Monday, March 28, 2011
HHT!-1: Are you an Eagle?
Good morning! Welcome to G-UP!'s and College Connect's first Holy Hot Topic! Sign on and let us know if you are an Eagle! Bishop Woods shared with us yesterday from Isaiah 40:31 which states, But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Bishop Woods let us know that eagles are able to sustain the atmosphere of a higher altitude! Eagles can soar higher and fly above and beyond issues, problems and petty things. So Bishop Woods asked is if we were eagles or crows.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Winning the Battle Over Negative Emotions
Today's notes are from the first topic in the series Winning the Battle Over Negative Emotions. These notes are provided by Brittany Dixon from College Connect! Sign up to join College Connect today on Twitter (ue3College) or facebook (Urban Empowerment College Connect), blog at uecollegeconnect.wordpress.com or email directly at ue3collegeconnect@gmail.com.
Introduction
At some point your actions become dictated on how you feel.
Emotions are an active state of consciousness at which joy, hate sorrow or fear is experience as distinguish from cognitive or a volitional state of consciousness.
• In other words: You choose to act the way you act. Your Emotions are conscious.
Emotions are any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing the love, hate and fear and is accompanied by physiological changes such as
• Increase heart beat
• Increase respiration
• Crying
• Sharing
Some of us let emotions get the best of us. We sometimes let people get the best of us. If you have ever caught yourself shaking and crying because of someone else, you have let a person control how you feel.
Emotions are also defined as strong feelings
• Nothing wrong with this as long as they don’t control you.
• They can be destructive:
*They can destroy those around you: As Bishop says “hurt people hurt people
*Pastor Chris has found out: Bitter people bite people!
+When you are bitter, you don’t care who is being nice to you. A bitter person will bite someone else
+ Bitterness causes you to become critical of
+Other people
+ Church
+ What someone else does etc…
Negative Emotions cause you to be in denial about who you really are.
• When you are bitter, you put the blame on someone else
• But in actuality, where you go, if are you bitter, it MUST be about you.
• You might be the common denominator in every situation that causes you to be bitter.
• Negative emotions or bitter causes you to:
o Displace bitterness on someone. It’s really about who you are and how give someone the chance to control how you feel.
Studying Hannah’s bitterness and how she overcame it:
• 1 Samuel 1:10- Prophet Samuel was born out of the bitter and prayerful struggle by his mother Hannah.
o In the first 9 verses it reveals why Hannah was bitter.
Introduction of Story
• Hannah was burdened because she was unable to give birth.
• Sometimes there is a burden that will cause you to not give birth spiritually.
• Some of us have no peace, no satisfaction.
• But later Hannah does give birth. And before you give birth you have to have a burden. Birth follows the burden.
• Sometimes you struggle with something so God can birth something out of you before you can birth.
• Burden is:
o Something that God has placed on the inside of you so God can use exactly what He has given you.
Your life is a spiritual journey that will include
• A burden
• The birth
• A blessing
o Note: If what you are birthing is not turning into a blessing, it might not be a pregnancy from God!!
o Some of us has struggled and we have given birth to some things, but it isn’t giving birth to a blessing!
o If your birthing process is making everything around you miserable, it may not be a pregnancy from the Lord.
Characterizing Bitterness
• Bitterness becomes Personal because it can happen to you
• Bitterness is relational
o V2- Hannah had Children and was bitter with her Husband’s other wife.
o We see bitterness can destroy relationships.
o If you are involved with people there is a chance bitterness will creep in. The enemy knows that we as people are emotional.
• Bitterness can be residential
o V6- Bitterness can live with you.
o You cannot allow bitterness in your house!! Don’t let people in your own house dictate how you feel!
• Bitterness becomes physical
o When you let someone have control with you, it starts to show up in your physical.
o V7 – Hannah wept and did not eat. This is physical bitterness. She lost weight, lost her appetite. The strain of all her bitterness
o When we’re bitter it manifest through our mouth, we start to get passive aggressive against people.
• Bitterness becomes Emotional
o V8- her husband tells her “Why are you acting like this, I love you.”
o Some of us don’t know what love is and we allow our bitterness to determine what we believe is love.
o Sometimes we cannot love people because what has happened to us.
Hannah Got over it!
• We cannot continue to hold on to bitterness we’ve been learning for years.
• Bitterness is like swallowing poison and waiting on someone else to die.
