Restoring the Blessed Life
We are in the second month of study of Restoration. God is pouring out the Blessed Life on us as His people. We are learning that, as we put Him first in everything, He is giving us the Blessed Life. We are experiencing the joy of knowing the presence and power of God as we choose to acknowledge that God has provided everything we need. It is delightful to take the first of everything and give it back to God, i.e., the first part of the day, the first day of the week, the first of our increase. This means actually sitting alone with the Lord and saying, “Lord, I give you this first part of my day. It is blessed. It is holy and it is Yours. Because I have consecrated the first part of the day to You, the whole day is holy and blessed.” We need to do this with everything that the Lord has given us. As we have been doing this, we have felt the presence of the Lord increase. We have felt the love of God increase and we have felt the joy of the Lord increase. What a wonderful God we have! I thought that if God gave me more I would be happier. Who would have thought that as I give Him more that I become happier. JOY! JOY! JOY! Even to write about it makes my heart overflow with the River of Joy! And surprise of surprises, that is what God is looking for- hearts that are full of joy because they are giving back to Him what is already His in the first place.
This past Sunday we had a couple of testimonies of how God was faithful. Karen told how her business was “flat.” Before leaving the church after the service last Sunday in faith she gave all the money she had. This week she was suddenly “booked up” with customers. She now has enough money to pay all of her bills and make a down payment on a new car. Rob told how he heard the Lord tell him to give a certain amount of money to the church. The van window needed to be fixed and there were bills but he trusted the Lord and made out the check. After he paid all of the bills for the week, there was still money left in the account to have the window repaired and monies left over. God is faithful.
As we are learning how to move into the blessed life by listening to and obeying God, we are seeing God move in great ways. I can’t wait to see what happens next. The Lord has told us that in every season of this year He is going to restore something different in the church body. If you want to be restored, renewed and rejuvenated, now is the time to get back to God, get back to church and live the blessed life. We will be working on these teachings into March. If you miss a meeting on Sunday, you can come during the week or on Saturday to receive this teaching and move into God’s presence. If you have been disappointed in the past, you won’t be now. If you feel like you have been passed over,
now is the time to move into the blessed life. God loves you and has prepared this time for you to receive His blessing. Every week we are seeing an increase in the Presence and the Power of God and manifestations of His blessings on His people.
We have upcoming church family gatherings of which we want you to be made aware.
February 23 @ 10:30 am Women of all ages Valentine Brunch being held @ 17 N. Oakland Avenue, home of Michelle Warwick.
February 24 - immediately following the morning service the Way of Life Church’s annual meeting will be held to review the financial and leaders’ reports. All members are strongly suggested to remain for approximately one hour.
March 2 - immediately following the morning church service we will be celebrating the 88th birthday of Nelson B. Wright Sr. (known by the church family as Father Wright). The gift that would be warmly received is that each family bring a favorite family food to share (serving 8).
March Missions Banquet will be held Thursday evening, March 27th. Please begin praying now what you should commit in faith to give this year of 2008 to help our missionaries around the world that the Way of Life Church supports.
May “the Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord life up His countenance upon you, And give you His peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26
Rev. Stephen J. & Dianne Wright
