Hello 👋 😁 & Welcome!
Today’s word is about: How people seem to have it all together outwardly, but inside they are emotional wrecks. Their pasts have broken, crushed and wounded them inwardly.
Psalms 147:3
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
God breaks chains, not promises. The blessings on the other side of your brokenness. So, don’t lean your ear to the whisper’s of others but incline your ear to the voice of God. I’m suggesting you take the ashes from your past and you give them to God and allow him to begin to make beauty from those ashes. Whatever you lost, God will more than make up for and give you double for your former trouble. He is the God of total restoration, changing hearts and minds everywhere. And that simply means, He's not just going to repay you for every wrong deed done against you but He's going to go above and beyond and make things even better than they were before.
Isaiah 61:7-8
7- “For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.”
8- “For I the LORD love judgement, I hate robbery for burnt offering, and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.“
Isaiah 61:3
“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”
Beauty for ashes represents God’s redemptive power from the very beginning. In his story for all humanity, many trials come and fall away, but dust returns unto dust.
Ecclesiastes 3:20-22
“All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?”
Yet, great men and women in biblical times were known to put ashes on their heads as a sign of grief (Joshua 7:6) “And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel 🇮🇱 and put dust upon their heads.”
What does ashes represent spiritually? The imposition of ashes, of dust is a reminder of our death. It is symbolic to sorrow for our sins. The symbol of dust that come from the book of (Genesis 3:19) “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.”
This simply means, if and when the breath from God leaves, whatever remains is but dust and goes back to dust. It calls us to humility and utter dependence on God in Whom alone we live, move and have our existence.
Acts 17:28
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
God wants us to walk out of here feeling determined, and to never spend one more night with the frogs. What? How did we get to frogs? 🐸
Exodus Chapter 8, The Israelites are in slavery in Egypt as they cried out to God to send them a deliverer. Moses, who was a type and shadow of Christ, he was sent by God to bring forth that deliverance. Pharaoh, who would represent the devil, did not want to let them go, so God sent plagues, one after another and said, “You are going to have one miserable life until you let my people go.” And one of those plagues was frogs.
Exodus 8:1
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.”
And I’m here today, to tell you we’re announcing to the devil, “Satan, let God’s people go that they might serve Him!”
I’ll be a mouth piece for God and say, “Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go.” And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. And the rivers shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house 🏠 of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs: And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.
God’s painting quite a picture here, frogs everywhere. Frogs in the toilet bowl. You gotta fish out the frogs before you’re able to relieve yourself. Frogs in the breadbasket, frogs in the oven, frogs in the washing machine.
You know, if you have misery in your life, it’s everywhere you go. Frogs, self-pity frogs, worry frogs, reasoning frogs, resentment frogs, anger frogs, bitterness frogs, hateful frogs. Come on, frogs at the breakfast table, frogs at lunch, frogs when you drive down the highway, frogs, frogs, frogs.. Are you getting it?
Exodus 8:5
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, Saying unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 8:6
“And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt 🇪🇬 and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 8:7
“And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.”
Now I thought this was interesting because it’s kind of like Pharaoh, instead of just praying, “God, I get it, get rid of the frogs,” he turned to people to solve the problem and all they did was make more frogs. When you go to people to solve your problems that only God can solve, you’re only going to get frogs on top of your frogs. Can you visualize frogs in your bed, frogs nibbling on your toes. You think you’ll go out for a drive to get away from the frogs but frogs are waiting in your engine, frogs are in your trunk.
Exodus 8:8
“Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.”
Exodus 8:9 (Now get ready!)
“And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?”
Moses said, “Okay, when do you want me to ask God to get rid of the frogs?” And Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” Now do you want to spend one more night with the frogs? Why would Pharaoh want to spend one more night with the frogs? Why didn’t he say, “Pray right now, right this minute?”
Whoever is reading this right now under the sound of my voice is going to say, “Not one more night with the frogs!” I’m not going home with frogs on the breakfast table. I refuse to have frogs in my bathroom. Pray 🙏 to God for all the frogs in your life. I believe God is looking down at thousands of frog-less people.
You know what? “Tomorrow,” is possibly the most dangerous word in our English language. Tomorrow. “Let’s get rid of the frogs tomorrow, and let’s just go to bed with them one more night.” Come on, are you with me here? When are you going to forgive the people that hurt you? When are you going to stop saying, “It’s too hard, it’s too much, it’s not fair.” A mess is in your soul from what others have done to you. There’s a divine exchange. God is willing to takes the bad stuff and replace it with His goodness. You start, right now. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad.
What is the most important moment in your life? Many of you would say, “The day I received Christ,” for some of you that could be today. Some would say, “When I got married, when I had my children.” You would all be wrong. The most important moment in your life is this moment right now because it’s the only one that you know for sure that you have. Yesterday, is gone and you can’t go back and undo what people did to you but you can make a decision today that you’re not going to spend one more night with the frogs. You’re not going to let what somebody did to you 20 years ago, keep ruining your life. You’re going to press in and you’re going to press on and you’re going to get beauty for ashes, the joy for mourning, the praise for heaviness.