• To overcome bitterness Hannah:
o Went to the house of the Lord. Forsake not the assembly of the saints! Is there is something wrong, go to the elders of the church and the will pray specifically for your situation. Don’t rely on TV church! Stay connected!
o She turned to God quickly. V10- Get on your knees and pray. Don’t put to much time between bitterness and prayer because bitterness festers and can lead to anger!
o V11- Have an honest talk to God.
Look at yourself and no one else. Focus on the Main problem, and that’s YOU
Stop blaming stuff on other people.
o Your Circumstance may not change, but you have to change your attitude!
o V13- Treat God’s people correctly with respect
o V20- In the middle of her bitterness she had to pray!
Introduction
At some point your actions become dictated on how you feel.
Emotions are an active state of consciousness at which joy, hate sorrow or fear is experience as distinguish from cognitive or a volitional state of consciousness.
• In other words: You choose to act the way you act. Your Emotions are conscious.
Emotions are any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing the love, hate and fear and is accompanied by physiological changes such as
• Increase heart beat
• Increase respiration
• Crying
• Sharing
Some of us let emotions get the best of us. We sometimes let people get the best of us. If you have ever caught yourself shaking and crying because of someone else, you have let a person control how you feel.
Emotions are also defined as strong feelings
• Nothing wrong with this as long as they don’t control you.
• They can be destructive:
*They can destroy those around you: As Bishop says “hurt people hurt people
*Pastor Chris has found out: Bitter people bite people!
+When you are bitter, you don’t care who is being nice to you. A bitter person will bite someone else
+ Bitterness causes you to become critical of
+Other people
+ Church
+ What someone else does etc…
Negative Emotions cause you to be in denial about who you really are.
• When you are bitter, you put the blame on someone else
• But in actuality, where you go, if are you bitter, it MUST be about you.
• You might be the common denominator in every situation that causes you to be bitter.
• Negative emotions or bitter causes you to:
o Displace bitterness on someone. It’s really about who you are and how give someone the chance to control how you feel.
Studying Hannah’s bitterness and how she overcame it:
• 1 Samuel 1:10- Prophet Samuel was born out of the bitter and prayerful struggle by his mother Hannah.
o In the first 9 verses it reveals why Hannah was bitter.
Introduction of Story
• Hannah was burdened because she was unable to give birth.
• Sometimes there is a burden that will cause you to not give birth spiritually.
• Some of us have no peace, no satisfaction.
• But later Hannah does give birth. And before you give birth you have to have a burden. Birth follows the burden.
• Sometimes you struggle with something so God can birth something out of you before you can birth.
• Burden is:
o Something that God has placed on the inside of you so God can use exactly what He has given you.
Your life is a spiritual journey that will include
• A burden
• The birth
• A blessing
o Note: If what you are birthing is not turning into a blessing, it might not be a pregnancy from God!!
o Some of us has struggled and we have given birth to some things, but it isn’t giving birth to a blessing!
o If your birthing process is making everything around you miserable, it may not be a pregnancy from the Lord.
Characterizing Bitterness
• Bitterness becomes Personal because it can happen to you
• Bitterness is relational
o V2- Hannah had Children and was bitter with her Husband’s other wife.
o We see bitterness can destroy relationships.
o If you are involved with people there is a chance bitterness will creep in. The enemy knows that we as people are emotional.
• Bitterness can be residential
o V6- Bitterness can live with you.
o You cannot allow bitterness in your house!! Don’t let people in your own house dictate how you feel!
• Bitterness becomes physical
o When you let someone have control with you, it starts to show up in your physical.
o V7 – Hannah wept and did not eat. This is physical bitterness. She lost weight, lost her appetite. The strain of all her bitterness
o When we’re bitter it manifest through our mouth, we start to get passive aggressive against people.
• Bitterness becomes Emotional
o V8- her husband tells her “Why are you acting like this, I love you.”
o Some of us don’t know what love is and we allow our bitterness to determine what we believe is love.
o Sometimes we cannot love people because what has happened to us.
Hannah Got over it!
• We cannot continue to hold on to bitterness we’ve been learning for years.
• Bitterness is like swallowing poison and waiting on someone else to die.
• To overcome bitterness Hannah:
o Went to the house of the Lord. Forsake not the assembly of the saints! Is there is something wrong, go to the elders of the church and the will pray specifically for your situation. Don’t rely on TV church! Stay connected!
o She turned to God quickly. V10- Get on your knees and pray. Don’t put to much time between bitterness and prayer because bitterness festers and can lead to anger!
o V11- Have an honest talk to God.
