

Jonah 2:1, 10 “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.” “And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”

After Jonah prayed, God got him out of his circumstances, and read what God spoke to Him again.

Jonah 3:1-2 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you".”

Notice the instructions remained the same: God did not change, rather Jonah changed and became willing to obey. I love this story, Jonah was human just like you and me. Is there something in your life that God has directed you to do and you running in the opposite direction? I encourage you today, to pray like Jonah did, and allow God to get you out of the situation your choices have gotten you into. Today, God wants to give you a brand new start. Go for it. Trust and obey, there is really no other way!

Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you".”

Be encouraged by His Grace,

Rose Britner
All scripture is taken from the NIV version.

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