On the way…

Sue’s Views 

We live in a society where once something is broken ….. it is considered useless and is thrown away. But God sees things very differently! He is drawn to brokenness ….. He knows that a broken heart is a receptive heart ….. a repentant heart ….. a thankful heart and a heart that is willing. ‘A bruised reed He shall not break’ ….. He will not only mend ….. but renew such a person. The brokenness then becomes their testimony.

Sue’s Views

We were designed to be fruitful. Whether you can see it or not ….. your life is producing something that will be a blessing to someone else. Don’t go comparing yourself to others who seem to be more fruitful. Fruit trees produce at different times ….. and for most of the year there is nothing to be seen. But within the branches ….. something amazing is happening. It may not be your season right now ….. but it’s coming!

Sue’s Views

Can you imagine waiting 25 years for a promise to be fulfilled? Most of us would think ‘Maybe I didn’t hear right’ ….. ‘Maybe God changed His mind!’ ….. ‘Maybe God needs my help to make this happen!’ The Bible tells us that at the ages of 90 and 100 ….. when their bodies were as good as dead ….. Sarah gave birth to a son! God often waits until things are impossible. When we’ve exhausted all our human efforts ….. He miraculously shows up! He doesn’t act according to our timetable or deadlines. He has his own timetable ….. and it’s always perfect! The child’s name was Isaac which means ‘laughter’. The laughter of doubtful mocking was turned into boundless joy when Isaac was born! Wait for your Isaac! If God promised ….. it will come!

Sue’s Views

No doubt your calendar ….. like mine ….. is starting to fill up. Work ….. family ….. and other obligations will probably account for much of the time. But where there are blanks ….. highlight them in yellow. These are ‘your times’. Times when you get to choose how to spend them. Choose something that will restore your soul. Then you’ll have more to give to the many demands made on the rest of your time!

Sue’s Views

So the year is underway ….. the question is ….. ‘which way will we go.’ It’s easy to let life carry us along. The needs and expectations of others ….. or consequences of our decisions ….. can dictate how we live and what we do. The Bible gives us great advice. ‘In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.’ He sees the obstacles and the better way to reach your destination.

Sue’s Views

12 Steps to a Good Year but Derek Prince

Step 12: Let Us Offer Up A Sacrifice Of Praise

“Through Him [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15 NASB)

This final step of offering up a sacrifice of praise to God is related in a direct and practical way with the two previous steps, which were, “Let us show gratitude” and “Let us go out to Him outside the gate.” You see, gratitude naturally leads to praise. There are so many passages in the Bible where it relates thanksgiving with praise. One of the most beautiful is Psalm 100:4:

“[We] enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.” (NKJV)

The step just before this one, “Let us go out to Him outside the camp,” means for us to be identified with the cross of Jesus. To follow Jesus, we must accept the reproach of His cross. This brings us release from the two slaveries of pleasing self and pleasing the world.

This step is directly related to offering the sacrifice of praise. You might not see it at first, but there are two hindrances to spontaneous, free flowing praise in our lives. They are: love of self and love of the world. As long as our affections are centered in ourselves or in the world, we are not really free to praise God. But the cross removes these two hindrances and sets us free to praise God.

Set free in this way, we are no longer affected by what happens to us. We are not affected by our moods, by our problems, by apparent adversity. We are no longer affected by what goes on in the world around us. You know, sometimes when we listen to the news, we think, “Well, the situation’s pretty bad—problems, disasters, crime, immorality…” But you see, we are not living in this world. The world doesn’t dominate us. It doesn’t dominate our thinking. We are in the world but not of the world.

When we are released from that slavery to the world—when the world doesn’t control our thinking and our motivation, when we have been liberated by the cross in that inner attitude toward the world—then there is nothing left to hinder our praise. We don’t praise God just when things are going right in the world. We don’t praise God just when things are going right with ourselves. Rather, we praise God because He is worthy to be praised. Our liberated spirit isn’t entangled with self-love and the love of the world.

Sue’s Views

12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)

Step 11: Let Us Go Out To Him

The eleventh step is found in Hebrews chapter 13:

“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” (verses 12–14 NASB)

This passage deals with our attitude and our relationship to this present world. It is telling us that our home is not in this world. We do not have an enduring place in this world.

The world rejected Jesus—it drove Him out of the city and crucified Him outside the gate. The Scriptures always emphasize the crucifixion took place outside the city wall. He was rejected; He was put out of society; the world did not want Him. We know that the way the world treated Jesus—sooner or later, in one way or another—is going to be the way the world will treat you and me as believers. We must be willing to go out to Him to the place of crucifixion, the place of rejection and shame, bearing His reproach.

“For here we do not have a lasting city [other people may think this is permanent, but we know it isn’t], but we are seeking the city which is to come.” (verse 14 NASB)

I like that translation which says, “the city.” There is one particular city which is the destination and the home of all true believers. That is where we really belong.

Sue’s Views

12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)

Step 9: Let Us Run With Endurance 

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2)

In the original Greek, the first phrase, “lay aside every encumbrance,” is not in that form. Instead, it reads like this: “Laying aside every encumbrance, let us run with endurance the race.” The real “let us” phrase on which we need to focus is, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Here and elsewhere in the New Testament, the Christian life is compared to a race. This implies there is a specific course marked out for us in advance, and success in the Christian life consists in completing the course in accordance with the rules of the competition.

There are 4 requirements for a successful race:

1. Right Mental Attitude

2. Self Control

3. Endurance

4. Eyes Fixed on Jesus

Sue’s Views

12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)

Step 8: Let Us Consider One Another

“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10:24–26 NASB)

In Greek, this would read: “Let us consider one another, how to stimulate to love and good deeds.” That brings out the real essence of this particular resolution: “Let us consider one another.” We are to consider one another from the point of view of how we can bring out the best in each other.

So many people today are shut up in the prison of self. Their basic problem is self-centeredness. I have never met a self-centered person who was truly happy and enjoyed true peace. In fact, the more you concentrate on yourself—the more you worry about yourself and seek to please yourself—the more your problems will increase. You must first be released from that prison of self-centeredness. As this passage indicates, there is one scriptural way to be released: Stop worrying about yourself. Stop caring for yourself all the time. Stop fighting for yourself. Instead, start to consider your fellow believers. “Let us consider one another.”

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  (Philippians 2:3–4 NASB)