Look at yourself and no one else. Focus on the Main problem, and that’s YOU
Stop blaming stuff on other people.
o Your Circumstance may not change, but you have to change your attitude!
o V13- Treat God’s people correctly with respect
o V20- In the middle of her bitterness she had to pray!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Encourage Yourself!
Bishop Woods broke the Word all the way down on this past Wednesday with one of my most favorite Bible passages--the story of David at Ziklag--before he was king. This passage presents the culmination of David's experiences with God at a critical point in David's process or journey to become King. Keep in mind that David had been anointed King, but he had survive from the promise to the manifestation. Ziklag was the midpoint betweek the promise and the prize. Some times we give up at the midpoint, but at his midpoint or at Ziklag is where David learned to encourage himself in the Lord! He learned to recall all that God had done for him and to seek God first through prayer and supplication. The name Ziklag means pressed down. It is at the midpoint where some of us get depressed--we want to fall out--we want to give up. But the midpoint is where we--like David, must learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord.
Below is how Bishop Woods explained David's process.
The scripture text is 1 Samuel 30. A recap from Sunday is as follows:
1. David's destruction--Ziklag was property given to David, which had become his home. The Amlekites--a fierce fighting group--had come in and devastated Ziklag while David and his men were away. The Amlekites took everything including wives and children and burned what was left to the ground. A tidbit that I will deal with in a subsequent blog is that the Amlekites were long enemies of the Israelites. God had instructed Saul to wipe them out, but Saul was disobedient.
2. David's depression--when David and his men returned to Ziklag, they returned to utter ruin, devastation and destruction. To add insult to injury, their families were gone and they felt helpless to do anything about their situation. David and his men mourned until they couldn't cry any more and the men eventually decided that they needed someone to blame and they talked about stoning David to death.
3. David's decision--David decided that after all that God had done for him, after all that he had seen and heard of the Lord, he just couldn't stay in a depressed state. David decided to seek God. David went to God in prayer and supplication. He asked God some specific questions about how to handle the situation and he allowed God to work.
4. David's delegation--At a time when everyone was upset, confused, and ready to defect, David mustered up the courage within himself that sparked loyalty in his men. So in spite of the fact that they were ready to stone him, David's men fell in line and again followed his lead. Bishop made an excellent point here, which is that you may not always agree with your leadership, but their track record and credibility in God will engender your support even at the worst of times. This is a lesson for church folk. People too often defect without considering all that God has done for them through the leadership that God gave to them.
5. David's defection--not all of the 600 men that David had went with him. Some of them were still weary from the fight that they just came from so they stayed behind while David and the 400 went on to pursue the Amlekites. But recall the story of Gideon here. God wants to show and prove Himself--He is our source and provider. You don't have to take every body with you and some people can't go with you where you need to go to gain your victory. As Bishop Woods stated, Everyone who starts with you will not finish with you.
6. David's detection--although David had to move forward without 200 of his men, God gave David just one person who helped him to get ALL his stuff back. David and his men discovered an Amlekite who had been left for dead by his crew. He was sickly and hungry. David showed compassion toward him and fed him. This show of mercy is what secured David's ultimate victory. The soldier that had been left for dead told David everything. God blessed David to detect who could help him accomplish his goal.
7. David's determination--David got upset when he saw the Amlekites partying with his stuff. As Christians we should feel the same way. The enemy comes and runs roughshod all over us in our own homes and yet many of us seem unequipped to handle the attack. Take a lesson from David--seek God in prayer and supplication. Like David, when we seek God first, He will make sure that the enemy is unprepared to fight against you!
David and his men slew the Amlekites all night and into the morning. He recovered all and rescued his family. Not only did David recover all, but he also took spoils. When David returned he shared the spoils with everyone--including all 600 men, the Elders of Judah and his friends. Bishop Woods explained that the lesson here is that God will bless you with more than enough when He can trust you to give out and bless others. David did this because he understood that when you bless people that you don't know you set yourself up to be blessed by people you don't know. If you only want to be a blessing to folks in your own sphere of influence, then when you need something you can only reach out to folks in your small sphere and chances are they may not have what you need.
Everybody around you can't encourage you.
Everybody around you won't encourage you.
Not everybody that's around you wants to see you encouraged.
