Prophetic Word from Sunday, May 11, 2008

“My perception is that spiritual authority is going to increase in the next 6-12 weeks. The thing that I am seeing is that you are going to be given the power and authority to break and destroy the limitations and strongholds that you have been dealing with in your lives for years. You are going to go free from those limitations in areas of your life that you have been merely coping with because you couldn’t get rid of it. There is going be such an experience of freedom in the lives of individuals and families that strongholds will be broken off of people’s lives. Listen to me, it is happening to you. You need to exercise it. The authority is coming up into your life, but you need to be the one who exercises it and says, “I am going free of that.” And when you go free of it, you’ve got to hate that thing. Those things that were strongholds in my life before, I hate them now. You cannot go back and play with them…. If you have strongholds, thought patterns, limitations, habits, particularly low self-esteem; particularly you don’t think you are worthy, you’re insecure…that is going to be destroyed, because low self-esteem is the Enemy robbing you of the potential in your life. If the Enemy can keep you thinking you don’t matter, you don’t count, nobody loves you or likes you, if He can keep you there he can keep your gifts from coming out. Those strongholds are coming down, that is coming off, and you’re going to come out of that thing and go, yes go into the freedom that He has purchased for you.” (May 11, 2008)

Promises by Bishop Mario Gutierrez

What you believe about God is the most important thing about you.

It shapes your life. It determines how you deal with good and hard circumstances that come your way and how much victory or defeat you will know.

An important truth about God you need to treasure in your heart is that He is promiser and it’s His nature to fulfill those promises. You can’t read Scripture very long without seeing that revealed through history:

• He promised Noah that He would never again destroy the world by a flood (Genesis 9).
• He promised a plague and enumerable people as descendents to Abraham (Genesis 12).
• He promises to deliver the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 6).

And all that’s just getting started. God’s promises are the assurances He gives to His people so we can walk by faith while we wait for Him to work.

How we relate to God is determined by what we do with His promises.

Do you believe them? Have you learned that when you walk by sight you never win? But when you walk by faith, and believe there will be a day when He will fulfill them, He will never disappoint you.

God sees you in this situation you face today. He knows how hard it is to walk by faith. He knows our frame and He remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14). And He’s not going to leave you wondering what’s going to happen, or uncertain about the future or overcome by fear. He makes promises to you so that you can get through the long nights and the difficult days of waiting. He asks you to hang on to His promises for the long haul.

The hard part of doing that, of course, is the gap between His promise and His fulfillment of that promise. Almost always, His promises are not going to be answered tomorrow or the next day. That’s why He gives us something to hold on to.

And while we wait, God builds our faith. I guarantee you that when you rest in the promises of God, you have a great life. You live more confidently. You believe good things are in store for you. As long as you’re living in doubt and defeat, you’ve got nothing to look forward to. But if you anticipate His blessing, He’s never going to let you down. His reputation is on the line. He’s promised to do some things in your life and when you hold on to what He's promised, you’re going to win in the end.

Contentment

Christianity is more than just a question of where you will spend eternity; it is a choice of who you are following? Eternal life is more about who is on the journey with you than where the journey leads. If we are walking with Jesus we can trust the destination to Him. A Christian then should be more focused on his or her relationship with Jesus than on performing in such a way as to be rewarded with heaven. Christianity is more about allowing the King of Heaven into your life than merely getting you into Heaven.

I have discovered that the journey of the Christian life is far more exciting and fun when you focus on who is with you than where you are or where you are going. Christ promised to “never leave nor forsake us.” Christ empowers each of us to face the issues of each day. Our challenge is to live this day! To live in this moment and not the past nor the future is truly contentment. To be present to this day and to each other is real living. You and I are alive right now. Breathing and exhaling is the gift of life that is ours by His Mercy.

And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

I have come to understand that we must see ourselves as living souls who belong not to our own self but to God who made us and who loves us. To come to this understanding is to accept an invitation to hold life, relationships, and possessions loosely, recognizing that nothing is really ours but that we belong to God and to all that is around us – our family, neighborhood, communities of work and worship, our country, our neighbors in the world, and the earth that sustains us all.

This reality has brought me a peace and contentment that is rarely found in a world that is driven to succeed, whatever that means. Rather than living in the light of His Presence, many live in the shadows of progress which is a consumer-driven market eager to shape our desires and replace holy contentment with an insatiable hunger. Instead of living souls, breathing in His life, they have become avid consumers.

