By Tonia Shroyer – Senior Pastor
We have officially entered a new year. It’s time to look forward and not back. For us, it means to take inventory of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and continues to do.
Let’s not waste our time looking at what we don’t have or what went wrong in the past year. Time is short. Press into the hope of Christ’s return and the fresh revelation God’s word reveals each time we seek His heart in it.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
We can repeatedly look in the mirror and know that we are being changed from glory to glory as we encourage ourselves with His word.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
Goodness is always there to see and to expect when we keep our minds in align with what He says about us and to us.
The Status of Your Heart
A rebellious heart will continue to brawl and pursue division whether it is in our thoughts, what we speak or even what we communicate on social media. All these things reveal the status of our hearts.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 KJV
This year, I am adding that verse to the things I am asking the Lord to help me with. He never lets us down. He loves us where we are, yet encourages us to do more. Like Jesus said:
“…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 KJV
This verse fits with a picture that hangs in our hallway. We pass it and read it everyday. “Always remember something wonderful is going to happen to you today.”
I firmly believe that what we think and what we say sets our course of direction each day. What we agree with in our heart is revealed. There is no hiding from the Holy Spirit. Peace is worth the pursuit; declare it every day and it will help us make our way.
This is the encouragement the Lord gave me for us, as we move forward in 2021:
I’m flooding your life with My favor. I need you to pay attention and work with Me to see what I am doing in the open and in My secret places. The world looks for the obvious, but with My Spirit you can see the things that others cannot. They are specific for you.
I hear the cry of My people and I answer each to their own. When hesitation comes, step forward and not back.
I’ve recorded My son’s life as a lifeline for your heart and mind. Align it with your own. Allow His responses to seep into your way of thinking and of doing things. Then, you can begin to turn and shift the pressure against you as momentum behind your back to build upon.
Nothing and no one will stop what I have planned for you. Don’t be distracted by fear and unseemly pursuits. They are futile and chaff.
Purity is a choice, and My ways are more recognizable than the stress of your plans. Peace is a marker that is tangible by My Spirit: follow after it and not the up and down of your disappointments.
I am goodness and will turn all things to right as you stay the course and faint not.
Lift up your eyes to the hills from whence I come and see My angels at war for you. Sharpen the eyes of your Spirit to see My truth beyond the fray.
Remember, I am with you this day.
What an advantage we have in this world to be called the sons of God and family to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our inheritance is no laughing matter.
The Holy Spirit we carry within us sets us apart yet draws people to us. Let’s make haste to complete all that He asks of us.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Ephesians 2:5-10 NIV
The remodel continues in the basement and within the audio-visual department. This week we learned that for live-streaming, two new digital projectors are required as well as body packs and microphones. During this next year we will need to purchase a new mower and paint the barn. We are currently in the process of estimates for the repair/reseal of the black top and in April we will pour a concrete pad for the bus. There are always projects to complete and we are very thankful for all that you continue to sow towards CFF to bring them to completion.
We make sure we are giving back from the money that comes into the ministry. We sow into the local community and carry a large benevolence fund to help those in need within the ministry and wherever God leads us to help. He has been very specific in the past three years in regard to helping young ministers that need support, often from different churches. We have found that obedience to revelation brings more revelation and greater clarity.
Please keep in mind that June 25-27 we will be hosting a Family Reunion in celebration of twenty-five years of Christian Family Fellowship. It will be a time of hot Bible and fellowship with saints encamped around Jesus, praise, and healing.
September 24-26, we will again host Dr. Roberts Liardon for a weekend conference. He is as excited as we are to see where the Holy Spirit leads us. Please mark your calendars and plan ahead for this time together.
We continue to decrease our CD mailing list as we all learn to podcast and access live-streaming and teachings via the archive at cffm.org. Technology is growing by leaps and bounds and we are working hard to stay up to date with these changes.
We are so thankful for each one of you and we continue to pray for all good things to come to you and your families. Please reach out to us with your prayer requests and testimonials of the goodness of our God.
You are loved and you belong