But there are some advantages in encouraging yourself:
1. Encouraging yourself will lead to supplication or specific prayer. When you pray a specific prayer God will give you a specific answer.
2. Encouraging yourself can lead to support. Everybody is not assigned to you, but those that are assigned to you, while they may not always agree with you, will always support you.
3. Encouraging yourself will lead you to surprises.
4. Encouraging yourself will lead you to supervision. Recall that David found an Amlekite on the verge of dying. He provided him with food even though he could have just killed him for all that the Amlekites had done. Even though the Amlekite was an enemy, David humbled himself and allowed the Amlekite to supervise him for a brief period of time so that David could accomplish what he needed to accomplish. God will allow people that you don't expect to lead you to lead you into what He has for you.
5. Encouraging yourself will lead you to success. David recovered ALL and rescued his family. God will always confirm His Word by producing manifestation in the revelation. What you need is all that God will give you in return. So your ALL is the fulfillment of your need. Some folks can't handle the all that they think they want. God will bless you with what He can trust you with. In David's case, God trusted him with his stuff and the Amlekites' stuff.
6. Encouraging yourself can lead to surplus. God will bless you to come out of the enemy's camp with stuff that wasn't originally yours. Start thanking God for the spoils. Some of us are not willing to wait on the Lord. You can't get to your surplus until God has it ready for you. If David had prematurely ran off he wouldn't have met the soldier that led him to his enemies and to victory. Take the time to seek God first. God will do the rest. David gave out of his spoils to others. Meaning that David gave out of the surplus to smooth relationships with other nations.
7. Encouraging yourself will lead you to survival. God had blessed David and his men in the battle of retrieving their stuff. You have to realize that although you are going into the battle God has already blessed you to survive.
The scripture text is 1 Samuel 30. A recap from Sunday is as follows:
1. David's destruction--Ziklag was property given to David, which had become his home. The Amlekites--a fierce fighting group--had come in and devastated Ziklag while David and his men were away. The Amlekites took everything including wives and children and burned what was left to the ground. A tidbit that I will deal with in a subsequent blog is that the Amlekites were long enemies of the Israelites. God had instructed Saul to wipe them out, but Saul was disobedient.
2. David's depression--when David and his men returned to Ziklag, they returned to utter ruin, devastation and destruction. To add insult to injury, their families were gone and they felt helpless to do anything about their situation. David and his men mourned until they couldn't cry any more and the men eventually decided that they needed someone to blame and they talked about stoning David to death.
3. David's decision--David decided that after all that God had done for him, after all that he had seen and heard of the Lord, he just couldn't stay in a depressed state. David decided to seek God. David went to God in prayer and supplication. He asked God some specific questions about how to handle the situation and he allowed God to work.
4. David's delegation--At a time when everyone was upset, confused, and ready to defect, David mustered up the courage within himself that sparked loyalty in his men. So in spite of the fact that they were ready to stone him, David's men fell in line and again followed his lead. Bishop made an excellent point here, which is that you may not always agree with your leadership, but their track record and credibility in God will engender your support even at the worst of times. This is a lesson for church folk. People too often defect without considering all that God has done for them through the leadership that God gave to them.
5. David's defection--not all of the 600 men that David had went with him. Some of them were still weary from the fight that they just came from so they stayed behind while David and the 400 went on to pursue the Amlekites. But recall the story of Gideon here. God wants to show and prove Himself--He is our source and provider. You don't have to take every body with you and some people can't go with you where you need to go to gain your victory. As Bishop Woods stated, Everyone who starts with you will not finish with you.
6. David's detection--although David had to move forward without 200 of his men, God gave David just one person who helped him to get ALL his stuff back. David and his men discovered an Amlekite who had been left for dead by his crew. He was sickly and hungry. David showed compassion toward him and fed him. This show of mercy is what secured David's ultimate victory. The soldier that had been left for dead told David everything. God blessed David to detect who could help him accomplish his goal.
7. David's determination--David got upset when he saw the Amlekites partying with his stuff. As Christians we should feel the same way. The enemy comes and runs roughshod all over us in our own homes and yet many of us seem unequipped to handle the attack. Take a lesson from David--seek God in prayer and supplication. Like David, when we seek God first, He will make sure that the enemy is unprepared to fight against you!