We are eternal beings accountable and belonging to God. I admit that I would rather sleep than keep a prayer vigil, and I would rather eat than fast. And I know that I am not alone. We live in a world that believes that freedom is found in our self-determination. This is a world that calls us from the pursuit of God to the pursuit of self-actualization and self-fulfillment thus replacing sacrifice and self-denial. But we know that real freedom comes as we surrender self to He who is the source of our life. God ultimately has our highest and best in mind.

The economy in which we now live depends on keeping people discontented, so that they will keep buying the new and improved products that will bring them contentment and thus drive our economy. In the midst of this economy the Church must offer the “economy of the Kingdom.” We must remain “living souls” rather than “self-absorbed individuals.” Human beings focused on being “themselves” become nothing more than consumers in search of satisfaction, contentment and peace the latest and greatest product.

The Church must stand in contrast to this world’s economy and live as people who are content and at peace with breathing the very “breath of God.” We were created to be “living souls,” not “consumers for our self.” That is “Abundant Life.” Contentment, peace, joy and freedom are the results of our relationship with God and His Christ not in owning or possessing people or things.

I am more and more convinced that the Church world wide is “spiritually disorientated.” We have become misdirected by the voices of society that offer satisfaction as a result of their product or of our performance. This misdirection has led to a sense lostness that has left humanity wondering through this world in search of contentment that can only be found by returning to the One who created us.

Christ came “to seek and save the lost.” It is far to easy to speak of the lost as those who have never heard of the Christ, rather than acknowledging that even those of us who know Him can lose sight of Him. Lent, is the season of self-denial! It is the season in which we are called to evaluate our own lives in light of our relationship with the Christ, who for all others gave Himself.

Have we allowed the economy of the world to creep into our lives? Are there areas where we can reclaim ourselves as “living souls?” Is our discontentment and discouragement and depression a result of having believed the “lie” of the advertising consumer-driven world in which we live? Can we stop and “breathe in” the very life of God which we were designed to depend upon?

I truly believe that Prayer, meditation, and daily Bible reading are ways in which we can rediscover the very breathe and the life that is ours by the mercy of God. I sincerely desire to encourage you to take account of your life as we journey towards the celebration of the death, burial and resurrection of the Christ.

I am attempting to call others to join with me for daily prayer here at the church at 6:00AM – 12:00PM – 6:00PM…. If you can’t be with us please pray and give your self to Him in a more devotional way as we approach Easter.

Grace and Peace

Bishop Quintin

Flesh of our Flesh -- Advent

Flesh of our Flesh – Advent

With all my heart and soul I believe that the Church is the Body of Christ. I also believe that the Church is the family of God and that I am bound to every man, woman and child of the Church because of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. I believe that in Christ I am a part of every member of the Body of Christ and that they are a part of me. I believe that this relationship in the Spirit is as real and as profound as the bond of the flesh and blood. I believe that I am truly part of the Body of Christ. But just believing all these beautiful things about the Church is not enough. If they are to have the influence on my life that they are meant to have, I must also experience what it means to be part of the Body of Christ. Knowing and believing are just not good enough.

During Advent the Church proclaims the mystery of the Incarnation. Christ took flesh in time and He continues to take flesh in the lives of people today. We are the continuation of the Incarnation. As we look back to the joy of the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem we also expect and celebrate His birth in each one of us.

We are a people who live in response to His coming to us as a child in the past, as Spirit in the present and as the King in the future. He has come, He is coming and He shall come again. Advent is a very significant time of the year. It is a time to emphasis the holiness of our relationships and family life. It is a perfect time to lead families to claim their holiness and their beauty by reflecting on the life and family of Jesus that is the result of His coming to us and our adoption into the Father’s family.

Remember, it is our task to remind our people that they already have everything. They are holy because He is holy and He has chosen them. Our holiness is in the ordinary. Our holiness is in loving with everything we’ve got, and in loving the way Jesus loved. Their holiness is to live out their relationships with great love and fidelity. The Church doesn’t make our people holy; it reminds them of what they already possess. It is their commitments, relationships and love in which their holiness is revealed.

The more the Church stresses the meaning and the holiness of family life, the more this holy time becomes the new incarnation of God’s people living out their identity. They are a part of the family, the Body of Christ. He becomes one with us so that we could become one with Him and His family. His coming reminds us that we are no longer individuals living alone but we have been grafted into a community of the Father’s Love.

He came to create a family. He is continually sustaining His family and He will come again for His family. During Advent we are to remind each other that we are alive because of His coming and that we live for His coming.