We’ll, Wendy, if I make that decision today will it all be mine by tomorrow morning? No, it comes in cans marked, “Prayer.” Here comes a bad attitude, so go after it in Prayer and any element of life that you find unsettling and distasteful as we are instructed to take it to the Lord in prayer.
You know, Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish with a little boy’s lunch and it wasn’t nearly enough to feed the crowd. But the little boy said, “I’ll give you my lunch, and you can do something with that.” And of course, Jesus miraculously multiplied it and it was enough to feed all the people. And the lesson here is that if you would be willing just to give God what you have, even if it’s not enough to fix a problem, even if all you give him today is your broken, messed up, miserable life, he’ll do something miraculous with it and he can even use your broken past to end up feeding a lot of people. I’m feeding you today, the Word of God. I’m breaking bread with you, so to speak, and it’s multiplying. It’s going to you and it’s going to reach many people. And an amazing thing happened, when Jesus had finished feeding all the people, they gathered up 12 baskets of fragments, just little broken pieces. And Jesus said, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be waisted.”
And here’s what I want to say, if you feel like your life is just a fragmented mess, today. If you’ll let Jesus gather it up, he’ll make sure that nothing in your past is wasted. Your pain, will become somebody else’s gain. Your mess, will become your message and what you’ve walked through will become your miracle and certainly someone else’s miracle. Many of us have said, if only I hadn’t been abuse. If only, I hadn’t faced this situation and that condition. If only I didn’t get involved, my life would have turn out better.
You know, when Lazarus died (John 11:21), his sister Mary said to Jesus, “If only you would have been here Lord, my brother wouldn’t have died.” Jesus, why weren’t you here? So often, we say that. Why, didn’t you help me when I was facing that situation? Why didn’t you help me when I was being abuse? I know many have prayed, during those darkest moments in their lives. You’ve asked God to get you out. He could have but he didn’t. How can we not be mad at God? Because he’s a whole lot smarter than us. And I’ll tell you something, listen now, he didn’t get you out of it but he got you through it! And you’ll get some experience with God, and now God can take that brokenness and bring healing, restoration and your end can be better than your beginning. You might have had a rough start in life but God can see to it that you have a remarkable finish. He wants to take your broken pieces and give in return “Complete Healing,” beauty for ashes with nothing missing and nothing broken as this world may be corrupt and falling rapidly to its own destruction yet it’s still his plan of grace and salvation as he offers unconditional love and desires to heal the inner wounds of all mankind.
Thus sayest the Lord of host, For I am God and there is none like me. I cause it to rain on the just and unjust alike, nothing rises and falls without my command, for I know thy days, and I am in everything. Look unto me, learn of me, walk in my ways and obey my teachings and I shall uplift thee, I will protect thee and I shall be thy deliverer now and forever more.
Let us Pray,
“Father I pray for every person you have drawn here today. Lord, for that one who is making that decision, and saying, That’s it, I’m not going to live another day, in bondage anymore. This is a new day, and you said, walk ye in it and I’m going to pick myself up, dust off the shoes of rejection and start walking through the doors🚪of freedom and know that everyday is going to be a brand-new day in Christ. And when I make mistakes, I’m not going to quit and give up but learn to forgive myself when I do. I’m going to stand and be counted for and get up and go on one more day, in Jesus’ name, Amen!“
I challenge you today to Write ✍️ down 3 things that are unsettling that you would like the Lord to contend upon your behalf. You’re life is just as important to God as anyone else on this planet. He loves you just as much because his love for you is unconditional. God is restoring millions of people and starting them on their journey as he places them back on the right path once again.
Psalms 35:1
“Plead my cause, O Lord with them that strive with me; fight against them that fight against me.”
Lord, as we lay down our Will today, and give you full control over our lives. We’re nothing without you as we can do nothing in our own strength, except that what you allow. You have the ability to make nobody, a person who has been cast down, rejected and over looked, a somebody for your Honor & for your Glory!
You are Royalty and (Call out your name here) I, “Wendy Schenkel,” come from the linage of Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior.
II Samuel 9:1
“And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake?”
II Samuel 9:4-7
4- “And the King said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar.”
5- “Then King David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.”
6- “Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant!”
7- “And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.”
Mephilbosheth is a crippled man who lived in lodebar which means, “A desolate place.” He felt rejected and forgotten. And you may feel the same way, but latch on to this word that whatever Satan has stolen and committed against thee, he is ordered by the Lord to repay thee sevenfold. (Proverbs 6:31) “But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.”
II Samuel 9:13
“So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king's table; and was lame on both his feet.”
God placed it in King David’s heart to be good and bless Johnathan’s son, Mephibosheth and restore to him all the land of King Saul as he will eat at the King’s table continuously. No matter what it may look like God still has a plan for your life, he hasn’t forgotten about you and He gets the final word. You go in peace with Faith, Hope and Expectancy that today, could be your day.
“Jesus loves you on your worse day, just as much as he does on your best day!” ⛅️
In His Grip,
Pastor Wendy Schenkel
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