David and his men slew the Amlekites all night and into the morning. He recovered all and rescued his family. Not only did David recover all, but he also took spoils. When David returned he shared the spoils with everyone--including all 600 men, the Elders of Judah and his friends. Bishop Woods explained that the lesson here is that God will bless you with more than enough when He can trust you to give out and bless others. David did this because he understood that when you bless people that you don't know you set yourself up to be blessed by people you don't know. If you only want to be a blessing to folks in your own sphere of influence, then when you need something you can only reach out to folks in your small sphere and chances are they may not have what you need.
Everybody around you can't encourage you.
Everybody around you won't encourage you.
Not everybody that's around you wants to see you encouraged.
But there are some advantages in encouraging yourself:
1. Encouraging yourself will lead to supplication or specific prayer. When you pray a specific prayer God will give you a specific answer.
2. Encouraging yourself can lead to support. Everybody is not assigned to you, but those that are assigned to you, while they may not always agree with you, will always support you.
3. Encouraging yourself will lead you to surprises.
4. Encouraging yourself will lead you to supervision. Recall that David found an Amlekite on the verge of dying. He provided him with food even though he could have just killed him for all that the Amlekites had done. Even though the Amlekite was an enemy, David humbled himself and allowed the Amlekite to supervise him for a brief period of time so that David could accomplish what he needed to accomplish. God will allow people that you don't expect to lead you to lead you into what He has for you.
5. Encouraging yourself will lead you to success. David recovered ALL and rescued his family. God will always confirm His Word by producing manifestation in the revelation. What you need is all that God will give you in return. So your ALL is the fulfillment of your need. Some folks can't handle the all that they think they want. God will bless you with what He can trust you with. In David's case, God trusted him with his stuff and the Amlekites' stuff.
6. Encouraging yourself can lead to surplus. God will bless you to come out of the enemy's camp with stuff that wasn't originally yours. Start thanking God for the spoils. Some of us are not willing to wait on the Lord. You can't get to your surplus until God has it ready for you. If David had prematurely ran off he wouldn't have met the soldier that led him to his enemies and to victory. Take the time to seek God first. God will do the rest. David gave out of his spoils to others. Meaning that David gave out of the surplus to smooth relationships with other nations.
7. Encouraging yourself will lead you to survival. God had blessed David and his men in the battle of retrieving their stuff. You have to realize that although you are going into the battle God has already blessed you to survive.
Encourage yourself in the Lord today! Recall all of His works in your life and all of the times that He has strengthened your hand.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
One Year Ago
A little over a year ago I asked God how I could make a different kind of impact in ministry. At that time, I had been writing a blog a few times a month. Someone from my church shared that she wished that there was a place that she could go to see Bible Study notes because she often missed that service. It was then that God showed me Gear UP!
I shared the idea with my Bishop and Pastor and they allowed me to launch the Blog on February 23, 2010. Over this year I have matured through the Blog. When I look back at older posts I can see how God is yet growing me through the Word that comes forth at uE. I can see how He has changed my heart and my mind. I can chronicle my struggles and when I let go of those struggles. This experience has been life changing for me.
I want to say a sincere and warm "Thank YOU" to each person that reads G-UP! and encourages me to keep on. I thank my Bishop and Pastor for seeing the value in this ministry effort. I thank my church family for all of their support.
The second year of G-UP! will be exciting as we continue our collaboration with College Connect, host guest bloggers, continue to bring you excerpts from Bible Study and Sunday Morning services, and introduce the Holy Hot Topic!
This year I really hope that more people will respond to the blog topics and as we continue to grow and reach new people I pray that God will keep growing G-UP! so that His will, His way and His Word prevails.
Thank you so very much,
Shannon A. Robinson
I shared the idea with my Bishop and Pastor and they allowed me to launch the Blog on February 23, 2010. Over this year I have matured through the Blog. When I look back at older posts I can see how God is yet growing me through the Word that comes forth at uE. I can see how He has changed my heart and my mind. I can chronicle my struggles and when I let go of those struggles. This experience has been life changing for me.
I want to say a sincere and warm "Thank YOU" to each person that reads G-UP! and encourages me to keep on. I thank my Bishop and Pastor for seeing the value in this ministry effort. I thank my church family for all of their support.
The second year of G-UP! will be exciting as we continue our collaboration with College Connect, host guest bloggers, continue to bring you excerpts from Bible Study and Sunday Morning services, and introduce the Holy Hot Topic!
This year I really hope that more people will respond to the blog topics and as we continue to grow and reach new people I pray that God will keep growing G-UP! so that His will, His way and His Word prevails.
Thank you so very much,
Shannon A. Robinson
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